In the long run this should help MLS become more of a selling league. The more talent we have available means the more pressure day in and day out players have to keep their jobs, while also meaning clubs have more internal replacements. One of the reasons the Red Bulls put such a big price tag on Long is who were they going to replace him with? Selling leagues replace them directly with youth or cheap transfers from other leagues. We've already seen some of this in the MLS already (Atlanta replacing Almiron with Pity/Barco i.e.: sell replace then sell again and SKC letting EPB go because they had plenty of first team options). The big question will be will can the MLS begin to start selling their youth that is playing in MLS to other leagues. That is one I'm more skeptical about, directly for the question that you posed. Eventually I'd imagine that we might see more in league loans as a solution to this. I.E. imagine if SKC would have loaned EPB to an MLS team that needed a starting CB option. Everyone wins. EPB gets playing time and develops better, with SKC getting a better asset. But there needs to be a clear selling pathway to Europe for that to begin to happen and I am skeptical that it will ever happen in MLS for other reasons.
Looking at the bolded part, you're not really a potential fan that MLS should care about, or try to attract. I don't have a problem with the people running the LAFC (or whatever) academy putting the best interests of the players in the academy, as well as the MLS team in question, over that of the national team. Automatically trying to steer a kids towards the USMNT rather than the national team of some other country might not be the best thing for a young player. What if he's more likely to get call ups to the Honduran NT? The MLS academies exist to develop the best players they can. If a young players will develop better by picking some other national team, so be it.
We have two paths open to export: 1) Academy kids going directly to Europe, and more so now that transnational clubs are setting down in the USA, attracted by a league where making money is priority numero uno; 2) Selling young players already in MLS. 1) has the caveat that for each McKennie, we'll have 50 Parks, because Euro clubs have little motivation to develop foreign kids obtained for nothing. 2) has the caveat that being a rich country, our MLSers are paid better than the typical feeder-league player from poorer countries, who may be just as good if not better.
I would have thought the leagues target would have been long term soccer fans. Instead they have given up on that group and are trying to convert people who arent knowledgable of the game and are therefore gullible to buy all their nonsense marketing of their inferior product.
1. This is just stupid. If euro teams get players that they think have talent/potential, they will do everything they can to develop them. The real concern is whether MLS teams have motivation to develop young players. 2. Just shows how dumb the league is that they dont know the value if players in the global game. The players had no leverage so the owners had to decide to do this on their own. I'd guess they thought this would be a way to convince their gullible fans that the league is better than it really is.
1. This is just stupid. If euro teams get players that they think have talent/potential, they will do everything they can to develop them. The real concern is whether MLS teams have motivation to develop young players. 2. Just shows how dumb the league is that they dont know the value if players in the global game. The players had no leverage so the owners had to decide to do this on their own. I'd guess they thought this would be a way to convince their gullible fans that the league is better than it really is.
I am a high school teacher. I want my students to go to college. The fact that I don't say I have a particular preference for UCLA, USC, UC San Diego or some out of state (I'm from California) college is much different than saying I don't give a crap about UCLA. If I say that I want my students to attend college, than that is exactly what it means. I want them to attend college. It may be a fact that I prefer they attend USC but nobody knows that from my statement. If you only care about how MLS benefits the USMNT, than supporting the player by giving honest, unbiased information when asked etc. is not something that you would like. From that perspective, I can see why you are upset with MLS on this topic. Edit: I actually believe that college is not for everyone but everyone should get post high school training. It may or may not be at a 4yr university. It doesnt' really change the argument. I want what is best for the person.
I agree it doesnt show a preference. I also think it is sad and dumb. I think it is sad that Arena and Berhalter (or whoever else is making the personnel decisions) is actively trying to market the league at the expense of the USMNT and league doesnt have a preference for the USMNT. I think it is dumb as it would be best for the league and SUM if they played for the US or Mexico.
Can we stop acting like the league cares about the player? If you had a student who had the ability and opportunity to go to Harvard or Stanford (to make it a CA school), I'd bet you encourage them to go there over El Camino. For your situation to be analogous, your high school would need to be associated with El Camino. If you then encouraged them to go to Stanford, you'd be fired.
No, that’s just something you’re making up. That’s not actually a thing that’s happening. And, honestly, the American soccer fans I’ve met who are only supporters of the USMNT but turn their noses up at MLS haven’t exactly impressed me with their knowledge (or lack thereof) of soccer.
I don't think my statement claims that the league cares about the player. I think it would be best if they did...just as I believe it would be best if all businesses cared about their employees. I am not naive enough to believe that is necessarily the case. The conversation was about directing them to a national team. The quote was very vague and did not specify a preference. maybe intentionally maybe not but the quote did not indicate a preference. As for your comment about my school being associated with El Camino, and leading to a potential firing (I assume implying that the equivalent should be applied to MLS) there is nothing in the relationship between MLS and the USMNT that indicates they have any sort of obligation to recruit players for the USMNT and discourage players from playing for a foreign national team. As far as pleasing fans of USMNT, If anything, they SHOULD care more about their players than they care about fans of the USMNT...especially fans of the USMNT that don't really care about MLS or the clubs within MLS. I believe that supporting the player in going the direction which is best for the player is a good business decision and, coincidentally, it is also the right thing to do. By the way, it may seem strange to you, but I actually think that even for some students that have the ability and opportunity to go to Harvard or Stanford or Berkeley or (pick you school), I still believe that El Camino is a good and sometimes superior choice. It depends upon the individual situation and is not so cut and dried as people often want it to be.
I would expect that there may be a preference..which could possibly vary from team to team but I also think that the preference was intentionally left unstated. LAFC has a very substantial Latino fanbase. It is possible that they may believe they risk alienating some of their fanbase if they explicitly state they have a preference for developing USNT players over Mexican NT players.... I agree that the relationship should be more symbiotic than it is. MLS should not benefit at the expense of USMNT and the opposite is also true, USMNT should not expect MLS to sacrifice for the benefit of the USMNT. The goals of player development can easily be mutually beneficial.
And it may be that the LAFC organization is sensitive about anti-discrimination laws. Giving preference to American citizens over non-citizens in your academy raises a lot of legal issues.
Perhaps, but I would think that would only apply if it could be shown that a team was giving preference to training and or opportunities for advancement within the organization and would not apply to whether or not the team is encouraging a dual citizen to commit to one nation or the other....unless of course it was affecting their employment (which I don't think anyone is suggesting).
If, by "turn their noses up at MLS" you mean: used to be a passionate follower of MLS when young Americans got opportunities in the front half of the field and Americans made up a majority of the players on the field, in any given match, then that's me. I watched every match I could, looking for the next guy that could help out the MNT. I fit the profile of a guy whose knowledge doesn't impress you? Oh, sorry. I played club-level college soccer in the 80's. Continued to play rec league soccer and pick up soccer with the local university's grad school students until: a) I hit 50; b) I had 2 young kids at home and couldn't dedicate the time to be in that kind of shape. I watched U.S. soccer when it was almost impossible to watch. Paid to get into a Mexican bar in Santa Ana to watch the qualifier in 97? where Keller pinged it off Hermosillo's head into the goal. Watched U.S. Copa America matches in Mexican bars, b/c they were the only ones that had them. Watched the '90 world cup on Spanish language tv, as that was all that was broadcasting it where I lived. Edit: Oh, and back in the pre-MLS days, I was so soccer hungry that I'd watch The A-League Match of the Week (Let's go Colorado Foxes!). And, passionately followed college soccer. Have watched just about every single match the MNT has played that's been on tv since the 80's. I'm sorry if I fit the profile of a guy whose soccer knowledge does not impress you.
That's a terrible analogy. Here's a better one. Say ....... you're in charge of player development for a team in the U.S. domestic league. A league that wouldn't exist without a huge hand from the USSF. A Fed, that ultimately was funded by fans of the United States national teams. And, you're saying "ya, I don't give a f*ck about the U.S. Whomever a guy picks is fine with me." Now, lets add that the domestic league has a *huge* financial incentive to develop players for the neighboring country. And, that the commissioner of the league has said he's going after fans who don't care whether the players are USMNT elible or not. That's a better analogy. Oh, wait. That's what's actually happening. As a guy whose primary interest in the game is following the USMNT, with regard to MLS, I'm saying "******** you very much, I'm out."
Great. Don't let the door hit you on the ass on the way out. MLS shouldn't really care about the vanishingly small percentage of American soccer fans who only care about the league insofar as it advances the NT.
ok. Can we also get garber to stfu about how the USMNT and MLS are “inextricably linked” and demanding that no USSF employee ever speaks The truth about MLS’ position in the global soccer meritocracy or he’ll throw a hissy fit? Thereafter, our coaches can openly state the obvious: playing in a lesser league than they can play at is likely bad for top tier USMNT players.
The league has never catered to people who had played the game at reasonably high level. For a long time, they wanted make it family friendly. If memory serves, they changed the way they marketed it when Seattle and Portland came along. They didnt seem to care that much about the game until about 5 years ago. Most people I know who grew up playing the game competitively and have watched international & top leagues know how poor the level is in MLS. These people have a good understanding of the game and have zero interest in MLS. Most MLS fans I know sound like idiots who leans the game from Matt Doyle. They have no idea how to judge talent or are just blinded by their unwavering love for a crap league.
Do you really expect them to? How many people who watch the NFL played football at a high level? Or hockey for the NHL or basketball for the NBA. If playing the game at a high level only makes you want to watch soccer at the highest level, that's fine. But MLS isn't going to be at that level so there isn't any point in catering to those people.
Yes, I do expect them to want former players to watch their product. That is the wrong question. The fact that former players are interested the game in the other sports is what makes it so appealing to the masses. So the question that should be asked what percentage of former high school, college, and professional players become fans of the professional league once no longer playing. I think you would find that number very high for other sports and much lower for soccer. The problem is that those people dont just watch the highest level. I watch youth games and would love to Jong Ajax and Jong PSV games. I know people who played the game to do the same. I also know ones that go to USL games and go to youth games that they know nobody playing. I stopped watching MLS when Garber started interfering with the USMNT. It is interesting that most of the other people I've mentioned in this paragraph have never had an interest in MLS.
No, because Don Garber is going to go into the Soccer hall of fame in the USA. Because his actions are probably what saved professional soccer in the US in the early 2000’s. So, yeah, whatever issues you might have with the guy, he’s certainly got more credibility than anyone at USSF. I mean, Don Garber and MLS aren’t responsible for inflicting Juergen Klinsmann on American soccer, or bombing us out of the World Cup for the first time since Oasis was at the top of the charts. But, sure, tell me more about why I should give a rats ass about what the USSF and its fanboys think.
Nothing what you wrote here is true. No professional sports league in the world bases its business plan around appealing to high level players of the sport. The NFL is the most popular professional sports league in the US. How many of its fans do you think played football at the high school level or higher?