Wasn't the idea of restricting the amount of foreign players on MLS roster born with the goal of improving US soccer to some extent. Considering Concacaf players as domestics would make the original rule useless. At that point they might as well get rid of all roster restrictions.
Parents who buy plastic horns for their kids are exactly the same as parents who molest their children sexually. I don't blame the kids, and I think with some effort we can come up with government programs to teach those kids simple tasks where they can live out their lives performing useful, dirty, dangerous work. The parents, though, should be sterilized. And how do you make sure things are sterile? Very simple. You BOIL them. Plastic horns killed Christ.
Dan, you already live in LA. I suggest you make a bee line for the Carlos Ruiz Charm School and Anger Management Academy. Don't stop for any red lights. This is serious.
Given the rather uninspiring success rate of CONCACOUGHCOUGH players in MLS to date, I rather doubt that teams will be rushing out to bring in significantly more of them than they do now. Plus there's still the salary cap to deal with.
Uninspiring success rate? Check the all time leaders in goal scoring in this league... Recognize names like Diaz Arce, Cerritos, Ruiz? I wonder how many assists Cienfuegos has on his resume... And don't forget the Caribbean contributions. Stern John, Ezra Hendrickson, Tyrone Marshall... A good player can come from anywhere, even Concacaf...
When you consider: 1) that we only have 10 teams right now, and we want to expand to 20 eventually 2) CONCACAF is generally on the same level as American players, with the possible exception of Mexico 3) baseball has no limits on foreigners, and they have a ton of players from countries in the CONCACAF region ... this isn't a bad idea. As it stands, every MLS team must have minimum of 15 "Americans" at the senior level. That is at least 150 "Americans" in the league as a whole, right now. This does not count the 6 developmental players that each is allowed. However, quite a few of those "Americans" have Green Cards. Does anyone have an exact count of all Green Card holders in MLS? A lot of these Green Card holders would just be CONCACAF-exempted players instead since most of them are from CONCACAF countries anyways. Exempting all CONCACAF players from roster-limits wouldn't take that many roster slots away from Americans, and the Americans who would be left in the cold would be the lower-ranked Americans. MLS would have a larger pool of players to draw from, so the quality would go up a bit, too. I also think that this would increase the popularity of MLS. And, if the quality of play is higher (and more varied due to the new styles represented), this can only help the American players in MLS become better. - Paul
Gee, I thought MLS was formed principally to develop AMERICAN players. I guess I'm wrong in this notion, but somewhere down the line I aquired it. How? Also, just why should ten teams play by certain rules and the eleventh play by different rules? I would just as soon not see Chivas El Norte in MLS if they get special consideration and differing rules. I can't see any advantage to MLS to do so, but maybe I'm missing something here.
What about the possibility of amending the rule to not count any players from a NAFTA country against the limit? Mexican and Canadian players participate, but other CONCACAF nations still count against the limit. That seems an easy way to solve this issue and maybe more consistent with the European Union example. . .
Damn, and I thought the goal of MLS was to make craploads of money for its initial investors when they can flip their franchises to greater fools in 10 years. Just because the founders realized that the best way to grow the league was to focus on Americans, it doesn't mean the league is some black hole of money to develop the USMNT. That's just a side benefit.
Wrong, under US labor law all green card holders must be treated exactly the same a citizens except in special cases (job w/ security clearances, etc.). Sachin
Not likely. We get 23,000 at Victoria Street and the horns don't go away. I can't believe kids can't have fun at the games without horns. I do believe that the horns destroy the experience for others. If that makes an elitist horn nazi out of me, so be it.
Thanks for the clarification. The concept is interesting in any case, although it would likely come at too high a price for American soccer at this point.