It seems as though MLS may be thinking about adding 4 teams in 2006. While I think this idea certainly has its upside by being able to more directly capture the energy created by the world cup, which will likely garner more attention than this year's, there is a huge downside in that the player pool will be thinned dramaticaly that summer. With 10-15 of MLS' best players in Germany for a few months and close to 80 new roster spots opening up how will MLS be able to keep the standard of the game very high? supposing each team gets two rookies and brings up two players from the A-leauge that only equals 56 of those slots, I supose the new teams will look at the Chicago model for expansion and hand pick their SI's for another 12 slots, but what then? Yanks abroad? Youth internationals? Should the expansion cities field an A-leauge team for a season or two before getting "promoted" to MLS? It seems to me that the excitment around soccer that summer will be ideal for the expansion plan, but does MLS want to get alot of attention when their product will be seriously diminished?
There are always short-term solutions available to encounter this problem. First, there is no guarantee that there would be an exponential drop in quality of play. Presumably there are a few A-Leaguers and MLS bench warmers who will be able to play at the levels we come to expect. To the extent there are real concerns, MLS could always artificially boost the talent pool by increasing the number of senior internationals allowed. Hopefully it won't be four teams at once, and some of these problems can be avoided.
population of USA???? i think that is more than 200 millions.... well i thing that we can find 100+ quality players... i think here in colombia we have a population of 45 millions... and we find a lot of people..
we didn't have enough american players in the league last year... how is 14 teams going to hurt us?? this is going to be 2 teams at a time, we already had 12 teams, 2 over that ain't going to kill us the more players in the league, the better the play will get as it will force players to develop faster
Imported players... Get those green cards ready, soccer's going to explode! I've seen some of the men's all hispanic league teams here in Oklaholma City and I'd bet you that they could give some of the A-league teams a go! If you're ever in Oklahoma City, visit the River Park at S.W. 5th between Western and Agnew. The Campos Recreation Area at S.W. 21st between Western and Walker. Shidler Elementary School recreation park at S.W. 15th between Central and Byers Avenue. There are some talented indivduals playing in those leagues. The environment and atmosphere for soccer is second-to-none and you would swear that you were in Mexico!
Maybe they're further counting on the increase in quality youth players. More and more popularity in soccer since 94'. Little kiddies watching in that year, who may have been bitten by the soccer bug, would be approaching their late teen and maybe a few jewels could be found. Additionally, maybe new investors and more money thrown around for international talent that we can get for a steal ... (Carlos Ruiz is a decent example)... I dunno. Complete speculation, mind you. 100 players isn't all too much, and, at the same time, it is. Not enough kids growing up in athletics see MLS as a viable option to devote their life or path to. Although, if they're educated enough, and not just focused on the playing, they'll be aware of opportunities overseas. Chances are, playing quality will suffer. But, I can't imagine it will be too severe. The question I have is, how are we going to get 4 new stadiums for 4 new expansion teams up in less than 4 years? Not gonna happen.
I like MLS' stradegy of trying to find smaller markets that are starving for pro sports. Nashville, TN was like that about 7-8 yrs ago and gave everything but their first born children to attract the Predators to a town that knows nothing about hockey, and they were one of the best attended NHL teams for several years.
Although Nashville was probably one of the worst-supported teams in A-League history, so I don't know how willing MLS will be to expand there. A little bit like apples and oranges, I know. But still something that must be kept in mind.
As far as comparing it to last year, when MLS had 12 teams: In fact, MLS had 11 teams. The Mutiny were an abomination, and belonged in the PDL. Let's hope we don't have a repeat of that. I don't think we will, however, for many of the reasons stated above. I think the easiest answer is we have more and more quality players coming up through the youth ranks, with more of them ready to play. Also, if MLS really does get its act together and gets a pretty good reserve squad system going, you'll see a lot of good players emerging from that group of players as well.
I didn't say anything about the metros I was talking about the Predators, and then only using them as an example of how a city without pro sports that feels like it isnt a real city without them will bend over backwards to get a team. MLS should capitalize on that tendency and get a few more teams that will be respected and loved by their cities and given the kind of stadia that the MLS is looking to move into.
Nashville was determined! One thing I can say about Nashville; she was determined to get at least one major professional sports team to town and in casting her nets caught two. Nashville is a city with a little less than 1.3 million with two major professional sports franchises (NFL, NHL)--similar to Buffalo. I don't think there will be any hunger for MLS; however, that's not to say that MLS couldn't work in Nashville. Dudley Stadium on the campus of the University of Vanderbilt seats 41,000; however, I don't believe that it is wide enough for soccer. Nashville is still paying off the Gaylord Entertainment Center and Titan Stadium (Adelphia Coliseum); therefore, MLS would do nothing for Nashville's image and I'm sure Nashville has no interest in building a soccer specific stadium. This City made a bold move when it built these facilities. They showed Memphis the way.
The player issue is less a problem than it was even two years ago. First, the first 11 players out of college are expected to start in their first year. If they don't start in 36 games, they were a bust. So on expansion teams that get 2 picks a round, that's a start. For expansion years, they may increase the foreign player cap by one. Might not, but they could. P-40 just expanded by 10 players, and the U-17 academy also has been authorized to increase their numbers. The A-League has 11 players who could be called up and be serviceable in MLS. The other 10 teams have 22 players now. Teams will be allowed to protect about 12 or 14 players initially. Not all of them will be able to protect their starting 11. I agree quality of play is an issue, but two teams under these new circumstances is different than it was in 98.