Room for Two Soccer Games in Town

In Grahame Jones’ March 20 article [“Legal Fight Simply a Joke”], he argues that the U.S. Soccer Federation should be free to restrict the leading international foreign teams from playing in matches that may compete with those of the Galaxy and other Major League Soccer teams. He supports his case by demeaning most soccer fans and encouraging blatant anti-competitive conduct.

Jones insults the fans when he says that having already spent money on our Tuesday match featuring Chivas and Pumas, they would be unable to pay to attend tonight’s Galaxy game. Most fans would prefer to attend the match of their choice, not Jones’. But for the sake of argument, supposing there was a segment of the populace that did have to choose, would it have been “reasonable,” as Jones asserts, to withhold approval of a match the soccer fans wanted to see, merely because it might have an effect on attendance for MLS? Would it not be more “reasonable” to allow free enterprise to exist unfettered and let the consumers decide what event they would like to attend?

In contrast to what Jones believes, the Coliseum Commission’s lawsuit has nothing to do with financial survival or the pending construction of a competing facility in Carson. And anti-competitive restrictions challenged by the suit have resulted in countless proposed games being lost for lack of sanctioning--sanctions that were withheld long before anyone was talking about Carson.

Jones says MLS teams are “powerless” to do anything about a match deemed to be in conflict with their schedule. Why not just compete? Or is that too old-fashioned an ideal for pro sports?

The soccer mavens have a stranglehold on pro soccer in the United States. They justify their authority on the “Amateur Sports Act.” They, like Jones, have turned logic on its head.

Patrick T. Lynch

General manager, L.A. Memorial Coliseum Commission