Garber as MLS Commissioner a Bad Choice in Any Language
There is no truth to the rumor that Sunil Gulati, former deputy commissioner of Major League Soccer, is now working as a waiter at a Chinese restaurant in New York.
Gulati, therefore, cannot be blamed for the fateful fortune cookie that landed on Doug Logan’s plate a few weeks ago.
“I had occasion to go to one of my favorite restaurants, which is Ruby Foo’s, here on Broadway,” Logan was saying. “And I opened up my fortune cookie to read: ‘You are soon going to change your present line of work.’
“To me, that was a symbol of this day coming.”
That day arrived Wednesday, when Logan, who earlier had been instrumental in the ouster of Gulati, in turn was replaced as MLS commissioner by Don Garber, a man whose knowledge of soccer can be summarized in one word: nonexistent.
But if Garber, drafted from the NFL, is the marketing and promotion genius that everyone claims he is, that does not matter as much as another shortcoming he carries in his portfolio: the inability to speak Spanish.
Whatever Logan’s weaknesses might have been, he could sit down to a meal with Mauricio Cienfuegos or Ronald Cerritos or Eduardo Hurtado or Carlos Valderrama or Marco Etcheverry or any of the other Central and South American players in MLS, and feel totally at ease. In fact, he enjoyed the experience.
Garber cannot do that.
Logan was so close to the league’s Spanish-speaking players that the Galaxy’s Carlos Hermosillo even called him at home Tuesday night to express his regret over the commissioner’s ouster.
The Cuban-born Logan’s removal leaves a glaring gap in the MLS hierarchy. There is no Latino in a position of authority at the league level. In fact, Sergio del Prado, the Galaxy’s general manager, might well be the highest-ranking Latino in MLS.
That will not--and should not--sit well with either the Latino fans who make up a sizable percentage of the league’s attendance, or with the Spanish-language media, with whom Logan had a close relationship.
It is a situation that MLS needs to fix in a hurry. Garber has yet to lay out an agenda, but correcting this problem should be near the top of his list.
DOLLARS AND SENSE
In introducing Garber, 41, as its new commissioner, MLS touted his success as a senior vice president of the NFL’s international division. Consider these words in a news release issued by MLS:
“During the last three years, he oversaw all of the NFL’s rapidly developing business endeavors outside the United States, including television production and rights distribution, various marketing and fan development activities, sponsorship sales, product licensing and the execution of the hugely popular NFL exhibition games and ancillary events. . . . Revenues grew 250% and profits increased 400% during his tenure.”
All of which leaves one question: Why wasn’t Garber brought in to replace Randy Bernstein, the league’s chief marketing officer, rather than Logan?
Of course, as commissioner, Garber might do that anyway.
WHERE CREDIT IS DUE
According to Stuart Subotnick, chairman of the MLS board of governors and one of the money men behind the hapless New York/New Jersey MetroStars, the league is responsible for the U.S. national team’s recent string of successes.
In an extraordinary stretch of the imagination, Subotnick credited MLS with the U.S. team’s commendable third-place finish at the FIFA Confederations Cup in Mexico last week.
“I think that’s an outgrowth of what MLS means to soccer,” he said. “Without the coaching ability of a person like Bruce [Arena] and without the quality of players that we’ve developed in MLS, that success in Mexico would not have happened.”
Before Subotnick is allowed to propagate such drivel, it should be pointed out that of the 20 U.S. players originally selected to go to Mexico, seven play professionally in Europe and four others have played in foreign leagues. Only nine are true MLS products.
In addition, 10 of the 20 were members of the 1998 World Cup team that self-destructed in France last summer. Does Subotnick want MLS to claim credit for that too?
Garber also tried to grab a share of the glory for MLS.
“It is important to point out that MLS players scored five of the six U.S. goals to lead our country to its third-place finish,” he said.
Then again, they were the same MLS players who failed to score against Brazil and Mexico, the tournament finalists.
It works both ways.
THE RIGHT ARENA
If anyone deserves praise for the U.S. team’s performance in 1999 it is Arena, who knows what he is doing and inspires the players’ confidence.
The league can take credit for producing such promising players as Chris Armas, Ben Olsen, C.J. Brown and Eddie Lewis, but beyond that, leave the Mexican league to do the boasting. Mexico won the Confederations Cup, its first international triumph, and all of its players play at home.
At least until now. Last week, AS Monaco, one of France’s top clubs, purchased central defender Rafael Marquez from Atlas of Guadalajara for $6 million, the highest transfer fee in Mexican soccer history.
Marquez, 20, reportedly received a five-year, $500,000-per-season contract.
THE INDOOR ARENA
Meanwhile, the world champion U.S. women’s national team is doing a little marketing of its own.
The team will go on a 12-city indoor “victory tour” that will take it to arenas in Pittsburgh, Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago, Philadelphia, East Rutherford, N.J.; Washington, Raleigh, N.C.; Anaheim, San Jose, Tacoma, Wash., and Portland, Ore., between Oct 22 and Dec. 15.
The Americans’ opponent in these games will be “a team of international stars.”
It should be interesting to see exactly what that means and if these “international stars” will be earning as much the U.S. players.
Likewise, since the indoor game--it’s not really soccer--produces a disproportionate number of injuries, it will be interesting to see how much effort the U.S. players put into these games. Is it worth risking a trip to the Sydney 2000 Olympics for the sake of a few dollars?
Before the “victory tour,” the U.S. will play in the four-nation Nike U.S. Women’s Cup, Oct. 3-11, starting with a game at Columbus, Ohio, on Oct. 3.
The Columbus Crew sold out its 22,485-seat stadium for the game, even though the opponent is not known. It then added 1,000 bleacher seats and sold them out in a day. Clearly, the U.S. women remain the most popular soccer team in the country.
GOLDEN GIRLS
Led by the stellar play of marvelously named goalkeeper Hope Solo and a superb goal by defender Catherine Reddick, the United States Under-18 women’s national team won the gold medal at the Pan American Games at Winnipeg, Canada, defeating Mexico, 1-0, in the final.
“Two weeks after they [the women’s national team] won the World Cup gold, people were asking us if we were the World Cup team,” Reddick said. “We said, ‘No, we’re their understudies, and that’s where we like to be. We want to grow and become like a Brandi Chastain or a Mia Hamm.’ It was awesome.”
Solo made 11 saves to earn her third shutout in the Games. She has not given up a goal in six starts for the U.S. this year.
LOCAL SCENE
Fans of Mexican soccer have the opportunity to see four of the country’s leading teams today at the Coliseum.
At noon, Mexico’s champion, Toluca, plays Cruz Azul. At 2 p.m., there is a rematch of the country’s classic rivalry, Club America against Chivas of Guadalajara. The last such doubleheader drew 47,197 to the Coliseum in January.
The games are not exhibitions. They are qualifying matches for the Libertadores Cup, the South American tournament in which Mexican clubs recently have been invited to participate.
QUICK PASSES
U.S. national team midfielder Claudio Reyna got off to the best possible start in Glasgow, scoring the winning goal for league and cup champion Rangers on the opening day of the Scottish season.
