By Jason Davis - WASHINGTON, DC (Nov 23, 2011) US Soccer Players -- Apologies if you haven’t quite processed the Los Angeles Galaxy’s coronation as MLS Cup champions yet, but MLS needs your attention. Sorry if you’re still pondering what the future of a League where teams with Designated Players can actually win championships might look like, but it’s already time to move on.
You’ll have to excuse the imposition, but it's already time to take your mind off the biggest game of the year. Shift gears won't you, never mind the grinding sound. It's time for the Expansion Draft.
That now annual charity event once again takes the stage. This time, it's the Montreal Impact's turn to pluck a set of players from the rest of the League.
Protected player lists for the process were due to MLS headquarters the day after the Galaxy finished their march to a title, barely enough time for the celebratory confetti to float back to earth at the Home Depot Center. So it goes for Major League Soccer, the League that rarely lets fans breathe before moving on to the next thing, even if that thing is only tangentially related to the product on the field.
It’s not just the aftermath of the championship game that gets its thunder stolen by the business of the League, either. The buildup to the MLS Cup Final, the culmination of what is fairly termed among the Major League Soccer’s most successful seasons ever, was brought to a near halt by announcements about next year’s competition.
Scheduling formats, playoff formats, the addition of an extra game in the conference final round… instead of holding the information for the post-Final glow, the League leaders felt it prudent to release details during the marquee event of the season. The moves makes sense because the League is giving its most ardent supporters needed information at a time when communication between leadership and fan is at its highest. But it has the obvious side effect of taking the spotlight away from the game that create the opportunity for that communication in the first place.
All eyes on the MLS Cup Final, where two teams will vie for the League biggest prize. But don’t dally, there’s business to conduct and little time in which to conduct it. Holiday week? No worries, we'll fit in the announcement the day before everyone focuses on turkey and an afternoon spent in the company of the National Football League.
Montreal needs players. With the last two teams still playing now done with their seasons, the Impact can finally begin their MLS existence by putting names on their roster. Doing so now, as jarring as the sudden left turn to the Expansion Draft happens to be, gives the Impact the greatest amount of time to conduct player acquisition business between now and the start of the 2012 season.
Less than twenty-four hours from Final to teams turning in protected lists. Forty-eight hours more, and Montreal will reach into the barrel of available names and grab a few. One of those names could very well belong to an LA Galaxy player. Imagine being part of that team and all its success - success which has it listed among the greatest teams ever to play in the League - only to be selected by Montreal and forced to leave LA behind a few days later. That’s hardly the way the players, much less fans celebrating their conquering team, would want to spend the days following a championship.
The MLS story never remains in one place for very long. Prolonged focus is fleeting because the League has yet to - even after nearly twenty years of existence - solidify into what it will ultimately be. Teams are constantly being added, the reason for the rapid shift this year (and last year, and the year before that) to the Expansion Draft before Galaxy fans have even regained their cheer-fatigued voices.
More teams means adjustments to the schedule, and the never-ending scramble for American sports relevancy prompts changes designed to bring more attention to the League. Improved attendance is a positive to be trumpeted, but the question as to why more fans in the seats hasn’t translated to better television ratings means we can’t even take time to properly appreciate what Bruce Arena’s team did on Sunday evening because new details and new teams are vying for our attention.
At some point on Wednesday, Montreal will select from the group of players left unprotected by MLS clubs. Already, the eye, at least for keen observers of the League, has been pulled away from the accomplishments of LA, the laudable run of Houston to the Final, and the individual contribution of the players and coaches involved.
The MLS Cup Final got two weeks of buildup and less than a day of reflection. The winning team received the trophy, the stadium empties, and the League moves quickly to prepare itself for the next season. Savoring the moment becomes all but impossible.
Still thinking about the dominant performance LA put in, or how desperately Houston missed Brad Davis? Pondering LA’s place among the best MLS teams of all time, or how the Galaxy finally managed to break the DP “hex”? Still coming down from Sunday and everything that came out of it? Too bad. It’s time to move on. LA, you’re old news. Montreal, you’re on the clock.
Jason Davis is the founder of MatchFitUSA.com. Contact him: matchfitusa@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: hhttp://twitter.com/davisjsn.
More From Jason Davis:
