As Attendance Levels Off, MLS Needs Changes
Major League Soccer’s attendance declined for the third consecutive year, even if it was only minimally, to an average of 14,282 per game.
But wait a minute.
Take away just two of a number of asterisks--the San Jose Clash’s doubleheader with the U.S. women’s national team (73,123 at Stanford Stadium for a Women’s World Cup ’99 semifinal game against Brazil) and the Galaxy’s Fourth of July fireworks game (60,433 at the Rose Bowl)--and the “real” average drops considerably.
Even being generous and counting attendance at those two games in the season averages of the Clash and the Galaxy, the league attendance becomes 13,755 a game.
It was 17,406 in 1996, the league’s inaugural season. That figure fell to 14,619 in 1997 and to 14,312 a year ago.
There were asterisks in each of those seasons too, but even granting the league its 1999 figure of 14,282, it still means that MLS has been treading water for three years.
The quality of play has improved each season, but until the so-called “investor-operators” put more into the game in terms of player acquisition, marketing, better television production and so on, 14,000 a game is what they will draw.
Fortunately, there are some positive signs. The new stadium Lamar Hunt built in Columbus this season is one. The possibility of a new stadium in Los Angeles is another. The probable purchase of the Tampa Bay Mutiny is a third.
The fact that more than 20,000 tickets have been sold in neutral Foxboro, Mass., for the championship game Nov. 21 can be taken as an indication of strength.
Signing top American players such as Brian McBride and Chris Armas also is good news, but it might be offset if MLS loses such players as Eddie Lewis and Stern John. Both are eyeing Europe.
Bringing Germany’s Lothar Matthaeus, Italy’s Giuseppe Bergomi or Ghana’s Anthony Yeboah into the league next season is not the answer. If current stars are too expensive, fans would prefer those from the future, not those from the past.
To tell the difference, just look at the impact Carlos Hermosillo has had in L.A., compared to the impact Jorge Campos had.
Commissioner Don Garber has the chance to make a statement when he addresses the league’s owners and the media in Boston at MLS Cup ’99.
He can voice what already is known--that the shootout will be scuttled--or he can say something truly new. Hopefully, it will be the latter.
AN UGLY COMMENT
The United Soccer Leagues, the umbrella organization that oversees the nation’s second- and third-division clubs, among them the A-League, has stolen a march on MLS.
It has announced that, starting next season, games will be allowed to end in ties after a period of sudden-death overtime. That brings the USL into line with the rest of the world, if not MLS.
The change, after 14 years of experimenting with shootouts and tiebreakers, comes as the result of a poll of fans on the USL’s Web site, https://www.unitedsoccerleagues.com.
Almost 80% of fans favored seeing games end in ties, but their victory was not complete. Instead of the globally accepted two 15-minute periods of overtime, which fans voted for, there will be two 10-minute periods.
Teams will continue to get four points for a victory, but ties will be worth one point to each team.
Oddly enough, Francisco Marcos, the Portuguese-born president of USL, doesn’t like the change.
“I think this is a dangerous attempt at giving the new purists of American soccer their day,” he said. “We’ll see how it goes for one year and we’ll see just how many of these soccer purists there are that say Americans will accept ties.
“We are keeping the value of a victory at four points. We want to discourage draws by making the gap between a tie and a victory significant. We want to make the tie, or kissing your sister, as it is referred to in America, like kissing the ugliest sister in a multi-sister family.”
Ugh!
MLS, meanwhile, is expected to announce later this month that it is abandoning the shootout, although in favor of what is not yet known. Garber has been quoted as saying that MLS team owners view ties as “un-American.”
DOLLARS AND SENSE
How important was the Galaxy’s game against Necaxa of Mexico at the Rose Bowl last summer?
Well, if the Galaxy had won, it would have qualified for the CONCACAF Champions Cup in Las Vegas. Instead, Necaxa went and the U.S. was represented by Washington D.C. United and the Chicago Fire.
How important was it for either D.C. United or the Fire to have won that event?
Well, it would have qualified one of the teams for the inaugural FIFA World Club Championship in Brazil in January. Instead, Necaxa qualified.
And how important is that to Necaxa?
Well, it nets the Mexican club a minimum of
$2.5 million just for taking part. FIFA last week announced its prize money for the eight-team, Jan. 5-14 event in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.
The winner gets $6 million, the runner-up $5 million and the third-place team $4 million. Each of the other five teams is guaranteed at least $2.5 million.
Perhaps if FIFA had mentioned the prize money before now, the MLS clubs would have tried harder. Their annual player payroll is not much more than $1 million a team.
LOOKING AHEAD
Once the MLS season ends Nov. 21, Los Angeles-area fans will not have long to wait before soccer returns.
Plans are being made for a two-game series at the L.A. Coliseum in early January that would pit Armenia against Iran and Iran against the United States.
In addition, there is talk of an under-21 tournament, with Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid coaching the U.S. team in games against Chile, Mexico and South Korea.
LOOKING FURTHER AHEAD
Can Los Angeles look forward to a new soccer stadium?
According to Sergio del Prado, the Galaxy’s general manager, a decision will be made “within the next three or four months” on whether and where to build a new home for the MLS team.
Four sites are under consideration for a soccer-only stadium, which Del Prado said would seat 30,000-35,000 fans. One is in Carson, one is at Hollywood Park and two are near downtown L.A.
The Galaxy’s average attendance in 1999 was 17,632, but the stadium’s projected larger capacity is based partly on hope and partly on the international games that would be played there.
If the go-ahead is given by Galaxy owner Phil Anschutz, the stadium could be completed in time for the 2002 MLS season.
MUTINY FOR SALE
The Dallas Burn and Tampa Bay Mutiny are the only two of 12 MLS clubs operated by the league. Soon, the number might be down to one.
According to Nick Sakiewicz, the Mutiny’s general manager, the team has a serious potential investor in New York investment banker Scott Gordon.
Garber confirmed to the Tampa Tribune that negotiations were underway with Gordon, president and chief executive officer of ING Emerging Markets.
The company is a subsidiary of the ING Group, a multinational Dutch banking and investment firm that focuses on the Latin American market, much as MLS does in its player acquisition and television transactions.
“[Gordon] has significant means at his disposal and is a real soccer guy, someone who played the sport [at Bowdoin College in Maine],” Garber told the Tribune. “Now, he’s looking to invest in the game and its future in this country.”
FLYING THE FLAG
It may be simply a coincidence but . . . Claudio Reyna’s Glasgow Rangers are in first place in Scotland; John O’Brien’s Ajax Amsterdam is in second place in the Netherlands; Kasey Keller’s Rayo Vallecano is in first place in Spain; Brad Friedel’s Liverpool is sixth and climbing in England; Tony Sanneh’s Hertha Berlin is in the final 16 of the European Champions League; Frankie Hejduk’s Bayer Leverkusen is in third place in Germany.
In short, U.S. national team players in Europe no longer have to content themselves with playing for lower division clubs or also-rans. Times have changed.
