Over the past two years, I've wondered why MLS hasn't more forcefully stated it's vision -- essentially, what it wants to be when it grows up.
Last Fall, Don Garber noted in an interview with Grant Wahl that having effectively assured its survival, MLS now had the luxury of really planing its future, and the owners were having discussions on spending and how to tweak the current model.
There's certainly much more debate as to what our future will look like as it relates to spending. There are a number of camps that exist within any league structure, and my role is to ensure that we can reach consensus on a plan going forward that makes sense for everybody. There are some within the league that believe spending isn't the solution to growing popularity, that the path to popularity and ultimately profitability is about continuing what has been the proper plan for the last number of years. This plan has worked, there is no doubt about it. MLS is still standing and growing and has hopefully a bright future ahead. So the question is, when do you move from this plan into thinking that it's time perhaps to go and invest more in a wide variety of things?
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/grant_wahl/11/19/garber.qa/2.html#ixzz0v1U6KLSU
Fast forward to Apirl, when Jonathan Kraft did with the Boston Globe about the new DP rule (which Garber actually mentioned in another interview), but it was striking in that young Kraft provided one of the more succinct visions of what he hoped MLS would become:
And I think the future for MLS — and a big part of it is our structure and how we’re set up — is very strong. And I think 15 years from now it’s not unreasonable to assume we’ll be — will we be the Premiership, or the Bundesliga, or Serie A? Maybe not. But I think there’s a reasonable chance we’ll be just right below that.
Link:
http://www.boston.com/sports/soccer/articles/2010/04/02/revolution_will_be_choosy_about_dps/?page=2
At the time, it sounded like Kraft might be puffing. Now, in another interview with the commissioner, Grant Wahl goes back to the topic. Here's what Garber said on the record:
Our goal is to be one of the top soccer leagues in the world. It's always been our goal, but we're becoming more public in stating our long-term vision. Had we talked about what we wanted to be when the league was founded, particularly when we had the challenges that we did, it would have raised some skepticism. But now that the league is growing, earning more respect and having more players coming into the league from the domestic and international ranks, we have a goal in sight.
Link:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/grant_wahl/07/28/allstar.garber/1.html#ixzz0v1VZu1wD
Wahl puts more meat on the bone later, however, when he notes in his column:
The word is that MLS wants to be the best league in CONCACAF in the next five years. That's a tall order, considering how rich the Mexican league is (richer even than the Argentine and Brazilian leagues), but the only way to reach that goal is to start winning the CONCACAF Champions League.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/grant_wahl/07/28/allstar.garber/2.html#ixzz0v1VyFa1K
Wahl's not quoting anyone on the record, but it's potentially still a bombshell. We're not talking about a 15 or 20 year plan here, where talking five years -- around the end of the current CBA. And Wahl's right, it's a huge stretch goal, but clearly they are thinking big, the the first step on the path to becoming one of the best leagues in the world is to become CONCACAF's best league.
Is that even remotely possible within the current structure?
What do you think?
I'm not saying the academies won't produce players, the question is whether they will produce quality ones. Andy Najar is fantastic, I'm just skeptical that there will be many more of him. Heck, even well established academies produce a few stinkers now and then. If the academy system is being counted on to produce quality American players, I think it has a ways to go.
