FUTBOL IN AMERICA

chelsea and a.s. roma drew 25,000 in pittsburgh last night.
manchester united and glasgow celtic drew 55,000 in philly.

i have a modest proposal for major league soccer.

include some of the top european and south american teams in the mls playoffs and get one or two of the best mls teams invited to participate in the champions league.

"harris, you're nuts! NUTS! NUTS! why would the european teams do it and risk their prestige? why would mls risk being unmasked by 6-0 outcomes?"

think about it for a minute.

(1) there IS, and always has been, a market for top flight soccer in the u.s.: the cosmos, rowdies, the u.s. women's team's win over china, etc., etc. people just ain't gonna turn out for the equivalent of triple a or double a ball just 'cause it has fifa's imprimatur as "first division."

(2) mls is in a sisyphean rut of mediocrity. they are not taken seriously, they never WILL be taken seriously until they prove themselves in REAL matches--not friendlies--against the top world teams.

(a) mls is literally building in this mediocrity with this mindless craze for soccer-specific stadia. it started in columbus and then l.a. dallas has one in the works as do the metro stars and the fire and colorado just got one approved.

what's the matter with that?

they all seat 20,000-25,000. mls wants to build in "intimacy," "tradition;" what they're building in is the financial impossibility of ever becoming truly big league.

(3) european soccer teams aren't the girlie-men that sports teams are in the u.s., afraid of taking on an inferior opponent and risking a loss of prestige, a la the university of florida refusing to play florida state until the legislature intervened, same thing with the university of kentucky and louisville, etc.

in england the fa cup is open to every pro soccer team in the country, like the old indiana high school basketball tournament. so you get arsenal playing matches that count against podunk united and the like. they ain't skaed.

(4) not that man-u and real madrid need the cash but capitalism is all 'bout "expanding markets." man-u has already signed a joint promotional arrangement with the yankees. america is almost as lucrative an untapped soccer market as china was for coca-cola and marlboro.

(5) mls WILL suffer some embarassing results. so did the afl in super bowls I and II. but just as that was the only way for the afl to gain credibility, this is the only way for mls.

mls does have some real world-class talent. the u.s. national team, heavily stocked with mls players, has been consistently ranked around 10th in the world. last time i checked they were
(and have often been recently) one spot ahead of the english!

this is all about "upside." there WILL be some upsets, just as there are every year in the ncaa basketball tournament. some 15 seed knocks off some 2. happens every year.

IMAGINE if the galaxy beat real madrid!!! forget the "intimacy" of the home depot center. they'd have to hold the galacians next match in the rose bowl to accomodate the crowd.

...

and now, back to more realistic things, like "the war is with islam."


-benjamin harris