TS Kamali
Major League Soccer could do with learning a thing or two about selling its sport at its most visible time. After a season of coverage from ESPN, the Fox Soccer Channel and various Spanish network stations, the league recently had their chance at network television on ABC with the showing of the MLS final.
They didn’t take advantage of it.
Here was a game taking place at The Home Depot Center, the pitch where MLS’ biggest name and biggest American star play their home games and both were a no-show for the half-time award ceremony. Is it because David Beckham and Landon Donovan are having problems with the league?
No one is saying.
Having back to back years of not playing in the post-season, Beckham, in an effort to save his international career, went on his own to search for a team to train with. He chose AC Milan. We’ll wait and see if one of the most powerful clubs in the world can pry him away from MLS on a more permanent basis.
Donovan also made contact with a foreign club of his own, Bayern Munich, and returned to Germany, a country in which he has played before with only mixed success.
At his annual state-of-the-league address at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza, MLS’ Commissioner Don Garber said the ownership group from Montreal had dropped out of the running to be one of the two expansion clubs that will enter the league in 2011.
But reports out of Montreal claim that isn’t so. It is believed Montreal’s ownership group feels the $40 million price tag is just too high. More than likely, a joint statement saying both sides agreed to go their separate ways will be released at some point.
This leaves six cities – Portland, Ore.; Vancouver; St. Louis; Ottawa; Miami and Atlanta – in the running. Rumour has it that many cities are complaining the expansion fee is too high, but the league has set its price and will lose a lot of credibility if the fee is lowered.
But I digress. Back to the final.
The final itself saw Columbus Crew lifting the MLS Cup by seeing off New York Red Bulls 3-1. Particularly impressive was the performance put in by Boca Juniors old boy Guillermo Barros Schelotto who provided the assist for each of Columbus’ goals.
During the half-time ceremony the MLS honoured the Best XI, their top players in each position this year, chosen by the media, players, coaches and general managers. Unfortunately, just a handful of the players showed up, which took away from the moment and made the awards themselves seem trivial.
Another problem was the embarrassing number of empty seats at the game.
A league spokesman said all 27,000 seats were sold and they can’t be responsible if people don’t show up. Commissioner Garber said one of the ideas the league is considering is having the highest remaining seed after the two conference finals host the MLS Cup. He said now that the league has more stadiums at its disposal it could be done.
That would certainly solve the problem of empty seats, but it would require the host team to have to do a lot in a short period of time to prepare for the game, and it would require the host city to do the same.
But then again, this is the MLS, and things being thought through clearly isn’t its strong suit.
