MLS aspires to be another success story
Major League Soccer begins its 13th season Saturday, with an all-time high of 14 teams and a highest-ever average player salary of $115,000.
Meanwhile, England’s Premier League is approaching the end of its 16th season. It has 20 teams and its players earned an average of $1.35 million a year in 2006.
The goal of MLS, according to Ivan Gazidis, the league’s deputy commissioner, is to follow the Premier League’s lead, but slowly and carefully enough so that the transition doesn’t bring the entire edifice tumbling to the ground.
When the Premier League was founded in 1992, it had the 104-year history of the 92-team English league to build upon. Breaking the top tier of clubs free, investing heavily in new stadiums and bringing the world’s top players to England was a logical step and has been hugely successful.
On a global scale, the Premier League is behind only the NFL, Major League Baseball and the NBA in terms of financial success. In terms of worldwide visibility and popularity, it far outdistances those three leagues. “I think what we’ve seen in England is a dramatic development from a game that was really in the doldrums in the 1980s and now is the world’s dominant sports league,” Gazidis said.
Part of the Premier League’s success is precisely because it is global in scope. Players from 89 countries have participated in the league and this season 64 nationalities are represented among its 20 clubs. The result is some of the best soccer played in the world.
It could be decades, if ever, before MLS attains a similar level, but it is going about it in the correct manner. Expansion is in progress. The league will have 16 teams by 2010 and 18 not long thereafter. Soccer-specific stadiums are being built. New investors have come on board.
The emphasis now has shifted to the quality of MLS play.
“As we look forward to the next five to 10 years in our development, nothing will be more important than how the game progresses on the field,” Gazidis said. “Our owners have taken a very strategic look at our business and have said that we are placing that at the very center of everything that we do. The goal as we go through this period of expansion is not just to keep our level of play where it is today but to continue to take it forward and raise it so that the league a decade from now is substantially stronger than it is today.”
The stumbling block is that the U.S. does not yet have enough talented soccer players coming up through the youth ranks. The short-term answer is to look abroad, specifically, to the south.
So far in 2008, 21 new foreign players have been brought into the MLS. Of those, 18 are from Latin America, including seven from Argentina, four from Brazil and four from Colombia.
Last season, the arrival of such players as Cuauhtemoc Blanco from Mexico, Juan Pablo Angel and Juan Toja from Colombia and Luciano Emilio from Brazil had a significant impact -- plus David Beckham joined the Galaxy. “In 2007, the standard of play in the league took a big leap forward based on our new imported players and on some young U.S. talents that came through,” Gazidis said.
“It wasn’t about David Beckham, although David Beckham clearly was a huge story for us and has been a terrific ambassador for the league. But it was also about all the players that accompanied him.
“All three of our league most valuable player candidates were new players to the league in 2007. Half of all of our teams had either their top goal scorer or their MVP or both, be new signings to the league in 2007. Many of the names that came through were not household names in the U.S. before those players came to MLS.
“In 2008, I think you can expect to see more of the same.”
With an increase to eight foreign players now allowed on each team’s 28-player roster, MLS clubs have been active abroad to seek out talent.
Does that come at a cost to the American player? Not according to Gazidis.
“This league’s growth and development is going to [depend on] the kind of players we’re able to develop domestically. That’s an absolute priority for us,” Gazidis said.
“It’s also a priority for us that we continue to make the level of play better every year, and there is no other way to do that other than to dip into the international markets.
“The quality of competition is going up and if you want to get playing time, whether you’re from the U.S., from Argentina or from Nigeria, you need to be playing at a higher level than you did five years ago.”
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Going abroad
The foreign signings by MLS teams for the 2008 season:
*--* Player Team P. Nationality Marcello Gallardo D.C. United M Argentine Claudio Lopez Kansas City F Argentine Franco Caraccio Houston F Argentine Matias Cordoba Real Salt Lake M Argentine Franco Niell D.C. United F Argentine Gonzalo Peralta D.C. United D Argentine Gino Padula Columbus D Argentine Alvaro Pires Galaxy M Brazilian Rafael Gomes Colorado M Brazilian Andre Rocha Dallas M Brazilian Guilherme So Columbus F Brazilian Oscar Echeverry New York F Colombian Gonzalo Martinez D.C. United D Colombian Jamison Olave Real Salt Lake D Colombian Ivan Trujillo Kansas City F Colombian Raphael Wicky Chivas USA M Swiss Duilio Davino Dallas D Mexican Jose Carvallo D.C. United G Peruvian Mauricio Castro New England M Honduran Kenny Deuchar Real Salt Lake F Scottish Tomasz Frankowski Chicago F Polish *--*
Los Angeles Times
