In most cases, I think a bit of controversy/gossip is good for MLS. Freddy's beef over playing time, for instance, made it onto a number of sports talk shows and at least got people talking about the league. And I would say all the discussion over Houston 1836's name has helped increase awareness of the team. However, there're other things like sexual assualt charges, drug abuse, etc, that I certainly hope never get mentioned with MLS.
All good in the long run. As long as the stories get in the mainstream news and people hear/are reminded about MLS, then the sordid dramas are all good. Houston 1836 might be one of the best things that have happened to MLS, despite the pain I know fans in SJ and Houston may be feeling over their different losses.
i think breaking Totti's leg was a great publicity stint for Roma. Maybe we do the same for someone else?
Before you can have a scandal, you have to have notoreity. Sure, some positive tests for performance enhancing drugs in MLS may get a few mentions, but would not generate anywhere near the kind of publicity that it did (would) for the big 4. So on balance, I think it would be a net loss for MLS.
Let's not forget that the charges against these players were dropped because of a lack of credible evidence. In otherwords, the DA in Columbus had no case. Innoncent until proven otherwise. As for the overall theme of this thread, the controversies, be they FreddyGate, the 1836 fiasco, FC Red Bull or the Go Back to Africa thing create far more mainstream media coverage for MLS than trades and games and Jason Kreis scoring 100 goals do. The perverse reality is that those controversies are very good for MLS because they create discussion and raise awareness of the league. MLS Cup never gets covered as much as that stuff did, never. Sad but true.
Actually, we've had more controversy in the past six months that at any time I can remember in MLS, which may be a sign that the league is getting (slightly) bigger.