Friday, March 29, 2024

AdvertiseDonateSubmit
NewsSportsArtsOpinionThe QuadPhotoVideoIllustrationsCartoonsGraphicsThe StackPRIMEEnterpriseInteractivesPodcastsBruinwalkClassifieds

Pro soccer has the potential to be major league success

By Daily Bruin Staff

April 2, 1997 9:00 p.m.

Tuesday, March 4, 1997

COMMENTARY:

Structure of games, salary caps enhance talent of teamsVytas

Mazeika

Although many people may disagree, there are now five major
league sports in the United States.

The first four are obviously baseball, football, basketball and
hockey. Well … yes … hockey is kind of a stretch. But so is
soccer.

You can stop laughing now.

I am serious in saying that soccer can be viewed in the same way
as the other top four professional sports. Soccer is the most
popular sport in the entire world and is just beginning to gain
recognition in the United States.

Major League Soccer (MLS) kicked off its second season on March
22. The New York/New Jersey MetroStars played an overtime thriller
against the San Jose Clash in which the Clash prevailed.

I watched that game. Halfway through the second half I was
hooked and could not channel-surf until the outcome was
decided.

The Clash and slashing striker Eric Wynalda came out on top
after defeating goalie Tony Meola and the MetroStars in a
shoot-out. The reason I mention these two players is because of the
way in which U.S. Major League Soccer has been structured.

The league is composed of 12 teams. There is a strict salary cap
which limits each team to under $1.5 million. All player contracts
are owned by the league. The league commissioner can then delegate
which players will go to which team, ridding the system of free
agency.

Without free agency MLS should be able to survive its formative
years. Basketball, baseball and now football are being corroded by
free agency and the lack of loyalty which athletes show to their
home teams. Although a lawsuit is being filed by the soccer players
to institute free agency, it will be at least three years until the
lawsuit reaches court. So for now, MLS is safe from all of the
bickering that hurts the other major league sports.

* * *

Although the financial issue is stable, the MLS will require a
strong fan base. For now, teams like the Los Angeles Galaxy have
depended on the European and Latino following which supports
players such as flamboyant Mexican goalie Jorge Campos. The
question then is whether or not the majority of the U.S. natives
who embrace sports such as football, basketball and baseball will
ever learn to appreciate the sport of soccer and begin attending
games.

To help expand the fan base, the league has set ticket prices at
an affordable price. While tickets for all the other sports are
soaring to deal with the inflated contracts that free agency
creates, MLS games are cheap enough so that kids participating in
the American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO) can attend games as a
team.

Therefore the millions of kids involved in AYSO may grow to
clasp onto the sport and eventually become the paying fan base for
MLS in the near future.

* * *

Everybody who has a complaint about soccer says the same thing:
it’s boring. Anybody who has played soccer knows that the sport is
anything but boring.

To add excitement, MLS has even added a shoot-out at the end of
overtime to determine a winner ­ an idea which hockey should
have instituted many years ago to get rid of ties. In order to
avoid shootouts ­ where results are as predictable as
earthquakes ­ teams become more aggressive and try to win
during regulation play.

But no matter what rules are added to the league, soccer will
always be one of the most challenging sports. Players require a
great deal of skill to successfully drive the ball to the opposing
team’s goal. Therefore scores remain low in most contests.

But what is wrong with a score being low? What happened to the
day when a hard-fought pitching duel was viewed as a good game?
What happened to the day when a 1-0 hockey game was seen as a
successful effort by the goalie rather than a failure by the other
players? What happened to the day when defenses in the NFL were
given proper credit for disrupting offenses?

That is all in the past. The NBA has deteriorated because of
talented, but underdeveloped, youngsters entering the NBA every
year ­ most noticeably Jermaine O’Neal. These young adults
skip college and become professionals (and sometimes millionaires)
before they are mature enough to know how to handle the pressure.
In the end, the NBA suffers, and games such as the San Antonio
Spurs’ 64-59 victory over the woeful Cleveland Cavaliers take
place.

But MLS is heading in the opposite direction. After an inaugural
season in which mid-fielder John Starkes’ D.C. United was crowned
champion, the talent in the league has improved. Although MLS
cannot compete with the millions of dollars being dangled to soccer
players in Europe, the league has been able to entice many young
and promising American and South American players to join.

MLS knows that failure by previous leagues is due to the lack of
talent coming from within. Therefore the league has instituted a
cap of foreign players ­ meaning that teams will be primarily
comprised of American-born players. This emphasis on Americans like
Alexi Lalas, Wynalda, Meola and Starkes allows for the league to
appeal to young kids while keeping salaries low.

And although players like red-headed, goateed sensation Lalas
only earn upwards of $175,000 a year, they know that in order to
earn endorsements they must be noticeable and therefore part of
MLS. According to ESPN, Lalas earned close to $600,000 in
endorsements last year ­ making his total earnings close to
$750,000.

Major League Soccer in the United States is slowly gaining
momentum. MLS averaged over 17,000 people per game last year and
now has scheduled close to 80 percent of its games between Friday
and Sunday to maximize attendance. With an emphasis on a youth
movement and a defeat of the upcoming lawsuit, soccer should
survive long enough to become a profitable major-league sport in
the United States.

Mazeika is the volleyball beat writer for the Daily Bruin.

Share this story:FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
COMMENTS
Featured Classifieds
More classifieds »
Related Posts