What began as the one of the most questionable decisions during the
formation of Major League Soccer might be the catalyst the league
needs to find its place in the international community.
Many people criticized the MLS' choice to depart from the
synchronized schedules of most of Europe to play the bulk of their
season during the United States' summer months.
But the choice may allow for a symbiotic relationship between
America's domestic league and its counterparts overseas.
Putting aside MLS' other issues (league structure,
labyrinthine rules governing eligibility and transfers, contract
rights, and ownership problems), the league may have gotten it
right as far as season timing is concerned.
Starting, stabilizing, and finding a niche in a saturated
American sports market is a difficult, if not impossible,
undertaking.
There's an NFL Super Bowl at the end of January/beginning of
February, college basketball's March Madness, June playoffs for the
NHL and NBA, the World Series in October, and college football
throughout the fall. And this is without considering events in the
smaller sports, such as the Triple Crown, that runs throughout May.
It doesn't leave a whole lot of room for an American Soccer
League.
But MLS was able to slip itself into the American sports
landscape at just about the perfect time to milk the most out of
its domestic audience, and, perhaps, offer something to the
international community.
The season begins March 25, close to the third round of March
Madness. For most, the opening will come and go without much
fanfare. That's not a bad thing.
The players will be rusty and tentative. They'll need a
couple of weeks to reach match-fitness and gain familiarity with
their new teammates. It's not time to attract new fans. It's a time
for the players and the league to get its collective feet
underneath itself.
The finale is the more important date.
The MLS playoffs and the MLS Cup commence in November, right
in the middle of the college football season, which is a subtly
smart choice.
It avoids the World Series (the only time most casual fans
watch baseball) and the beginning and end of college football (when
the sport has its highest ratings). It sneaks games in when there's
nothing else for the football fan to watch.
Even if a person has no vested interest in a soccer team or
the game itself, most sports junkies will watch—or at least
turn to a championship game between commercials.
And this past final, with Beckham, Donovan, and a World Cup
this summer, plus a penalty shootout (one of the most exciting
endings to any sports competition, even if it has little to do with
a team's soccer prowess), couldn't have been more entertaining if
it were fixed.
This is how domestic fans are won.
However, MLS' strength of schedule isn't its conclusion. The
attraction is in the summer months, when little else is available.
Until July, baseball is boring, and, for many, it remains
that way until September, when pennant races get close.
It also avoids the beginning and end of most European leagues
(for reference, the English Premier League begins in August and
ends in May), and thereby can quench the thirst of soccer fans
addicted to those leagues, just so long as the observer does not
mind the change in skill level between the differing leagues. The
MLS can suck the viewer in with such an advantage.
The bonuses keep on coming.
Overseas, MLS gets airtime as, at least for a few months, it
doesn't have to compete with the European leagues.
That's not to insinuate that, over time, Europe will be glued
to American soccer, but in pubs and bars across that continent,
when nothing else plays at 10 in the morning, Kyle Beckerman's
dirty hair flops in front of bleary-eyed barflies on small
televisions in the corner of a few establishments.
While insulated American sports analysts will criticize MLS
for being one choice among many in the international soccer market,
real fans can be proud that an American league has the potential to
be on a television somewhere outside of America at some point in
time, even if it is at six in the morning.
Because the key isn't to be the EPL, or La Liga, or Serie A,
it's to be a choice on one of the 20 televisions in an
international bar, and MLS's timing ... those bleak summer months
... gives the league its best chance.
Finally, the schedule timing may allow players to move to
Europe in a smooth manner. MLS, American media, and American fans
must come to accept that the goal is not to be the greatest league
in the world.
First, because Europe has already proven that the top league
in the world changes constantly based on the movement of money and
players.
Secondly, because most Europeans will not come to America to
play soccer.
That's not a bad thing either.
MLS is not ready to compete directly with leagues that have
had more time, more money, more fans, a stronger reputation, and to
some, a geographically more appealing environment.
It's in MLS's best interests to complement these other
leagues, rather than compete against them (of course, in the end,
all the leagues are competing for a finite number of fans,
resources, and money, that's why I used the word "directly"
previously).
Creating a beneficial relationship—a
partnership—with as many European leagues and teams is in the
best interests of MLS.
Strong business relationships encourage players to stay in
MLS, knowing that one day, there's a good chance that a European
team will come calling. Experienced coaches, scouts, and
businessmen are exposed to MLS, players, and teams. The pull of
resources does not remain one way.
Eventually, MLS reaps benefits from the successes of its
European counterparts. Because, as I mentioned before, soccer is
international business.
This is unlike any other sport in America.
Essentially, there is one giant league, and it's played on
all the inhabited continents of the world. Almost every country has
one domestic player worth a million dollars waiting for just the
right contract with just the right club at just the right time.
No one's dreaming of playing soccer in America the same way a
Cuban baseball player may be lying awake at night planning an
escape in a makeshift raft to the shore of Miami in order to play
in Major League Baseball.
That's never going to happen, and that's fine.
It's fine because not every player is dreaming of playing in
one single league, be it England, Spain, Germany, Italy, or France.
These players are dreaming of playing somewhere.
It's different for every one, and while one may dream of
Liverpool Red, another of Madrid White, there's some kid somewhere
dreaming of starting a career in the gold, blue, and red of Real
Salt Lake (I hope).
This is the major difference between soccer and the other
American sports, and MLS has to find its place in this
international community.
Like a small-time club in baseball, MLS has to use its
limited resources to its advantage. It doesn't have the money and
reputation of other leagues, but that doesn't mean that it can't
survive, let alone thrive.
All it needs to do is make smart choices. Spend money wisely.
Create an impeccable reputation. Offer a strong product.
Its scheduling is one example of this approach.
Hopefully, there will be more smart choices made in the
future.
Ben Triana is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report, the
open source sports network.
