After waiting until half way through the season to finally order the Direct Kick MLS package, I can finally catch up on what I have been missing and I have to say that I'm not happy about the current state of US Soccer.
As defined by wikipedia.com, "Jumping the shark is an idiom used to describe the moment of downturn for a previously successful enterprise. The phrase was originally used to denote the point in a television program's history where the plot spins off into absurd story lines or unlikely characterizations. These changes were often the result of efforts to revive interest in a show whose audience had begun to decline, usually through the employment of different actors, writers or producers."
Let me say that I want MLS to succeed. I love the sport and I know that it can succeed domestically if done correctly. Without trying to stir up some sports war, I will still posit that soccer is superior to baseball or US Football, for multiple reasons that are beyond the scope of this post. What I have seen so far for this season has depressed me. For MLS to survive, it must start taking itself seriously. Most of MLS's current failings come down to the four time-honored US media misconceptions about the sport of soccer, which are: 1.) Soccer is a woman's game, 2.) Soccer is a child's game, 3.) Soccer is a game for "ignorant peasant immigrants", and 4.) Soccer cannot stand on its own as an sport.
I have a problem with the whole Designated Player concept. It stinks of a marketing gimmick. DPs are a relatively new phenomena designed to allow a team to acquire a "star" player without impacting the team's salary cap. This comes back to the fourth media misconception that without "star" power, the games are simply too boring to endure. Red Bull New York just announced its third DP, Mexican international Rafael Marquez right on the heals of its Thierry Henry acquisition. It's rather illustrative about Henry's announcement of his retirement from international football. I have often joked about all of these European stars "retiring" into the MLS. Please guys, we aren't stupid. Can we say "hello, NASL II"?
We have other problems endemic to the MLS that are coming to the fore. The appalling stadium situation has taken a turn for the worse. Yes, it's true that Toronto's stadium, BMO Field, has finally gone to natural grass, NY and Philly have opened beautiful new stadiums just this year with Kansas City to follow next year and Houston right after that. Problems remain though, starting with San Jose.
No one yet has figured out exactly the story with the San Jose Earthquakes. They began life in 1995 as the SJ Clash before re-branding as the Earthquakes in 2000. In 2005, they closed their doors and had much of the team relocate to Houston as the new team Dynamo. The reason given for the move was the Earthquakes failure to secure a stadium. They had been using the crappy little Spartan Stadium for their games, hardly appropriate for professional soccer.
Now fast-forward to 2008. San Jose Earthquakes enter the league with the same brand image but with something noticeably still missing: a stadium! Its worse, they don't even have a home field now, with games rotating around the bay area, the situation is a terrible one for Earthquake fans.
MLS is known for applying pressure on clubs to build soccer specific stadiums. A club which isn't a primary tenant at their home field is not a profitable club. The great Earthquake mystery is why after they basically lost their franchise due to failure to deliver a stadium were they permitted to re-establish the club with an even worse situation after three short years. Two years on and there is no movement whatsoever to a remedy for the Earthquake situation.
This brings us to the sister teams of the New England Revolution and the Seattle Sounders. Both teams are situated as secondary tenants in US Football stadiums. I don't know which team angers me more, it could be a tie. For the first few years of the Revs playing at CMGI Field (now Gillette Stadium) in Roxborough, MA, MLS actually allowed them to refer to their carpeted monstrosity as a "soccer-specific stadium" as week after week we were subjugated by the ever-distracting hash marks and Patriots logo used by the stadium's primary tenant. MLS always had to dance the dance, adjusting the schedules here and there to accommodate the NFL's schedule.
Then in 2006, after what must have been a grueling Patriot loss to New York Jets a mere two days after some rain, the playing surface was deemed a wreck and management decided that a carpet would be the way to go. This highlights the futility of trying to operate a world-class professional team as a secondary tenant in a stadium. When the interests of the Patriots conflict with the interests of the Revs, you can bet that the Revs will lose every time.
Oh but it gets worse. Just this February, Gillette Stadium was graced with an upgraded carpet, one that supposedly conforms to FIFA's specifications, added for the Revs. Let us forget about that fact that no professional soccer clubs in any other developed nation would actually subject their players to the joint-crushing, ligament-tearing carpets that FIFA now allows, the Revs actually promote the fact that their carpet is FIFA approved. Even more, the team is signaling that with this new carpet, you can forget about any new stadium ideas, or even natural grass, they're happy with their current arrangement. MLS should revoke that franchise and send it elsewhere, somewhere that takes soccer a bit more seriously. Once again, MLS, we aren't stupid.
So now we come to the Seattle situation, which is a bit more nefarious in my opinion. MLS and all of its fans were swindled by Seattle and the damage was quite severe. The stadium was specifically designed for football, for Paul Allen's pride and joy, the Seattle Seahawks. At the time they were building Qwest Field however, they were having trouble getting voter and politician approval for their $450 million palace. This meant that the promoters had to throw every possible use that they could find into the mix to get approval, which meant high school and college football matches and special events. Finding that they still needed more to sway a skeptical public they sold the fans and ignorant politicians that the stadium could also be used for soccer, ignoring all the inherent problems that such arrangements bring. Now Paul Allen has a pet project, a MLS team that plays seconds to a NFL franchise on a carpet in an over-sized bowl while MLS sits back and says "This is good!" and allows Seattle to get away with the lies that this is somehow a "soccer-specific" stadium. Thanks but no thanks, MLS. You guys allowed yourselves to be used by some big money men in some Pacific power play. It's time that MLS took the game as seriously as the Seattle fans do.
Enough about the stadiums. Something else that is equally bothersome are MLS teams prostituting themselves out to European clubs. Sure, it has become common for European teams to go on these exhibition tours to different parts of the world as they prepare for their upcoming seasons. What is unheard of though are teams participating in these exhibitions right smack in the midst of their domestic league schedules. These games couldn't come at a worse time as teams are entering the stretch, having to deal with injuries and player fatigue. It would be unimaginable for any European clubs to engage in some exhibition match in February, they simply have too much self-respect for that, something that MLS does not.
I have droned on a bit long for a blog post but I am only just now warming up, I could go on about the MLS selling its best players to European teams, failing to develop domestic talent, the almost complete abdication of fostering mainstream acceptance of the sport, the over-the-top marketing slant to Hispanics, the constant promotions of concepts foreign to the sport (MLS Works), obsessively promoting unrelated aspects of matches as if the sport cannot stand for itself without assistance, etc, etc... MLS falls for every media misconception about that sport. Its not getting better, its getting worse. MLS does not take itself seriously and has jumped the shark.
I have a problem with the whole Designated Player concept. It stinks of a marketing gimmick. DPs are a relatively new phenomena designed to allow a team to acquire a "star" player without impacting the team's salary cap. This comes back to the fourth media misconception that without "star" power, the games are simply too boring to endure. Red Bull New York just announced its third DP, Mexican international Rafael Marquez right on the heals of its Thierry Henry acquisition. It's rather illustrative about Henry's announcement of his retirement from international football. I have often joked about all of these European stars "retiring" into the MLS. Please guys, we aren't stupid. Can we say "hello, NASL II"?
We have other problems endemic to the MLS that are coming to the fore. The appalling stadium situation has taken a turn for the worse. Yes, it's true that Toronto's stadium, BMO Field, has finally gone to natural grass, NY and Philly have opened beautiful new stadiums just this year with Kansas City to follow next year and Houston right after that. Problems remain though, starting with San Jose.
No one yet has figured out exactly the story with the San Jose Earthquakes. They began life in 1995 as the SJ Clash before re-branding as the Earthquakes in 2000. In 2005, they closed their doors and had much of the team relocate to Houston as the new team Dynamo. The reason given for the move was the Earthquakes failure to secure a stadium. They had been using the crappy little Spartan Stadium for their games, hardly appropriate for professional soccer.
Now fast-forward to 2008. San Jose Earthquakes enter the league with the same brand image but with something noticeably still missing: a stadium! Its worse, they don't even have a home field now, with games rotating around the bay area, the situation is a terrible one for Earthquake fans.
MLS is known for applying pressure on clubs to build soccer specific stadiums. A club which isn't a primary tenant at their home field is not a profitable club. The great Earthquake mystery is why after they basically lost their franchise due to failure to deliver a stadium were they permitted to re-establish the club with an even worse situation after three short years. Two years on and there is no movement whatsoever to a remedy for the Earthquake situation.
This brings us to the sister teams of the New England Revolution and the Seattle Sounders. Both teams are situated as secondary tenants in US Football stadiums. I don't know which team angers me more, it could be a tie. For the first few years of the Revs playing at CMGI Field (now Gillette Stadium) in Roxborough, MA, MLS actually allowed them to refer to their carpeted monstrosity as a "soccer-specific stadium" as week after week we were subjugated by the ever-distracting hash marks and Patriots logo used by the stadium's primary tenant. MLS always had to dance the dance, adjusting the schedules here and there to accommodate the NFL's schedule.
Then in 2006, after what must have been a grueling Patriot loss to New York Jets a mere two days after some rain, the playing surface was deemed a wreck and management decided that a carpet would be the way to go. This highlights the futility of trying to operate a world-class professional team as a secondary tenant in a stadium. When the interests of the Patriots conflict with the interests of the Revs, you can bet that the Revs will lose every time.
Oh but it gets worse. Just this February, Gillette Stadium was graced with an upgraded carpet, one that supposedly conforms to FIFA's specifications, added for the Revs. Let us forget about that fact that no professional soccer clubs in any other developed nation would actually subject their players to the joint-crushing, ligament-tearing carpets that FIFA now allows, the Revs actually promote the fact that their carpet is FIFA approved. Even more, the team is signaling that with this new carpet, you can forget about any new stadium ideas, or even natural grass, they're happy with their current arrangement. MLS should revoke that franchise and send it elsewhere, somewhere that takes soccer a bit more seriously. Once again, MLS, we aren't stupid.
So now we come to the Seattle situation, which is a bit more nefarious in my opinion. MLS and all of its fans were swindled by Seattle and the damage was quite severe. The stadium was specifically designed for football, for Paul Allen's pride and joy, the Seattle Seahawks. At the time they were building Qwest Field however, they were having trouble getting voter and politician approval for their $450 million palace. This meant that the promoters had to throw every possible use that they could find into the mix to get approval, which meant high school and college football matches and special events. Finding that they still needed more to sway a skeptical public they sold the fans and ignorant politicians that the stadium could also be used for soccer, ignoring all the inherent problems that such arrangements bring. Now Paul Allen has a pet project, a MLS team that plays seconds to a NFL franchise on a carpet in an over-sized bowl while MLS sits back and says "This is good!" and allows Seattle to get away with the lies that this is somehow a "soccer-specific" stadium. Thanks but no thanks, MLS. You guys allowed yourselves to be used by some big money men in some Pacific power play. It's time that MLS took the game as seriously as the Seattle fans do.
Enough about the stadiums. Something else that is equally bothersome are MLS teams prostituting themselves out to European clubs. Sure, it has become common for European teams to go on these exhibition tours to different parts of the world as they prepare for their upcoming seasons. What is unheard of though are teams participating in these exhibitions right smack in the midst of their domestic league schedules. These games couldn't come at a worse time as teams are entering the stretch, having to deal with injuries and player fatigue. It would be unimaginable for any European clubs to engage in some exhibition match in February, they simply have too much self-respect for that, something that MLS does not.
I have droned on a bit long for a blog post but I am only just now warming up, I could go on about the MLS selling its best players to European teams, failing to develop domestic talent, the almost complete abdication of fostering mainstream acceptance of the sport, the over-the-top marketing slant to Hispanics, the constant promotions of concepts foreign to the sport (MLS Works), obsessively promoting unrelated aspects of matches as if the sport cannot stand for itself without assistance, etc, etc... MLS falls for every media misconception about that sport. Its not getting better, its getting worse. MLS does not take itself seriously and has jumped the shark.
