Is this just an issue related to possibly bankrupting the league? I see some of these older players go to the middle east and play for like a mil a year, why not pay them that if you are gonna pay Freddy 500K. (before anyone jumps down my throat, yes I know this is a stupid question)
I see you are fairly new to these boards, and thus will restrain myself. To summarize - MLS has used this approach from 1996 thru roughly 2001, birnging in plyaers like Donadoni, Zenga, Matthaus, etc. The list goes on and on. Overall, the tactic has failed. With the exception of select few, most of these stars were either way over the hill to actually be the best players on the field, while some just viewed MLS season as a paid vacation to the States. Besides the players often failing to produce on the field, they also failed at the gate. For the most part, the benefit they provided to attendance and overall soccer-buzz in the area was miniscule. Adu may be getting $500K for mostly sitting on the bench, but he's definitely making an impact off-the-pitch. Quality of MLS players is considerably higher than their middle-eastern counterparts. So, you just can't expect Batistuta to walk around the field and dominate the same way he may in Qatar. Thankfully, MLS has become smarter and has tried to bring in relatively cheap young stars from overseas such as Ruiz and Taylor. They provide flavor that Americans may lack and don't cost an arm-and-a-leg. However, MLS will forever be greatful to those foreign stars that took their MLS stints seriuosly - Valderrama, Donadoni, Nowak, Etcheverry, etc.
The money would be better spent if we gave it directly to Mike Tyson so that he might continue his good works.
The first few years of Etcheverry's MLS stint he was excellent, but the last few years he was a diving, whining, time wasting, lazy piece of crap.
None of which, you'll notice, were in the massively overpaid category. Probably the best "high priced import" would be Luis Hernandez. He played well enough, considering the part of his career he was in, but not spectacularly. Unfortunately for Luis and MLS, there was virtually no attendance bump beyond his first couple of months in the league. The league, however, has already made back its investment in Freddy. Between higher ratings, all sorts of magazines that don't really cover soccer covering Freddy, and most imporantly merchandise sales. To me, the ultimate success story of the league is Stern John.
Herzog seems to be paying off quite well, thank you very much. Too bad Batistuta seems hell bent on the UK, cuz I'm sure Vergara would have ponied up the money for him.
Well I am not jumping on your throat either but if you pay more attention to MLS we do not need more than two foreing players per team and MLS is not the play for few old turds, I do not think that you want to see our beloved soccer league turn into a sewage treatment plant. What we could really use is few old coaches from europe or from argentina because the one we have right now they just plain SUCK....
And man, what about the recent game against Mexico, with almost all MLS players. Not as important as the World Cup, of course, but I think it shows an improvement since then. That is what the league is really for. I couldn't believe the club v. country dispute for the Grenada tie when it was an MLS club trying to hold onto players! Somebody is forgetting the priorities here. Everything's a big circle. Huge interest in the league will come when the national team gets to or wins a World Cup final, and the league's development right now is leading us closer to that level.
Re: Stupid Question: Why wont MLS agree to pay aging Euro stars 1 million bucks to pl Another player in this category is Ronnie Ekelund, who joined the Earthquakes just prior to the start of the 2001 season without much fanfare, yet was an integral part of turning that team around. -G
Well... it work for Greece right, just check how far they went into the Eurocup, but the main point into hiring a foreign coach must be "one year to show progress or get out"