Outlook Is as Bright as It Can Be
Watching Major League Baseball squirm under the harsh spotlight of a congressional hearing into steroid use earlier this month, Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber offered a silent prayer of thanks.
“It’s a great position for us to be in, not to have our players subpoenaed to testify in Congress,” he said during a recent visit to Los Angeles.
“Within their collective bargaining agreement with us, our players agreed to the strictest drug-testing policy of just about any league across the world, and certainly here in the United States.”
That provision, Garber said, “gives the commissioner’s office the option to cancel an MLS player’s contract for one performance-enhancing drug violation” -- a one-strike rule, in other words.
“That was not a tough agreement to get because our players ... know what position they have in our community and what role they play in representing our league and our sport,” he said.
Baseball’s steroid controversy, the NHL’s labor impasse and the NBA’s image problems have provided more than enough reasons for Garber to view his own league in a glowing light these days.
Saturday, MLS begins its 10th season and, in Garber’s opinion, it does so in better shape than at any time since the league’s debut in 1996.
Which is not to say that significant hurdles do not exist -- primarily public acknowledgment that Major League Soccer is what its name implies.
“Over the last nine years, we have accomplished, I think, far more than most people thought we would,” Garber said.
“We’re coming off the best year in the history of our league. It’s a year when our attendance increased. Our television ratings improved. We signed a five-year collective bargaining agreement with our players. We signed a 10-year sponsorship agreement with Adidas for $150 million.
“We announced two new stadium construction projects, in Denver and in Chicago, and we announced the expansion of our league with the addition of Chivas USA and Real Salt Lake.”
In August, FC Dallas will open the league’s third soccer-specific stadium, in suburban Frisco, Texas, where MLS Cup 2005, the league’s championship match, will be played Nov. 13. There also are stadiums planned for D.C. United, for the New York-area MetroStars and for Real Salt Lake.
The league will expand again in 2007, when Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment is expected to launch a team in Toronto at a stadium being built on the York University campus.
Garber described Toronto as “a leading contender” to become the first non-U.S. club in MLS and, virtually confirming that move as a done deal, said, “The 14th team will come from either Houston, San Antonio, Seattle or Cleveland.”
Meanwhile, this season brings another first as MLS launches a reserve league. Rosters have been expanded to 28 players to accommodate a second-tier of competition for players not on the first team.
“They will play a 12-game -- six home, six away -- schedule,” Garber said, adding that additional games against A-League teams were possible. On the field, MLS will look slightly different in 2005. The addition of Chivas USA and Real Salt Lake has resulted in realignment, and the Kansas City Wizards, champions in 2000 and second to champion D.C. United in 2004, have been moved from the Western Conference to the Eastern.
Lamar Hunt has the Wizards up for sale, however, just as the Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) continues to seek buyers for its San Jose and Washington teams.
D.C. United, which has won four of the nine titles in MLS history, is defending champion. Coach Peter Nowak’s squad will be sharing RFK Stadium this season with baseball’s Nationals while each team awaits construction of its new stadium.
Just to make things interesting for the MLS players, the pitching mound at RFK has been designed to retract into the ground and the infield will be covered by grass matting that, in theory, will be securely anchored.
The league’s heralded rookie of 2004, Freddy Adu, returns for a second season, having won a championship with D.C. United. But Adu’s Year 2 might be overshadowed by other developments.
Chief among those are the return to MLS of several U.S. national team players, not least of them Landon Donovan when his move from Germany to the Galaxy is completed.
Also back from Europe are Clint Mathis, whose penchant for living in the fast lane is likely to provide several stories out of Salt Lake City, and Greg Vanney, the former UCLA and Galaxy defender who has joined FC Dallas, where he will be able to compare Los Angeles tales with Carlos Ruiz.
Among the foreign players coming into the league, the one with the highest international profile is Youri Djorkaeff, the midfielder-forward who helped France win the 1998 World Cup and the 2000 European championship.
Djorkaeff, 37, was signed by the MetroStars, but his MLS debut has been delayed by a strained left hamstring -- the league’s first noteworthy injury of the season.
Looming as the most interesting unfolding story, however, will be the city-sharing, stadium-sharing but probably not fan-sharing arrangement whereby the Galaxy and Chivas USA will battle for the hearts and minds of Los Angeles-area fans.
“The Chivas expansion project, as we call it, is something that we hope will be a smashing success and can potentially be replicated with other international clubs, whether they be from Mexico or [elsewhere],” Garber said. “We continue our discussions with Club America [of Mexico] and they continue to have an interest in getting involved in the league.
“We have been in discussions with a handful of European teams, to be unnamed for now, that are interested in what we are doing with Chivas and are watching closely....
“Part of the value for MLS will be to prove to Mexican-Americans here [in Los Angeles] and to prove to the Mexican community in Mexico and to the international sports community that this league is far more competitive than they give us credit for.”
The fact that it is also free of the troubles that beset baseball, hockey and basketball is just another plus.
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Last of the Originals
As MLS begins its 10th season, only 17 players remain who have been with the league since its inception. They are:
* Jeff Agoos, MetroStars
* Chris Armas, Chicago Fire
* Mark Chung, Colorado Rapids
* Robin Fraser, Columbus Crew
* Diego Gutierrez, Kansas City Wizards
* Chris Henderson, Colorado Rapids
* Cobi Jones, Galaxy
* Brian Kamler, Real Salt Lake
* Jason Kreis, Real Salt Lake
* Manny Lagos, Columbus Crew
* Jesse Marsch, Chicago Fire
* Jaime Moreno, D.C. United
* Eddie Pope, Real Salt Lake
* Preki, Kansas City Wizards
* Steve Ralston, New England Revolution
* Ante Razov, Chicago Fire
* Zach Thornton, Chicago Fire
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Major League Soccer 2005 Lineup
*--* Team Founded Coach Titles Won EASTERN CONFERENCE Chicago Fire 1998 Dave Sarachan 1998 Columbus Crew 1996 Greg Andrulis None D.C. United 1996 Peter Nowak 1996, 1997, 1999, 2004 Kansas City Wizards 1996 Bob Gansler 2000 MetroStars 1996 Bob Bradley None New England 1996 Steve Nicol None Revolution WESTERN CONFERENCE Chivas USA 2005 Thomas Rongen None Colorado Rapids 1996 Fernando Clavijo None FC Dallas 1996 Colin Clarke None Galaxy 1996 Steve Sampson 2002 Real Salt Lake 2005 John Ellinger None San Jose Earthquakes 1996 Dominic Kinnear 2001, 2003
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