With J Hutcherson -- Let's set aside the grandstanding that goes along with anything advertised as a "State of...." Nobody in that position is going to start riffing on trends and topics. It's a no risk, some reward scenario even when questions are taken.
So what did we learn from Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber's State of the League? MLS is really proud of Seattle, they don't want to address any of the problems that might potentially hamper their growth model, and the expectation should be onward and upward. Oh, and committed supporters in appropriate soccer stadiums make all the difference. Even in Seattle, where they're playing in an over-sized National Football League venue on artificial turf.
In other words, exactly what anybody should've expected before calling in at 3pm yesterday. Fair enough, but where is this League really?
Seattle's success has taken the gloss off of soccer-specificity in two very obvious ways. One, they draw more than the standard soccer-specific stadium holds. Two, they've shown the 'intimate venue' argument is pretty much irrelevant with a good product. People don't seem as bothered by an empty upper deck as some would like to believe.
There's a third not-so-obvious point as well. Using an NFL venue normally means being closer to a population center than what MLS manages with their own soccer-specific stadiums. The Sounders play downtown. There's a lot of things to do around Qwest Field. It's not just parking lots, youth soccer fields, and maybe the view of a distant skyline.
Obviously, that's a different story than the League wanted to tell with Carson, Frisco, Bridgeview, and Commerce City. The blend version will be Red Bull Arena in Harrison, NJ. A venue that is expected to hold up as architecturally distinct and a worthy alternative to the brand new NFL venue just up the Turnpike.
Surprisingly enough, the pre-apology Kevin Payne point on relative entertainment value wasn't brought up at all. Per yesterday's Daily, that's still the big picture problem facing the League. The current style of play employed by too many clubs doesn't lend itself to sudden mainstream appeal. Most in and around the League seem to get that, even if it's been an issue for years.
The Seattle point still holds. MLS should be putting up the Sounders as the new template for the next stage in the League's development. They're an entertaining club not afraid to spend in a market where they get significant media play. Then again, that's always been the thought.
Unfortunately, the reality for MLS has chased that with business practices. For all the talk of on the field, this remains a League that can't play down it's own rules for running clubs. That's the problem with building a league around cost certainty, no free agency, and real estate speculation.
That leaves the League working on the idea that you can pull big crowds while operating on a low budget wherever a municipality was willing to build. That's closer to the real state of this League, and eventually those choices will have to be revisited.
Comments, questions, solutions to problems that have yet to present themselves. Please, tell me all about it.
