Why can't MLS ever catch a break?
Hi! It's Thursday, June 6. Today we're asking if MLS can compete during the 'Summer of Soccer', Eric Ramsay loving US life, the new Spurs kit, Ronaldo's stats, daily round-ups, and more. Enjoy!
Soccer Saturation and MLS
Those hazy, crazy ‘ Summer of Soccer’ days are on the horizon with Euro games all day and Copa America matches all night. But there is something even weirder than having the two biggest continental tournaments running simultaneously – and that is MLS playing through it all.
Starting your day with a hearty Georgia v Czech Republic breakfast and ending it with a late night snack of Mexico v Jamaica may test your appetite for football, but there is a real risk that MLS becomes the unwanted buffet item at the end of the counter.
It’s nothing new of course, MLS plays through the CONCACAF Gold Cup and even World Cups and in general ignores the FIFA windows for international breaks.
No other top soccer league in the world does this.
In the early days of the league it made little on-field difference to the clubs because so few MLS players were competing at international level, outside of those on the US national team. But the increased spending power of MLS clubs, combined with improved scouting and more expansive recruitment, means all that has changed.
In this current early June window, with friendly games and some World Cup qualifiers around the world – over 100 MLS players are set to represent their countries at full national or age-group level.
MLS has 29 clubs but losing 100 players for this weekend’s games is hardly an insignificant impact. And when it comes to the tournaments themselves, the number of absentees will be smaller but will, of course, be the best players.
Inter Miami will lose half their starting line-up, including Messi and Suarez. They have done well enough in the first half of the campaign to build up a cushion in the standings that should mean that some negative results don’t fatally harm their playoff hopes and MLS’s post-season qualification is generous enough that there is opportunity for clubs such as Orlando, who will also lose key starters, to make up any lost ground.
But it is less the impact on fair competition that is the real issue here, it is more a question of the league’s image, the branding impact. MLS wants to be seen as the premier soccer competition in North America but it is willing to allow a devalued, watered-down product, to take the field (and be broadcast on Apple TV) at the time when the very best are playing in other competitions, including one in their own backyard.
In the past, MLS has tried to piggy-back off World Cups and other competitions, by having ‘watch parties’ at stadiums before/after their games and other approaches to try to make the best of a bad situation.
But this year it is going to be a tough sell. There is so much top class soccer saturating the market that there is bound to be an impact on MLS Season Pass viewing figures. There are also going to be Copa America games in stadiums across the country which will surely have an impact on the ‘soccer spend’ of the average fan.
There are two reasons why MLS continues to do this – firstly, unlike most leagues in the world, MLS runs on a spring to fall schedule so these tournaments are slap bang in the middle of their season as opposed to being during the off-season as they are in Europe. Trying to compress the current MLS schedule (and Leagues Cup, US Open Cup and Concacaf Champions Cup) is tricky enough as it is without adding a month-long summer break into it.
Secondly, there are economic factors, as league commissioner Don Garber put it last year “We can’t afford it. If we have to shut the league down and lose games, it impacts our players. It impacts our partners. It impacts our fans. It impacts everything that that MLS has to deliver for all of our stakeholders”.
In other words – MLS doesn’t want a summer month with stadiums empty and Apple with an empty broadcast schedule.
MLS is calculating that a weakened product is better than no product at all. But there is a price to pay for playing through Copa/Euros. The league looks largely irrelevant and far from elite for most of June.
The problem is not going away. Next June will see TWO international tournaments held in the USA at the same time – the new, expanded FIFA Club World Cup, with the best club sides in the world competing alongside the national team action in the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Then in 2026, there is the World Cup itself. Garber has, at least, said that MLS will stop for the biggest show in the world.
“The 2026 World Cup is an entirely different animal. I can’t imagine we’re going to be playing games during the World Cup, but the economic impact of that is significant,” he said.
If there is a way to stop in 2026, then surely there was a way to do it this year and would be in 2025.
The simplest solution is to reduce the number of games in the regular season. A more radical approach would be to switch to the Apertura/Clausura system of effectively two mini-seasons, one in spring and one in fall which has been used in Mexico and some other leagues.
The whispers we are hearing are that the latter option is very much on the table for 2026 but if the impact of The Summer of Soccer this year is as bad for MLS as we fear, don’t be surprised if some push for that change to come in next year.
Watch this space.
BREAKING: Six Premier League clubs will have to sell players by the end of June to comply with profit and sustainability rules:
Chelsea, Aston Villa, Newcastle, Everton, Nottingham Forest and Leicester City (@SkySportsNews) What did we say about regulation turning the Premier League into a farce?
ALSO BREAKING: Premier League clubs today voted NOT to get rid of VAR but to continue with their ill-fated attempts to ‘improve’ it. Oh and SAOT will come in next season as planned, so we can argue about that as well….oh joy…..
EURO 2024 Round-up
ENGLAND: Jack Grealish has been axed from England’s squad and Harry Maguire looks set to miss out with a calf injury. (Guardian)
FRANCE: Euro 2024 favourites France beat Luxembourg 3-0 in an international friendly on Wednesday with superstar striker Kylian Mbappe on the score sheet. (France 24)
SPAIN: The Guardian’s team guide is up. The team beat Andorra 5-0 on Wednesday.
SCOTLAND: New York Red Bulls’ Lewis Morgan gets a late call-up for Scotland’s Euros squad. (BBC)
BELGIUM: Beat Montenegro 2-0 with KDB on target. (Reuters)
DENMARK: Beat Sweden 2-1 with a cracking winner from Christian Eriksen (You Tube)
PORTUGAL: Lies, damn lies, and statistics; and Ronaldo’s tell us that besides the potential records he could break during the Euros, he’s the greediest (that’s most selfish in American parlance) bugger ever to have played in the finals:
He eclipses second in the list, Thierry Henry, 137 > 52, for most attempts on goal, while joint-leading in assists with Karel Poborsky, and trailing compatriot Luis Figo in chances created. In other words, he just gets the ball and blasts it. There’s a reason Portugal won it in 2016 when he went off injured after 25 minutes. (BBC)
The Netherlands are in action at 14:45 ET against Jesse Marsch’s Canada. TV listings here.
ITALY: The Guardian team guide has this on their ‘maverick: Gianluca Mancini is the king of the unexpected. In 12 days earlier this year, between 6 April and 18 April, he scored the only goal in the Rome derby, displayed an offensive banner to Lazio fans, was fined by Serie A’s sporting judge and scored two goals to eliminate Milan from the Europa League. Quite intense. Moreover, in the same spell he went viral when Ryanair replied to a tweet by a Roma fan, ironically stating that only their airline was hated more than Mancini by the Italians.
COPA AMERICA 2024 Round-up
Mexico and Uruguay a - Darwin Nunez HATTRICK as Mexico thumped 4-0 in Denver. Here’s the highlights - for North American readers. You wonder how much pressure there is on Mexico coach Jaime ‘Jimmy’ Lozano even before the tournament. Don’t be surprised if there is some drama around El Tri in the coming days.
Also worth remembering that Marcelo Bielsa’s Uruguay, who were devastating on the counter-attack and have really bought into ‘Bielsa-ball’ are in the same group as the USA, as Herculez Gomez notes with some trepidation on ESPN.
Talking of the USMNT, Gregg Berhalter’s side are in action against Colombia on Saturday and Stars and Stripes has a breakdown of the South American opponents.
Your Daily Soccer Round-up….
Today’s Top Transfers:
Chucky Lozano (PSV to San Diego)
Lukaku ‘open’ to Saudi move (ESPN)
Borussia Dortmund want Ian Maatsen, but not for $45M (ESPN)
Tottenham, Aston Villa and Atletico Madrid are chasing Chelsea’s Conor Gallagher (Yahoo!Sports)
In Other Soccer News
MLS: Interview with Minnesota Utd head coach and former Manchester Utd assistant to Erik Ten Hag, Eric Ramsay. It’s interesting to hear a young, up and coming coach speak of America and the MLS as a key starting point to a career in management. (Guardian)
Man found guilty in Roy Keane headbutting case (BBC)
Play Rock ‘em, Sock ‘em Pundit: Keano Edition:
The new kits for Spurs, Arsenal, City and Liverpool have dropped in the last few days. This Spurs one looks very nice, clean and sharp but….
Our Spurs ‘correspondent’ was less than impressed: “I F@#$% hate it … those sleeves ? We are not bloody Arsenal.”
Thoughts?
Pep explaining things, as he does, to Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla. (Morey Hershgordon)
File under ‘No shit, Sherlock…’ - Mark Clattenberg says his VAR consultant role at Nottingham Forest last season did ‘more harm than good’. (BBC)
Following on from yesterday’s Shark Tank shenanigans, one ’ Watford supporters’ group says “I’m out.” (BBC)
The Daily Soccer Quote of the Day
“There’s a really strong supporter culture and you feel that in the city. We’re not the biggest sport in America, but here we seem to be talked about in the same way as the other sports.”
“I think by the time these big international tournaments pass, I can only see it going one way and [the US] becoming one of the strongest soccer cultures and sporting environments in the world.” - Eric Ramsay, Minnesota United head coach
Repurposed Joke of the Day
Bonnie Tyler is involved in a bid to own Leeds United. Fans are hoping things turn around, but think every now and then they’ll fall apart.
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