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I am starting to watch more European sports (mostly soccer, but some hockey) and less North American sports because I prefer the former's structure over the latter. Having a draft is nothing more than socialism because it rewards the worst teams for their failure. It is not much different than governments rewarding the losers in life with handouts that are paid for by the productive members of society. The worst teams should be relegated instead, like they are in Europe.
I am also opposed to salary caps because I see no reason why there should be a "level playing field" to appease the owners who don't want to spend. And if these laggard owners can't afford good players, they probably have no business owning a pro sports franchise to begin with. Sell the team to someone who cares.
So long as the MLS continues to use the North American model, I won't have much interest.
There's benefits and drawbacks to a salary cap. MLS has a very restrictive model in place that was designed with the intent of not repeating the excess' of NASL. Ironically Garber is now adding clubs left and right. I don't favor a cap but I understand the objective behind it. At the very least MLS needs to loosen up a bit. At some point in time they have to act like a serious league if they desire to be taken seriously.
Promotion/relegation is a dream and will always remain a dream. It won't work. The USL Pro and NASL sides don't have the finances to compete and the risk of relegation is to great financially for MLS owners.
One easy change that I think many would like is going single table. Top dog should win the title. Those yearning for a playoff format can enjoy the US Open Cup (a great tournament that gets shockingly little respect here in the States).
STOP saying they're being "rewarded" for their failure. Good lord, do you just not get what I'm saying?
You don't know what you're saying. Of course they are rewarded for failure. Here's a prime example where a team in the NFL is awarded for failure:
Houston Texans play St Louis Rams in the last game of the season. The loser of the game will have the worst record in the NFL and thus will be rewarded with the #1 pick. The Rams win the game. Houston is rewarded for their failure.
You don't know what you're saying. Of course they are rewarded for failure. Here's a prime example where a team in the NFL is awarded for failure:
Houston Texans play St Louis Rams in the last game of the season. The loser of the game will have the worst record in the NFL and thus will be rewarded with the #1 pick. The Rams win the game. Houston is rewarded for their failure.
Just... forget it.
Quote:
it's exactly the same. You just don't want to see it.
I don't think running a major professional sports league equates to social/political issues. Anyone who thinks so has been watching way too much cable news.
So like I said, take... your political... bullsh*t... somewhere else.
I don't think running a major professional sports league equates to social/political issues. Anyone who thinks so has been watching way too much cable news.
So like I said, take... your political... bullsh*t... somewhere else.
European sports follow the capitalism model. Most American sports follow a socialism model. The one exception is baseball which is about capitalism. MLS is the only American sport that follows a communist model.
There's benefits and drawbacks to a salary cap. MLS has a very restrictive model in place that was designed with the intent of not repeating the excess' of NASL. Ironically Garber is now adding clubs left and right. I don't favor a cap but I understand the objective behind it. At the very least MLS needs to loosen up a bit. At some point in time they have to act like a serious league if they desire to be taken seriously.
Promotion/relegation is a dream and will always remain a dream. It won't work. The USL Pro and NASL sides don't have the finances to compete and the risk of relegation is to great financially for MLS owners.
One easy change that I think many would like is going single table. Top dog should win the title. Those yearning for a playoff format can enjoy the US Open Cup (a great tournament that gets shockingly little respect here in the States).
I agree with the bolded, the only way to tell who is the best in MLS is a one league table with everyone playing each other twice. I would go as far to say if you want some MLS Cup after the season have a bracket tournament for the people who finish top half and have it over in two weeks. Keep the excitement go.
US Open Cup has great potential but at this stage its pointless, there is no money in it and when teams buy home games it just makes it a joke. I actually hope Colorado field a weak team and we get knocked out in the first round.
MLS wants to become one of the top 5 leagues in the world. With salary cap this is absolutely impossible. MLS clubs will never be able to compete with most European teams. The most expensive MLS team pays less than 17 million dollars in salaries. If you don't count the designated players, the teams are allowed to pay only 3.1 million dollars. This is ridiculously low even compared to the crappy Eastern European leagues. Also, when you have 3 designated players who make almost 100 times more money than the rest of the team or when one player makes more than all other players combined, that can only lead to many problems in the locker room because lower paid players may contribute more to the success of the team and they start demanding more money. Because of salary cap they won't get it and their motivation and the team performance decrease. MLS team can't even compete with the Mexican teams in the CONCACAF Champions League because they lack the quality.
MLS wants to become one of the top 5 leagues in the world. With salary cap this is absolutely impossible. MLS clubs will never be able to compete with most European teams. The most expensive MLS team pays less than 17 million dollars in salaries. This is very low even compared to the crappy Eastern European Leagues.
There is no need for a salary cap in soccer. If you look at wages in soccer there is a global marketplace for players. This is very different from a sport like baseball. MLB doesn't have a salary cap either (nor should it), but one of the arguments made by the salary cap people is that if MLS doesn't have a salary cap the wages will end up like baseball where they just keep going up and you have ordinary players on huge wages. This is wrong.
Your average MLS player cannot demand a huge salary because there are dozens and dozens of players of equal ability to him who could just take his place at the salary offered by the club. In baseball a left handed relief pitcher gets $6 million a year because there are only a few players like him available. In some cases he may be the only one. So , in baseball you have a small number of teams competing over an even smaller number of available players. And that drives wages up. It's a scarcity problem. The clubs have unlimited needs yet there is a limited supply. Soccer is exactly opposite of this. Soccer clubs have limited needs and there is an overabundant supply. There are 50 players that can do what the avg MLS player can do. Thus, his wage is not going to be inflated in a market system. That doesn't mean there aren't silly wages in soccer. In the top leagues they overpay for players all the time. There is a limited supply of great players and now and then clubs misjudge what great is. Andy Carroll is a good example.
"Without a salary cap the league would fold!" This stupidity will inevitably be said sometime during this discussion. But all we have to do is look at the rest of the soccer world. There is not one other soccer league on the planet besides MLS and A-League that has a salary cap. And not one of these leagues is in danger of folding because of it. That is overwhelming evidence against the theory that an American soccer league without a salary cap would fold. The salary cap people will of course point to the old NASL even though the old NASL folded for a number of reasons having nothing to do with overspending.
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