Seedy Chivas and The Way Forward
Posted on March 14, 2013 4:51 pm
It’s highly unlikely that Don Garber and the MLS Owners Committee were drunk on their collective asses the day they decided to hand a team to CD Chivas USA, although in retrospect it’s about as reasonable an explanation as any other.
The fact is though that since league ownership at the time consisted of a grand total of three guys – people used to quip that they could hold their meetings in a closet but I liked picturing them in Don Garber’s basement rec room – none of them noted for their lack of sobriety, we have to look elsewhere for explanations.
In fairness, there were some reasons that, to those of us who knew little and understood less about the Mexican league and its fans (pre-John Jagou) it made perfect sense.
First of all, MLS had spent eight years and a ton of time and money inviting, begging and pleading with the Mexican immigrant community to please come sample their wares, only to be greeted with a collective yawn. A team with a famous Liga MX moniker, surely that was the ticket.
Secondly, the league had some strategic aims: one was to show that MLS, which had last been seen shedding teams because they were losing truckloads of money had in fact turned the corner and was attracting new investors, a class of individuals who are normally reluctant to put millions of dollars into failing enterprises.
Another was that even at that early date they were dreaming, hoping and planning on putting a second (yes, or a first if you insist) team in the New York City market and they were happy to establish a “derby” in MLS to show everyone how wonderful it is, how much excitement it can generate and by the way, if LA has one shouldn’t NYC have one too?
The fact that the whole thing has collapsed in a huge heap of retribution, recrimination and name calling (when people are openly calling your management philosophy “racist” you may have a PR problem; just saying) has been well documented and I’m not going to replow that particular field, particularly since Dan has done yeoman work in that regard (see: Chivas USA Has No Foundation, et. al.)
And no, the fact that that FC Dallas embarrassed hell out of themselves last weekend by finding a way to lose to them doesn’t alter the case any more than the previous week’s 3-0 bitch slap at the hands of a Crew side with a whole bunch of question marks changes anything either. Last Saturday’s “crowd”, officially reported as a whopping 6900 and likely less than half that in reality, seems more germane to the issue than whose central defender made a complete hash of a ball or two.
The soccersphere has been humming with outraged demands that the league take immediate and drastic steps against LA2: move it, buy it back from the operating investor and/or do various unspecified stuff which apparently falls under the heading “the league has to step in/take action/do something.”
And since, as everybody knows – well, everybody except fans in that mysterious far-away soccer Valhalla called “Cascadia” which seems to have a league of their own or something, which is perfectly fine with me I just wish they’d go away and leave the rest of us the hell alone (I used to say that Toronto fans were the most obnoxious bunch of jerks in the world; lately I keep thinking I owe them an apology) – Major League Soccer L.L.C. owns 50.1 percent of each and every MLS team the Board of Governors technically has every legal right to do whatever they choose with Chivas USA: close it down, demand that the current owner move it someplace else or force a sale to someone with a stray $40 million or so and some kind of nominally realistic stadium plan.
And it says here that exactly none of those things is going to happen anytime soon.
Yes, as Dan points out (see link above) the team is in a negative loop where it is quite literally impossible for them to succeed and it appears that even the owners agree since, among other things, they’ve fired the entire game day staff, don’t have a local TV deal and have invested next to nothing in marketing and advertising.
In other words, they’re not really even trying. Even their coach says he won’t be here very long, which is a shame because you just don’t get quotes like: “In a barrel of feces, you’re grinding and grinding, you finally poke your head up to get the fresh air” from Robert Warzycha.
Owners Jorge Vergara and Angelica Fuentes (aside from being married, they claim to be equal business partners as well), who “bought out” their co-owners the Cue brothers last Fall (most observers suggest that the Cues were just glad to get out from under the thing, and in truth it’s hard to see how or why much money would have changed hands) aren’t really even pretending they have a blueprint for winning in LA. Indeed, everything they do suggests the opposite.
It’s something almost unique in sports: a team that has zero interest in winning a damned thing. They seem to be saying that, like a Triple A baseball team, fans should come down to the park to see “the Big League Stars of the Future”.
The problem is, of course, that their partners in MLS are trying to sell the fact that this IS “the big leagues”. Having the Rochester Red Wings playing in the American League isn’t in anyone’s best interests.
As Vergara himself said after taking full control last fall: “This is the return of the prodigal son. From its inauguration, the plan was to make Chivas USA the son of Chivas de Guadalajara.”
“MLS: We’re your little boy” is not exactly the idea the folks at MLS’ Palatial Headquarters are trying to get across to the world. Maybe Cohiba Don didn’t mind that approach back in 2004 when he was desperately trying to resuscitate a moribund-looking league, but now that “we want to be one of the best leagues in the world by 2022″ is the order of the day, Vergara’s statement only serves to emphasize just how divergent the league’s goals are from his.
(Another example might be the fact that, since Chivas GDL has some time off during the international dates next week they’ve scheduled a couple friendlies in Juarez to keep sharp. One will be against Mexico’s U20′s on March 23 and the other will have them facing Chivas USA on the 20th. The fact that Chivas USA is playing the Galaxy on the 17th and are away to Chicago on the 24th is apparently no problem.)
All of which raises an interesting question, namely whether this situation is being made possible only because of the league’s single entity structure, which spreads the money around from TV and S.U.M. and the adidas deal and the corporate sponsors and all the rest.
In other words, has MLS spent so much time and effort building a business that protects the investors from the normally substantial risks of sports team ownership that, if they feel like it, owners can basically ignore creating a winning team or building fan support and still do OK financially?
It is worth noticing that the things Chivas has cut out – like local staff costs, marketing and promotions and DP salaries – are the very things that the teams have to pay out of their own pockets. Even a guy like Sporting President Dennis te Kloese holds the same title at Chivas de Guadalajara, meaning that his salary is either split or, more likely, entirely paid by the Parent Club.
Of course Chivas has another big expense that they’d love to get out from under, namely the million-dollar-plus yearly lease payment to AEG in return for he use of the soon-to-be-renamed HDC, and it’s the one part of Vergara’s program that he’s willing to make crystal clear: he wants out, but not out-of-town.
Now a cynic might suggest that based on early attendance numbers (even the real ones, let alone the official fantasy ones) he could use a decent high school stadium or even his back yard, but MLS surely has the right to reject a venue. The last thing they want right now is a dateline that reads “East Pomona State Aromatherapy College Field, Home of Chivas USA” and hold post-game pressers in the Cafetorium.
Dragon Stadium was a nightmare they have no intention of repeating.
Basically it appears that if Vergara can cut out-of-pocket expenses to the bone – you don’t need a bunch of staff if you don’t have many customers, I guess – and get his player’s salaries paid by the other owners, then he’s got a reasonable vehicle to use for his own purposes, namely getting his hooks into Latino players living in Southern California (in the middle of an austerity movement Chivas nevertheless just announced the expansion of their Academy program to include U14′s) and providing a sort of finishing school for not-ready-for primetime young professionals.
Best of all, the ownership share he probably only paid five million bucks for (assuming he paid roughly 50% of the original $10 million “franchise” fee and little or nothing for the other half when the Cue’s decided to cut and run) is now probably worth $40 or $50 million – at least – on the open market, with ready buyers starting to line up.
Plus – and don’t think for a minute that he or anyone has missed it – the expectation is that in the not-to-distant future someone is going to open up their checkbook and cut MLS a $100 million payday in return for the rights to the NY market.
Now only the simple minded think that the money will be divvied up into little $5 million gift baskets for the existing owners. That’s NASL thinking and that’s why the NASL no longer exists (Yes, I know and no, it really doesn’t).
What it will mean is that the company that Vergara and Fuentes own a piece of just made a killing and in addition to being flush with cash now own and operate a gaudily spectacular $300 million sports and entertainment venue in beautiful New York, New York the town so nice they named it twice.
Toss in the fact that 2014 is a World Cup year wherein MLS/SUM figures to benefit mightily, and frankly, this is no time for getting out, and Vergara says he has no intentions of doing so.
So absent a new stadium deal in LA someplace East of the 405 (where the team, with a different name that doesn’t alienate fans of the other 17 Liga MX clubs, would be much better positioned to play the “Working class hard working club vs. rich arrogant snobs club” dynamic with the cross-town rival Galaxy, the only alternative – assuming it’s legal – would be for MLS to take over the team and engineer a sale to someone else against Vergara’s wishes.
Which at this point would be a PR disaster of Biblical proportions.
MLS is always angling for attention from the mainstream sports media guys but a headline reading “Very White Anglo Rich Guys in Suits Seize League’s Only Latino-owned, Latino-operated Team, Which is Full of Latino Players And Hand It Over To Someone Who Looks More Like Them” will see the only recorded instance of a sports commissioner’s head exploding.
Having allowed – indeed encouraged – Chivas to position themselves as the token Mexican team in the league, it’s just not going to look good when you kick in the door and throw everybody out.
It’s hard to see the way out of Vergara and Fuentes running Chivas USA as their Triple A affiliate for as long as they feel like it with the rest of the teams contractually obligated to pay the lion’s share of their bills.
Brilliant.
Fortunately, while the whole “getting people of Mexican extraction to love us” effort founders on the rocks of reality, MLS may have accidentally stumbled into the solution.
I am indebted to that loveable curmudgeon of American soccer, Grandpa Paul Gardner of SoccerAmerica who, in one of his numbingly typical “Latin players rule, Anglo players drool” pieces – it’s a drum he’s been pounding for 25 years – posted the following figures for MLS Development Academy players, showing the percentage of each team (u16 and U18) which is “Latino”:
Chicago 35%
Chivas USA 75%
Colorado 33%
Columbus 4%
Dallas 61%
D.C. United 25%
Houston 72%
Kansas City 19%
Los Angeles 62%
New England 24%
New York 29%
Portland 37%
Real Salt Lake 43%
San Jose 48%
Seattle 9%
3/4 of Dallas’ academy teams, 2/3 of Dallas and the Gal’s, half of San Jose’s and roughly a third of several others are identified as “Latino” and it’s a fair assumption that a majority of most of them represent players of Mexican extraction.
Whether this is, as it appears to be, an example of what was always possible with the elimination (or reduction) of the pay-to-play youth system in American soccer, or whether it’s a natural evolution of another kind, one thing seems clear:
In the next decade, a lot of players who are identifiably of Mexican extraction are going to end up on MLS teams, and that’s when we’ll find out for sure whether MLS has any chance at all with the one group that has proven most resistant to MLS’s appeals.
If they still won’t come out and watch dozens of players with whom they share a background – as opposed to a bunch of guys named Biff who graduated from an ACC University – then we’ll know that, aside from simply hosting Liga MX matches in US cities, there’s just nothing MLS can do to get their interest.
Unlike importing Chivas Lite, it’s a realistic chance to create fans.
MLS fans have long been identifiable by their feverish impatience with the pace of progress, and maybe that’s the nature of the beast. Many of you will recall back in 1998, with the league losing $100 million a year, people were demanding that the owners nevertheless reach a lot deeper to fund a reserve league, European-style youth systems and the signing of expensive foreign players.
But in the fullness of time, those things have all come about. It took longer than we wanted but in retrospect it was only the blink of an eye for what is still a very very young league.
Likewise the desire to attract fans of various foreign leagues like the EPL and La Liga and, Serie A and, yes, Liga MX has yet to bear much fruit. When the owners green-lighted what can only be called – with apologies to Grant Wahl – “The Chivas Experiment” they were trying to speed up a process which, in hindsight, probably couldn’t be hurried.
That experiment was a dismal failure: it solved nothing, gained nothing and profited no one, and has left them with a serious mess that’s not going away easily or, absent a miracle, any time soon.
But it may just be that a solution is in sight. Maybe it’s not as imminent as we’d like, but MLS is not the floundering entity it was in 2004 and can afford to wait.
“soccer Valhalla called “Cascadia” which seems to have a league of their own or something, which is perfectly fine with me I just wish they’d go away and leave the rest of us the hell alone (I used to say that Toronto fans were the most obnoxious bunch of jerks in the world; lately I keep thinking I owe them an apology)”
You jelly, bro?
“You jelly, bro?”
It looks like you just made his point for him.
^^ HahaHAHAahAHaha
“MLS is not the floundering entity it was in 2004 and can afford to wait.”
Like any good writer, Bill saves the crux of the matter until the end. Commissioner Garber’s recent comments about giving the Chivas USA ownership some time then talking it over certainly seems to lend credence to this theory. He can bide his time until the best solution comes along rather than having to jump on any old solution.
Typo. You put “Dallas” when you meant to put “Houston” when describing the percentage of academy teams that are Latino.
…that hurt. And is very, very insulting.
“Having the Rochester Red Wings playing in the American League isn’t in anyone’s best interests.”
You’re right, but they moved the Astros there, and they’re much, much worse.
…that might hurt worse though. >.<
Forgive me for not going away and leaving you the hell alone, though I suspect you were thinking of folks who were not a glint in there Daddy’s eye back when I was making obscene gestures at Rodney Marsh, yet who are experts on everything.
But the thought that comes to mind is, what if they kicked in the doors and gave the I/O gig to better latino investors? Would that be such PR disaster? I don’t think it would discourage non-MLM huckstering, bona fide investors. Just show them all the pictures of of empty seats in both Chivas stadia.
Another thought – nine percent for my Sounders? They need to do more recruiting inland. Perhaps they fear the radiation leaks at Hanford cause all inland Washington soccer players to act like Hope Solo.
The real danger of the “kick in the door” solution is that it may well scare off other investors. If the league arbitrarily chooses to over-ride the owner, other investors may ask themselves if this could happen to them if they make a couple of bad decisions, or take an approach the league is philosophically opposed to.
True. But that goes to timing. Right now, kicking in the door right now would make the league (1) racist and/or (2) unappealing to prospective investors.
But if several years pass and Vergara is still running CUSA as cynically and self-destructively as he now seems to be doing, then I think the risk of being seen as racist or arbitrary largely goes away. In 2018, pretty much everybody will approve kicking in the door if the Galaxy are averaging 25,000 fans per game, sitting on another sweet TV deal, and looking like title contenders while CUSA is covering 25,000 seats with tarps, fielding its U-18 team during MLS games to save money, and looking to improve on the previous year’s total of 7 points from 40 games. In fact, people will probably complain that the league didn’t pull the trigger sooner.
… “would make the league LOOK (1) racist and/or …”
Sigh.
I don’t understand how taking a team away from a racist owner who is breaking the Civil Rights act with his firing and hiring decisions is racist. It’s quite the opposite.
I do understand how society will see it that way given the double standard that exists.
I have to confess — I was completely wrong. I thought the Chivas name would draw fans in LA. Maybe even to road games.
Way wrong. Turns out the only time the team was competent was when Bob Bradley was running the show. Yet another instance in which Bradley might turn out to be a whole lot smarter than some might think.
I made the same argument, plus one – the Chivas name would draw both fans and opponents. I feel no sheepishness about my repentance, though, and, in his private thoughts, I don’t think Garber feels any about his. But he has to figure out the thorny way forward.
I think the MLS assumed Jorger Vergara was a real big time Mexican businessman like Carlos Slim because he owned the biggest team in Mexico. In reality if you know a bit about his story you’d realize the bulk of his fortune comes from recognizing when a deal can be had instead of really developing a business of his own
This is a guy who started out selling tacos in the streets of Guadalajara (sounds like the script of a bad movie already huh?), but really started making his money when he met an American named John Peterson while he sold time shares in Manzanillo (a beach resort).
He and Peterson began selling herbalife supplements illegally in Mexico. Herbalife products had not been approved by the Mexican ministry of health, so he and Peterson would cross them illegally and sold them around Guadalajara & Manzanillo. Herbalife was so impressed with their initiative that they recruited Vergara to help the company gain approval of the Mexican government for their products. Since Americans can’t own comapanies in Mexico outright, Vergara became the majority partner in Herbalife’s incursion into Mexico, holding 51% of the company.
What basically ended up happening is that Vergara became privy to all of Herbalife’s corporate structure, sales
strategy and chain of distribution. After a few years, he bought out his American partners and turned the company into his present day company Omnilife. Vergara then used this strategy, basically a legal pyramid sales scheme to grow rich. He didn’t really build the company, he just got in on the ground level, then copied an already proven strategy to grow rich.
He purchased Chivas Guadalajara, formerly a non profit sports club that has misguidedly become a for profit business in the 90′s to disastrous results. Vergara bought the debt riddled club for a song and basically saved it financially. Vergara now owned the biggest brand in Mexican football, one that transcended borders and if run properly had the most potential for profit.
Vergara has made huge amounts of money with the club, but has little to show for it. He basically runs it at his whim and has never been know for his footballing acumen. He has gone through managers, front office personel and players at an alarming pace, burning bridges whenever he goes. And for all of this he has only won the league once in his tenure as owner. He has antagonized everyone, from the media to fans because of his impatience. Let me site you two examples of stuff he’s done lately that show he has no clue of what he’s doing.
The first is the building of the Omnilife Stadium. Vergara for year had pleaded to build Chivas a world class stadium. It took him almost ten years, but he finally broke ground. Problem was, that he knew ahead of time that the government of Jalisco (state where Guadalajara is located) told him that the proper roads in and out of the stadium, and the highway connecting it to Guadalajara would not be ready for at least 3 more years. Vergara rushed the project because he heard Monterry and Santos were also in the process of building new stadiums and wanted to beat them to the punch. So when the stadium was finished it had horrible roads leading up to it. Horror stories of spending up to 3 hours to get in and out of the stadium are common. Also, the are where the stadium is located is not developed. There are no restaurants or bars nearby. So if you want to grab a bite to eat before or after the game, you are out of luck. Which brings us to another blunder. Vergara wanted to keep the new stadium classy, so he banned all the street food stalls that were famous at the old Estadio Jalisco. Fans complained about this bitterly and after a couple of years Vergara relented and allowed them to set up. As a result of this the Omnilife is embarrassingly empty week after week. You have the most modern stadium in Mexico, but people avoid it like the plague.
His latest was how he handled the whole Johan Cruyff project. Vergara spent millions and promised patience as he hired Johan Cruyff as football director at Chivas. Cruyff said it was at least a 2 year project where the whole infrastructure of Chivas: how their youth academy worked, how they trained, how they played. Vergara was hailed as a visionary. It lasted 9 months. As per usual Vergara lost patience and didn’t even have the decency to call and tell Cruyff he was fire, the Dutch genius had to find from the press he had been fire.
Having seen this, you can figure out why the MLS made a huge mistake in taking him on as a partner in as the article has so well put it, a misguided attempt to attract Mexican fans. He is not a builder, he’s an opportunist that is good building value in his investments, not so great at running them as successful business.
There’s a lot of parallels to Dan Snyder and the Washington Pro Football Team (yes I think the name is racist and refuse to type it even though it’s my local NFL team). The last thing that MLS needs is Dan Snyder. It’s a shame that we already got one in an earlier era when we needed the cash and thought that him being Mexican would bring credibility and strong brand.
I know we’re getting way off topic here, but I’ve worked for two indian Tribes for a total of 13 years, and many of my friends buy Redskins apparel and are are huge fans because they identify with the mascot. I used to feel like you do about it… and I guess ideally the team would have another name. However, at this point it seems like a non-issue.
you realize he’s had full control of the team for only a few months, and to be honest, the off-season has really sparked the interest of many chivas fans around the country who have previously felt let down by how chivas was playing, it was like watching any other MLS team, and frankly, that isn’t too much fun for many of us, no disrespect.
But now, we have an exciting coach, with exciting, dynamic, skillful players, I could definitely see this team playing exciting football this season. (there are going to be lots of goals at both ends of the pitch)
I don’t think that vergara is completely to blame for the poor attendance so far. I mean sure, he could do more PR, but I believe that the fans had become disillusioned with how the previous administration ran the club, and how god awful the team was. But I predict that they are going to win a lot of games this season, playing an attractive style of football, which I am sure will bring in the fans.
But they tried a similar strategy in their debut season, with disastrous results.
What happened in that debut season is just what Chivas expected. The title was won by a goal from an LA player named Ramirez. Of course, Chivas expected that that player would be Ramon Ramirez, not Pando.
I’d say it wasn’t as similar as some suggests.
Back in the debut season, Chivas USA brought a in a bunch of Tapatio subs, and Ramon Ramirez, who was close to retirement by then.
This time they brought in a guy who started last season as a starter for Guadalajara (De Luna), a guy who for a long time was considered one of Mexico’s top young holding midfielders (Mejia), a world cup winner (Casillas), a guy who has more than 60 caps for Peru (Vilchez). Added to one of the best GK’s in the league (Kennedy), an experienced top class midfielder (Minda), one of the U.S’s top oung strikers (Agudelo).
I’d consider that a very strong backbone of players, I didn’t even mention Bolanos, Rivera, Avila, Courtois, or Burling, who are solid professional soccer players.
This team can’t really be compared to the team of the debut season, this will be the rebirth of the club, under a fiery coach like Jose Luis Sanchez Sola.
“If they still won’t come out and watch dozens of players with whom they share a background – as opposed to a bunch of guys named Biff who graduated from an ACC University – then we’ll know that, aside from simply hosting Liga MX matches in US cities, there’s just nothing MLS can do to get their interest.”
How ignorant.
Here is a novel idea: how about putting a quality product on the field?
Famous English footballers past their prime is fine for Biff and them. Tell them they’re good with a British accent and they believe it. We are a little different. We grew up watching football and we are not that easily fooled into believing what’s fed to us on tv.
Until MLS can find 11 players per team that can master the basics of football you can’t count on me giving them one second of my time. Regardless of what their surnames are.
TJ sure didn’t look as though they’d mastered the basics of football against Corinthians.
It’s not 1996 anymore. It’s not even 2002 anymore, when I gave it a second chance and said “Huh. It’s not the best soccer I’ve ever seen, but it’s fun as hell to watch.” The games have gotten a hell of a lot better. If it’s been a few years, try again. Root for your local. Understand that’s it’s not going to be Manchester Utd v. Real Madrid, but it is soccer, and you don’t need a passport to go see it. And if it’s still not up to your standards, give it another couple of years and come back. It will have improved some more in the meantime.
Perfect example. Xolos, and the rest of the Mexican teams, are successful because of what they do “ON THE FIELD”
No gimmicks, no past-their-prime English players, not even fabulous stadia. ON THE FIELD.
We are not that complicated, but we are not stupid either.
Promotions and marketing will get our attention, but shitty on the field product will drive us back to the many choices we have.
The names on the back doesn’t matter that much to us. Quality play does.
How about MLS tries that next? It just might work
I am a Brazilian living in DC. My personal experience is that MLS can defend itself on the field. The quality of the game is obviously worse than in Brazil, but it is a perfect enjoyable soccer experience.
“but shitty on the field product will drive us back to the many choices we have.”
This is 2013 and everyone has tv, internet, and the same choices that you do. Since Mexican Americans support teams in their home country better than other ethic groups do it is logic and probably correct to assume that race does in fact play some role.
Holy entitlement Batman! Please, continue watching the Mexican league. Your patronage is not necessary here.
It’s not entitlement. It’s insulting to assume that by slapping an Hispanic name on the back of an MLS level player would will be enough to get Hispanics to support such a substandard league. That’s all
There’s nothing insulting about it. If I were in Mexico and the Diablos Rojos del México hired minor league quality Americans to attract Americans, I may not be impressed but I certainly wouldn’t be insulted. Why so easily offended?
Is a local tv deal needed when 12 of their 34 league games in 2013 are set for UniMas?
(And 12 of the 26 UniMas MLS games in 2013 feature CUSA.)
Um yes? Many people don’t get UniMas, and even more don’t understand what’s being said on UniMas.
“3/4 of Dallas’ academy teams, 2/3 of Dallas and the Gal’s, half of San Jose’s and roughly a third of several others are identified as “Latino” and it’s a fair assumption that a majority of most of them represent players of Mexican extraction.”
That’s interesting. Here in DC we have had tons of Latino players but I can’t recall one that was Mexican.
No wonder the Mexican food around here sucks.
The Brazilians count as Latino? People ask me this all the time, and I really do not know the answer. Usually, I answer with a trick question: Does Quebec belong to Latin America?
Yep. Anythin’ south o’ the US border for some reason.
I dunno, as long as you don’t get Latin america and South America mixed up.
…
…Also no Quebec isn’t… why.
just… why
They speak French (a Latin language) in Quebec. I don’t think that makes them part of Latin America though. Are some Caribbean nations considered part of Latin America?
Oh. Guess that’s… solid logic I suppose.
Its not some separate nation, though. Its still Canada.
If it were, it probably would be, being North American alongside fellow Latin North American Mexico (and some could say Central America.)
Funny thing is that this was tried once before. In 1976 with the Philadlephia Atoms. It failed miserably. In one year. And it was a consortium of Guadalajara teams too.
How about the league imposes minimum expenditure levels on the very things Vergara has cut back on; gameday staff, sales and marketing, require a minimum of 2 DPs at a minimum of $500k each. If that’s possible under the league rules – and if the article is correct that MLS owns 50.1% of each team – I don’t see why it isn’t, that will force Vergara to spend money and then he’s likely to at least make a token effort for the money he’s forced to spend.
The other thing that surprises me is the League letting him buy out the Cue brothers. The League should have bought them out instead, bringing Vergara’s share down to circa 25% (assuming he and the Cues had a 50-50 split), then they could have a very heavy input into the team’s management, including investing in the sorts of things that have been cut back on. That would leave Vergara with a seriously minority stake in a team that will only cost him money.
Sorry..But, what a BUNCH of BS!!!
Just so you know..it’s been 18years that BOB KRAFTY has been the Apathetic Owner of the NewEngland RrrrrrrrrEvolution..!! And yet, not once have I read a scathing expose on the ONE city where MLS is completely and totally irrelevant!!
Don’t know what it is that makes everyone attack Vergara, who no matter what you may think, has SOME plan for Chivas..here in NE we’ve had NO PLAN except cater to some inconsequential week-enders out for a night out to watch “Soccah”…
Please, ok, Chivas has some quirky failing marketing objectives..but yet, nothing is said about the Revs “Hispanic Night – free nachos with tickets” last year.
Bob Kraft is THE worst owner in MLS. Period!! Hands down..no questions!!!
He seems to get some favored hall pass, just because he’s possibly on the side of the 50.1% as one of the last 3 investors in MLS! and his supposed “saving” of San Jose!!?? BullSHIT!!! All Bob Kraft knows how to do is nothing when it comes to Soccer..!
he never talks about the team when he’s on some sports radio show, etc!! And yes, we all know, he got Garber the job, when he was an unemployed failure with nfl Europe!!
Let’s start showing some of the vile loathing for Kraft that you and others seem to so easily dish out for Vergara and his ownership of Chivas!!
And please, by all means, do not bring up the fact that we made it to 4 League cups…pure luck of the draw on gaining some diamonds in the rough and a decent coach in Nicol(while it lasted)…The Revs have been and will ALWAYS be an afterthought to BOB KRAFT…! The first owner to have a team taken away, sold or contracted in this league is Bob’s and no one else!!
I’ve been dreaming of getting an owner who actually cared about the GAME!! Kraft certainly does not!! But, putting business aside and the inner workings of MLS and its processes, Vergara has proven that, at the very least, He does indeed LOVE the GAME…and to me, in my honest opinion..That in itself is worth a hell of a lot more than some Apathetic nfl owner who has a strangle hold on the Boston MLS market..!!
I appreciate your post very much, maybe it has something to do with Chivas USA being named Chivas, and trying to cater to Latinos. While Kraft is, well Kraft.
If you haven’t read any scathing reviews of Kraft Soccer, then you must spend your time visiting some alternate BigSoccer that I’m unfamiliar with.
Indeed. Pretty much everybody on here is scathing about Kraft.
Even so, his teams have at least occasionally made the playoffs. Even a couple finals. And the Revs aren’t (1) paying huge rent to a rival team’s owners or (2) being run as a farm team for team in a rival league. Being an afterthought to an NFL team is bad, mind you. Just not quite as bad as what CUSA is.
And, really, is there any more damning way to describe an MLS owner as “even less invested in the success of his MLS team than Bob Kraft”?
Actually, they lost FOUR MLS Cups…
By my count they’ve lost 17 MLS Cups.
Hahhaha! Exactly… But, in 4 opportunities they manage to lose it in the final game.
Because it’s New England and nobody cares about soccer, and it’s an owner who is considered a saint by the New England press and sports fans because of how he turned the Pats around. So who’s crazy enough criticize the saintly owner of the local NFL team over how he handles a soccer team nobody cares about?
Vergara is easy to criticize, he’s Mexican, so that right there makes him a bad guy in a lot of fans eyes. He was somehow be the bridge to the much wanted Mexican American fan base, but nobody in the MLS bothered to check if he actually know how to properly run a team, and he’s kind of a jerk, so he’s not doing himself any favors.
Gotta disagree with this…
NE is just as much a soccer area as anywhere else, (the Portuguese and Irish commuities alone could prob fill close to 10K..) It has nothing to do with the area.
It has to do with Krafts apathy, and fans that were potentially interested not seeing any light at the end of the tunnel. The NY market went throughg a similar thing, and they at least attempted to fix it via rebranding, SSS, etc. And they seem to be on the right track (at least a hell of alot better off than they were with the Metro Stars..)
Hey let us not scew up a good thing. As noted above, the current MLS is not the MLS of 1996 or even 2006. Only partisans continue to rant otherwise. I like going to Chivas matches and watching the other teams because i have figured a way to get into the stadium for $10; less than the $15 for parking my car. No lines, friendly vendors and at times competitive futbol (Dallas last week?).
I compare this to my college days (late 1970′s) of watching Charlie O dismantle the Oakland A’s. The A’s were a great AAA team that was more than competitive in 75% of the games they played at home in 78 and 79. All day games, $2 admission, sit anywhere, talk to players, coaches, managers. I went to the Seattle Pilots match with 374 of my closest friends to set a MLB attendance record that still stands. When Charlie finally sold, a new manager was hired and the team competed for the AL title the very next year. In short, management does count for on the field performance. But a fan can still have a good time with a friend including drinks and snacks and still spend less than the cost of a single seat at a GAL’s match. Oh and even watch the GAL’s as the visitor. Now I just have to figure out how to save the parking fee.
One other thing; Rafa Baca grew up and played ball less than 10 miles from THD, is from Mexico, was a stand out college player 15 miles away. If anyone should have known about him, Chivas was organization. More evidence of a complete miss by Chivas. What a waste of management!
As pointed out by another poster on the PBP thread in MLS N&A on Sunday;
“So Chivas USA started 6 US citizens and all 3 of their subs are products of SoCal youth soccer and 2 of them are US citizens.
For all the talk of Chivas USA’s ethnic makeup I can’t complain about their roster if they’re gonna mostly play play Americans and products of US soccer.”
That was never the point. The problem Bill has is that they have a Mexican connection. Plain and simple
If this same team was called Stoke-USA people would just wet their pants because the EPL farted in their general direction.
It’s not the name, it’s the policy. If Stoke USA said they would only (or even preferentially) sign English and Anglo-American players, the DoL would have shut the place down before it was wired for the Internet – and rightly so.
There’s also the problem of getting Guadalajara fans to watch American players, but that’s a marketing issue (and an apparently intractable one), not a legal issue.
Dan,
I think comments like “the DoL would have shut the place down” are all fine to speculate on, but you have absolutely no evidence.
What exactly is the policy that Chivas USA has stated that is in violation of federal employment law, as you see it?
I have not heard any official policy that I would consider as such.
Lots of employers where I live in Austin give preference to people who are bilingual.
According to who? The fact that the DOL hasn’t stepped in tells me no laws have been broken. Unless you know something they don’t. In that case, do you care to share or are you just going to throw a rock and hide your hand?
You’re just talking out of your azz because you couldn’t find a reasonable argument as to why MLS needs to get rid of this team.
You’re going to have to do better. making up laws in your head just won’t cut it.
It’s not that uncommon for an owner to keep costs low and free ride on his partner’s teams. Calvin Griffith of the Twins and Mike Brown of the Bengals have done it in the past. Those were family owned teams where their main asset was the team and it supported the family.
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