[INTERVIEW] The Commissioner of Major League Soccer has much on his mind, including the first MLS Cup to be played in Canada next month, two expansion teams
preparing to start play in what looks to be a very busy 2011, and what can be done to ease the burden of travel for teams playing in competitions beyond league matches. In this first installment of an
interview with Soccer America, Don Garber discussed myriad issues. ...
(Garber deferred comment on some competitive aspects, such as expansion of roster sizes and player
development, which are slated for extensive discussion during the week of MLS Cup.)
SOCCER AMERICA: You were in Toronto Tuesday to start up the publicity for MLS Cup, right after
owner-operator Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE) backtracked on another increase of ticket prices and held “Town Hall’ meetings with its fans. Where does the situation stand?
DON GARBER: MLSE made that decision to raise prices and they did this in July, they were in sixth place [overall] and hadn’t been knocked out of Concacaf, and were having
some success at home. They made an announcement, it turned out not to be the right one, and they corrected it quickly.
The good thing that came out of it is that they listened to their
fans and recognized they made a bad decision, and they changed it. Good for them. I think it’s a positive, not a negative.
SA: Do you think this will blow over quickly with
MLSE’s change of plans or will it adversely affect ticket sales and attendance for MLS Cup?
GARBER: I certainly hope not. Those are two questions; one is will it pass? I
believe it will, because I think Toronto, as part of this process, gets closer to its fans and probably communicates with them more regularly and probably goes through a more interactive process when
they make decisions. And I’m certainly hopeful it has no affect on MLS Cup sales.
SA: Before they launched as expansion teams, Seattle and Philadelphia executives and staff
members were in contact with their counterparts in Toronto to research their methods and hear their ideas in many areas, including the interaction with fan groups. Has TFC lost touch with its most
ardent fans?
GARBER: The close communication that Philadelphia and Seattle have with their fans is based on the close communication that Toronto has had with their fans since
the beginning. They just got a bit disconnected and have had four years’ lack of success on the field.
[Director of business operations] Paul Beirne, before the team was launched,
was dealing with the Red Patch Boys. They were involved with the branding and where the stadium would be. He’s had discussions with the supporters’ group on a regular basis, so this is
something that didn’t just happen, not at all.
Maybe it’s not so much that they were disconnected but they misread the situation that was bubbling up among their most avid
fans. That’s probably a better way of saying it.
SA: With Vancouver and Portland joining next season to increase the number of teams to 18, you’ve announced each team
will play 34 games but that the schedule may not be balanced. What goes into deciding how the schedule will be formatted?
GARBER: There’s two approaches by which one can
address the schedule. One is a balanced schedule by which we ensure every team plays each other. That has a certain value, certainly to core fans, and I think it has a lot of value to coaches and
technical directors, who think perhaps it’s the fairest way to determine which team is the best in the league.
Another approach is to have an unbalanced schedule and we’re
looking at a wide range of ideas to assure that we can grow the overall relevance of our clubs in their local market. One way we believe we can do that is by having more rivalries, and by rivalry I
mean a game that’s of great importance to you because it’s against a team that’s nearby or one that there’s a long historic connection with.
Another support of
the rivalry approach is that you get an increased chance of a truly memorable moment. That could be put forth on a more regular basis.
SA: You’ve talked in the past about a
Northwest rivalry and how Philadelphia has natural rivals within reasonable driving distance for fans. How is this tied into the travel some teams have to undergo for league games and outside
competitions, and is this also a matter of costs?
GARBER: We have some issues with travel and the size of our continent. An unbalanced schedule with a conference alignment gives
us some flexibility with that.
Now that we have Champions’ League and Open Cup, travel has become a big issue, affecting the health and fitness of our players. It has nothing to do
with expense. It has to do with putting our best game forward.
SA: What do you mean by that?
GARBER: We’ve made a major commitment to the Champions
League, and we want that tournament to get better, more popular, have people pay more attention to it, and hopefully have our teams be more successful in it.
SA: By adding more
league games, the schedule for 2011 could be more congested than it was this year if MLS teams continue to play in the U.S. Open Cup and SuperLiga as well as the Concacaf Champions’ League and
various friendlies.
GARBER: The schedule is very congested and certainly the Concacaf Champions’ League adds to that congestion, because of the logistics of it: midweek
during our season, traveling great distances. Columbus and Real Salt Lake traveled 30,000-40,000 miles this year … Manchester United traveled 17,000 miles, including their Champions League
travel, Pachuca 17,000, and they’ve won the Champions’ League in the past couple of years. So you’ve got lots of issues to consider.
SA: Except for Seattle and
Toronto, which draw great crowds for most games, teams don’t get good crowds for the Concacaf games. Is this a function of the particular markets or convincing fans in certain markets of the
tournament’s importance?
GARBER: That’s an entirely different issue. Seattle is in a completely different state than most of our clubs, Toronto as well. The issue
I’m talking about is: What can we do to make our teams as competitive as possible in the Champions’ League, and hopefully, winning it? One of the things you’d be looking at is how to
not make them competitively disadvantaged when they go into that tournament.
That tournament will become a lot more relevant if one of our teams is in Abu Dhabi or Japan and playing in
the final against Manchester United, Chelsea, Barcelona, Real Madrid or Milan.
SA: So could there be major changes in how the league operates next season?
GARBER: I don’t know if I can say there will be major changes. I will say that our competition committee is discussing this with our ownership group, and we’re looking at a number
of things.
SA: Might there be a realignment into three divisions to facilitate more rivalry games, and perhaps an increase in the number of playoff teams?
GARBER: [Realignment] is certainly one of the things we’re looking at, though that shouldn’t be a headline by any means. We do look at the single-table concept,
we’re looking at our playoff format, we’re looking at our conferences and if we re-align, we want to make sure we do that in the right way. We look at the calendar. We look at
everything.
When a political candidate to says the same things over and over during the course of a 18 month campaign, that's called "staying on message" When Don Garber says the same thing over and over for a decade, that's called "lip service".
Good intentions don't pave roads, parking lots, or the future of American soccer. Yet MLS is fueled by them.
Three groups: Eastern, Central and Western, each consists of 6 teams. Each team will play the other teams in their own group 4 times (20 games) and play each team from the other groups once (12 games). The extra two games will be against historical rivals. For example: New york will play Los angeles (Western) and Chicago (Central) twice. Top team in each group qualifies to the play-off with the wild cards goes to the next best 5 teams.
How hard is it to play every team twice (home and away), enter the Domestic Cup (US Open Cup/Nutralite Cup) and a regional cup (Concacaf Champions League)? That should be enough games through a season.
Scrap the SuperLiga and the playoffs. One table, one winner over the course of the season.
Hey - maybe the rest of the world will follow this formula !
C.Zee, that would be okay except for the fact that playoffs = $ for the teams that get into the playoffs. I do not like Gus Keri's idea of playing the same team four times. Borrrring! They should keep the Domestic Cup, Concacaf Champions League and Superliga, but only if they expand the rosters. EPL teams play the FA Cup, Carling Cup, and Champions League or Europa League. What's the big deal?
Do you think Garber and company read all these posts? The poll on MLS own page is like 76% in favor of balanced. They make it so hard on themselves to do the simple right thing- Single Table with Shield winner one of the seeded teams to CCL. No Playoffs. Then the USOC with that winner seeded to the CCL. If CCL needs 4 USA teams, the runner-ups to both this competitions should be used. Eliminating the playoffs and Stupidliga should also free up enough dates for FIFA dates as well.. Too simple !!!
I like Gus's plan minus the extra two rivalry games, just do 32 games. I know from when I played growing up, the more you play a certain team the more you start to hate em and want to beat em, so it will take a couple years but I am sure good rivalries will emerge, not boring! I agree with Mark that Stupidliga should be dropped- the "sidebar" stuff I think can confuse fans about what matters and hurt what's still a league in its infancy. by the way, Carling Cup and FA Cup are not getting prioritized by the top clubs, so their importance and credibility is under fire. Two competitions: Concacaf Champ League and a 4 team MLS playoff, perfect