Besides MLS getting a really good dollar from the buying team, how is this a good thing? Europe has been taking players out of South America for years and how has it helped those leagues? Did it help Japanese baseball, when more Japanese players started playing in the US? No! Japan and South American countries just became places where MLB can go bargain hunting. The same thing’s going to happen here with the MLS. Wouldn’t it be better to keep quality players in MLS so the quality of the league and it’s players will eventually rise? BTW, I’m speaking particularly of the “Howard to ManU” news, but this phrase has been used with other players in the past. Sorry I meant to post this in the MLS forum, please move this...
It creates opportunity for younger players, for one. Dunivant is an excellent example. A mass exodus is never good, but a trickle opens more opportunities for other players to make their mark as well.
Yeah, NJ, it does hurt the league in the short run, but having players go abroad and succeed is good for the game in the US. If Timmy does well overseas and signs a fat contract, it may have a tiny influence on some multi-sport kid here who might otherwise lean toward basketball, baseball, etc. Plus, by honing his game in the Premiership, TH would become an even bigger force for the national team. But, you're right, this would kneecap the Metrostars.
No brainer. When you only have 10 teams, it helps the game overall. More opportunity for players that should be in a pro environment to be in one.
It would definitely help US Soccer to have guys like Howard, Beasley and Bocanegra go over to the EPL as our NTers will be playing higher level soccer. How it helps MLS is more complicated and certainly more subjective. In my opinion, it does 2 things. 1)It raises the stature of MLS. That will help with getting higher quality foreign players and it should also help with sponsors. 2) If there winds up being a pipeline from MLS into the top European leagues, this will accomplish 2 things -- our young stars will sign with MLS rather than trying to get into the youth or development squads of big clubs or into significantly lower division teams overseas. Having our young stars playing here can never hurt. The second thing is it will make it more attractive for the young up and comers from places like South America to come here rather than staying home or going to lower division sides in Europe. Again, that will improve the league.
It should be obvious by now that the interest in American players in Europe is very, very limited. Some of this has to do with technical reasons, work permit issues ad non-EU player roster limits, for example. But I also just don't see there being much interest in Americans in general. We'll lose a few players a year to Europe. But some will return, too. I suppose that more and more players might go abroad over time. But it'll never be an exodus.
the trickle of players going to Europe will give MLS publicity and cash in transfer fees. This hopefully will help popularize the league with fans and help the league reach profitability. Then they would be able to pay players more and then keep more of them here. Hopefully by the 2010 WC players won't have to go to Europe to get higher level competition and an above average salary.
[QUOTE. ...Having our young stars playing here can never hurt. The second thing is it will make it more attractive for the young up and comers from places like South America to come here rather than staying home or going to lower division sides in Europe. Again, that will improve the league. [/B][/QUOTE] Good call: I view MLS more as a breeding ground for our USMNT. The more players we can get over to Europe the better for the US and conversely for MLS. Younger players from other countrys that are finding it hard to crack into the top leagues in the world would come to MLS if they viewed it as a spring board to La Liga, Serie A, or EPL. For example if Carlos Ruiz gets over to Everton as the rumors have been speculating, many more South/Central American players would come over. If MLS can prove that Europe is watching than it will greatly increase it's flow of young international talent. Take it from a Galaxy fan: Less Hernandez and more Ruiz!
If MLS can supply a steady, even if it's slow, stream to better leagues I don't see how it can hurt, except by giving away it's crowd drawing names. I'm not even sure those exist, but even so... If they do get $2 million for Timmy, that's the Metros salary for an entire year. If we could sell 3-4 players a year at that rate, that's GREAT for the league. It's still losing money, and this will help recoup those losses, plus it will make the players who go abroad better, and in turn, our national team better.
My favorite though is when Eurosnobs give no credit to MLS for guys like Friedel, etc. Howard will go over and start for Man U sooner rather than later, but somehow he'll have been crap here, and learned all his skills over there. Precious.
Well, it's not like MLS can really claim to have developed Friedel. He was already a pretty experienced and accomplished player before he got to the Crew. Did his year and a half in MLS sharpen his game? Sure. But he isn't what I would call a product of MLS' developmental process, whatever that is. As for players going abroad helping MLS, I think every time an MLS player does well abroad, it reflects well on the league and when a player goes to a big club like ManU, the mainstream media here notices and the message sent is that MLS produces players capable of playing anywhere in the world. Plus, the biggest billboards for MLS is still the national team so if having players abroad makes them better national team players and that results in better national team performances, that is good for MLS.
Players going over only helps if a transfer fee was paid, thay way the MLS gets money it needs. Also, I think players will come back here on the downside of their career, but they will have established names that could draw more fans to the game.
It's good for several reasons.... 1. More tranfer money = more money for MLS, Timmie's transfer alone is 1 yrs. salary for the metros. 2. US prestige abroad - the more respect the US gets, the more likely a manager will bring over a US player. 3. More opportunities for US youth abroad- with a higher profile as a soccer nation, the more likely an Inter or Ajax or other teams with youth systems are to bring over young american players. 4. More opportunites for US Youth here - If Tim HOward leaves, a starting GK spot will open. Odds are a good young keeper will get his chance. Just like expansion, where a Zach Thornton got a chance, you will get another goalie who can get in the pool. 5. A Better Metro team - the MLS max for a GK (not that I don't think Tim deserves it) is a lot salary wise for a club to take on for a GK. 6. Bigger National team pool - See #3 and #4 We will never be Brazil where there are so many quality players spread out across the globe. But there is no reason why a nation as large as ours can't fit at #3 behind Argentina and Brazil. Baby steps.
But it doesn't do US Soccer fans any favors (you can tell I'm fan-centric when it comes to soccer talent) when they move overseas and the opportunity to see them play is severely reduced. Then what's the point of following the national team if a) it becomes a springboard from MLS for other leagues to take those players away, and b) you only see these players a very limited number of times per year? Evacuating players from MLS has the potential to do a lot more harm than good for US Soccer.
it proves to me that mls has achieved the player stature to attract buyers from higher quality leagues- we simply join the rest of the world in this dance. and there's every indication that new talent will always be right around the corner.
I understand that, but every league must have its standard bearers. If MLS establishes that it is a farm league of which other leagues can take advantage, then the credibility of the league, and its status as a stable league with a stable fanbase will be in serious jeopardy.
again, that's the balace game you play. as people have noted, there's never going to be a mass exodus. true, in the extreme, it's a catch-22 situation, but mls will continue to create standard bearers, while the very best should be free to further their game and earn more money.
And then there's the implication that I can't handle about MLS not being entitled to "the very best" that it or US Soccer produces. Goes back to the league being little more than a springboard because of the perception that the best of the American crop are just too good for their own fans. Not even talking about a mass exodus, but the undercutting of a league's entitlement, wherever they are in the world, to be able to make some attempt to keep their best talent because of some false perception that the game truly belongs somewhere else other than where it is played right now.
The best argument thus far. I think a good move for MLS is to try and loan more players from the top leagues. It would be a perfect lace for a young player who did not get a lot of games to pla during the summer, and possibly get them read to be an impact player for their team. Presumably, this would increase exposure, and it is entirely possible that we could see some players with a lot of talent liking it here and deciding that the US would not be a bad place to play.
Not if it undercuts the desire to turn that demand for opening spots into expansion clubs for the league.
It's the age old question of trade of goods and ideas. If you want to thrive, you have to do it. The MLS needs an foriegeners. And they need players like Hejduk and Joe-Max that play abroad and come back and play too. Fresh ideas and different experiences to share.
The league only recently contracted! Expansion so soon after does not look like a wise idea, regardless of demand for more spots. There still needs to be more support for soccer here for it to really try to expand. I would not even consider expansion for another 2-3 years, maybe right before the next World Cup, to get more people talking about soccer at the right time. That also has its disadvantages though.
there's no great conspiracy here- it's case by case and starkly unrealistic to think mls' elite wouldn't jump on the opportunity to earn big bucks and play w/ the world's best. it's almost insulting to suggest they make such sacrifices for the betterment of any mid-grade league.
I don't think it's insulting at all. Some of our Nats have remained in MLS or have returned to MLS and have, intentionally or otherwise, done good for the league. It's not such a foreign concept. And what defines a great league anyways? It's like chicken and egg, you can't have a great league if you don't have the top talent, and you can't have the top talent if you don't have a great league. That's all that I would like to see built in MLS. When, in your mind, does the league make this grand turnaround, or are we really just going to have to settle forever on the next best product that we can produce? You may talk case-by-case, but what are the future trends for MLS, and how do we make those trends reality today?