I was watching Fox Soccer Channel's Fox Soccer Report last night
and they told the story of a Boca Jr fan who was sueing a River Plate
fan. It turned out that the Boca fan wanted a huge Boca tattoo on his
back but the Tattoo artist was a River fan. Being an avid fan to say
the least, the River Tattoo Artist tattooed a huge genitalia onto the
Boca fan's back. The Boca fan didn't realize it until he proudly
displayed his new "Boca" tattoo to his parents! That would be a shock!
All this somehow got me thinking of what I would set forth as a
10 year plan if I was the MLS Commissioner and was allowed to
take whatever means necessary (save wholesale brainwashing) to
build the MLS into the #2 Major League sport in the United States.
(Don't ask me how I made that transition)
Anyway, here is my list:
1. I would stop or significately reduce the MLS' attempts at wooing
the Spanish speaking population. Spanish speaking fans are already
fans of soccer (herto referred to as football). And they are extremely
dedicated to their home club.(As seen in the story above) While they
might, eventually adopt an American team as their own, they will
never replace their home clubwith an American one. No amount of
propaganda will cause them to become fans of a certain MLS club.
They will respond to good football on the pitch. Therefore, I would
refocus the efforts of the MLS to building support in the English
speaking portion of the United States. The vast majority of those
people are not currently football fans, yet they are the ones who
will eventually cause football to leap frog over the NHL, NBA and
MLB into second place behind the NFL. Spanish speaking fans may
help fill stadiums (although I am not even convinced about that) but
they will not accomplish the larger goal of nationwide interest.
2. I would begin making plans to move the MLS season to August
through May with a one month Holiday break from the weekend of
December 15th to the weekend of January 15th. This would require
that retractable ceilings be added to every stadium in the MLS except
Houston and LA.
3. I would increase the cooperation between the lower leagues and
the MLS with player loans. This would give the opportunity to certain
players to play year round and would develop players more quickly.
It would bring some MLS players to the lower leagues, thus increasing
the level of play and the potential development of those players. It
would allow good players in the lower leagues to train and possibly
come off the bench in MLS matches or Tournement matches during
their off season. (Since the lower leagues would still play during the
summer) And it would give added incentive for fans of the lower
league teams to follow an MLS team that has a player from their
club on loan or who has had an MLS player on loan to them. Just
more reasons to attend matches and watch them on television.
4. I would add at least three more teams to the MLS. Two being in
the States (St. Louis and Minneapolis being my favorites) and one in
Cananda (Winnipeg, Calgary, Vancouver or Quebec City {the French
aspect of Quebec might be very interesting from a fan perspective}
being possible locations).
5. I would begin to plan for changing the format of the MLS seaason to
a system that would begin with Qualifiers where each team plays the
others two times (eliminating East and West). The top 8 teams would
then be entered in the MLS Cup Finals where they would be drawn into
two, four team groups, playing a round robin tournament. The winners
of the two groups would then play a home and away series to determine
the MLS Cup Champion. This combines aspects from the World Cup,
the Champions League and typical American structures. I truly feel that
having the MLS Cup at neutral locations has the same debilitating affect
that we see in the Super Bowl. If we want this sport to be a sport of
the fans similar to how Baseball used to be then we must eliminate
the one off MLS Cup at a neutral site concept. If we want it to become
the sport of the elite (which it may never become) then keep doing
things like we are. Life-long memories of Championships are made
to a degree by watching it on the television but they are really
life-changing events when they are experienced in person. And even
moreso if it would happen in your home stadium. Wow! Think of the
memories! My Kansas City Wizards won the MLS Cup. But the memory
that still gives me goose-bumps was the match that got us there
which I attended at our home stadium, Arrowhead. That is what I think
of when I remember that amazing season, not the Final.
6. I would work out an exclusive television deal with ABC for at least
20 years. With the requirement that the matches would be shown
on ABC, live. At least two each week with two others being shown
on ESPN and ESPN2. And all Finals matches being shown live on
ABC. MLS matches must be shown live, weekly on free TV for the
mass public to have any chance at becoming fans. Fox Soccer Channel,
GolTV and the others are great channels but the only way to reach
the the American viewer is to have the matches live on free TV. There
is no other way.
7. I would change the schedule of the matches to one Thursday night
match to be carried live on ESPN or ESPN2. One Saturday night match
to be carried live on ESPN or ESPN2 and six Sunday afternoon
matches, two of which would be carried live on ABC. The first would
begin at 1pm Central Time and the second at 4pm Central Time. The
hour in between would be a show that would highlight the Thursday,
Saturday and other Sunday matches and would provide previews of
the upcoming Sunday matches. There would be at least six teams
that would have no scheduling problems with NFL teams since their
cities do not have NFL teams. These would be the Galaxy, Chivas,
Real, Columbus, Toronto and the other Canadian team. And by
balancing the start times to be opposite any conflicting matches
and games this schedule should have no problem of working.
Americans are used to setting aside Sunday afternoons to watch
sports. The MLS must use this to attract American fans. Trying
to get them to add yet another day to their sports schedule is
not the best choice. We also should not be trying to syphon off
NFL fans specifically anyway (as far as those who attend games).
Most of them will not make the transition. And that is fine. There
are plenty others out there. But I truly feel that when there is
a dull American football game on and the typical fan is channel
surfing, he/she may stop and watch a bit of a MLS match if it were
on. And after getting to know the sport, it makes watching football
very difficult. American football is painfully slow and people
generally hate commercials. But the MLS must have its product
there, ready and available. These fans are not going to go out
searching for a football match to watch. The MLS must provide
them the opportunity, and that will be best provided on a Major
Television Network (ABC is the one that has a huge sports heritage
and does not carry any NFL games) on Sunday afternoons when they
are already watching or available to attend a sporting event.
8. I would work out a television deal for the lower leagues to at least
get the away matches shown on local television. Even if that means
cable access to begin with. I would outfit every stadium with multiple
professional cameras and crews and make sure that every away match
is shown live for the fans of the away team to contnue to cheer on their
club in their homes or at the local sports bar. Most of these teams are
in much smaller cities and the fans are more likely to get together and
support their club than would be fans from a larger metro area.
9. I would have the MLS invest more money into the lower leagues
in order to increase interest in football throughout the nation and in
as many cities as possible on a professional level. This will only help
the MLS in the long run via fan base and player development.
10. I would start soccer academies at every MLS club and work
toward the reduction of college soccer in the United States. There
would be no need to eliminate it but the goal would be for every
potential player to forego college and attend an MLS Academy. I would
stress the educational part of college through the many local
universities in each of the MLS cities but if they are serious about
football, they should be trained by the best and not wasted on the
college game. Until we have better player development starting
by at least by 12 years of age, we will never rise to the top as a league
or as a national side. The goal would be to advance an MLS team to
the club team World Cup and have a serious run at winning the World
Cup in 2014.
Those are my ten suggestions for the next ten years concerning the
MLS. Your comments would be greatly appreciated. Day-dreaming
is fun sometimes.
Nicholas