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People are pissed off. And this is your place not only to vent but to answer our poll on what would possibly help to turn it around in the years ahead.
Some opinions on what has transpired over the last couple weeks with MLS clubs having less than stellar performances in the first run of the CONCACAF Champions League:
"Tonight's game looked like playing Soccer with
a National Forest, crossed with the Dawn of the Dead.
Only Time you get their attention is when the Fireworks
go off." - Person at DC United's CONCACAF Champions League match vs Saprissa.
"Baby steps? Bull shit.
Baby steps is why we're at this point.
Remember when they honored the 1998 DC United team that won CONCACAF and the InterAmerican Cup at half time on Saturday.
Know what the biggest difference between then and now is?
That all the other leagues from the Mexican league to the Costa Rican League to the Trinidad and Tobago league to the USL have gotten BETTER while MLS was taking "baby steps" and "slow measured growth".
Now the Kool-Aide drinkers who bought that as a good way to win over soccer fans, are starting to wake up to see the lie they were sold.
MLS lied to you and you believed them. They told you that your league was quality with many world class stars. They told you that they were committed to raising the quality of play by introducing the Beckham Rule with great fanfare but quietly only raising the salary cap by 200K dollars.
They lied and now the lie is exposed as teams which have far larger budgets from around the region walk all over our teams in their home stadiums.
In the old Champions Cup the excuse was always that MLS teams were in pre-season.
We were always assured that if it were played while MLS teams were in season the results and success would be much different.
In reality, it isn't.
Get it? You have been lied to and it's about time that you and all other Don Garber kool aide drinkers demand better from the league you spent 12 years of your life supporting.
Baby steps were over the miniute the DP rule was introduced. That was a Giant Step, and one which should have been followed up with a giant raise in the salary cap but that part didn't happen despite the Board of Governors discussing it because some cheapskates like the Hunts and Kraft voted a doubling of the cap down.
Everyone from the common fan to Goff himself have themselves to blame for buying the excuses, the lies and the propaganda.
Sound familiar?
2008 - The year of Change.
It starts with YOU, MLS fan. Demand better. Frequently." - Frustrated fan after a game writing to us.
POLL: What Would Help MLS Clubs The Most in the CONCACAF Champions League?
Thursday, September 18, 2008
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What if MLS gave all teams a 2nd designated player slot to all the teams and not have them count against the salary cap.
I think that MLS is doing the right thing by concentrating on the integrity of the competition in its own league.
Let the teams spend whatever (ok,maybe not that much) they can afford to on players and coaches. It's the only way the quality of players on the field is going to improve.
I agree. Let the clubs which are doing well, turning a profit, breaking even, spend the money to improve themselves. Parity was fine for the first 10 years but it's really a farce now.
Denying teams in this competition charter flights under the name of Parity while Beckham and the Galaxy get to use charter flights puts a lie to this crap.
The only reason LA gets away with it is cause they ignore the league and do what they want. If other owners/operators start doing this then perhaps we'll have something resembling a real league with real club who take international competition, real serious. Like um the USL.
The problem is the congested schedule and some teams are having injury problems because of that. But the Reveloution loss to Joe Public was an embarrasement.
Dont forget two US teams made it to the Interliga final.
The problem is NOT the travel. Montreal and Puerto Rico have just as hectic a travel schedule with less resources and are getting results.
At some point we just have to realize that MLS let us down rather than buy their excuses.
Raising the salary cap would just make the current players better paid. You would *barely* see a difference on the playing field and the league would have a lot of trouble making up the difference in additional revenue. Besides the people who follow MLS daily, who would notice the difference in quality?
What needs to happen is expanding the senior roster size to allow for improved depth to cover for injuries and fatigue, and less schedule congestion (this is another issue all together) so that teams like the Revolution and D.C. United don't play like zombies when they need to be promoting the MLS internationally!
I think you need to have a combo of both raising the salary cap some and increasing the roster size...
lol, this is a ridiculous post.
Wheres the option for you are an idiot?
Add to the squad size and salary cap. They need more money to keep players and more depth to support cup runs. Another DP would be ok too.
The biggest problem is the schedule problems. They need to change the bloody schedule so the players are fit to play more matches during the year.
Lots of change needs to happen to do better in international comp. AND should happen NOW
Increase the roster size and salary cap.
Doubling the salary cap? HA! Let's quadruple it. How else can we be able to compete with the best of CONCACAF, let alone the world if (God forbid) and MLS team makes it to the Club World Cup.
Oh, the salary cap issue. The MLS uses a salary cap to allow smaller teams to be competitive and survive financially. This means teams with low attendance, low revenue are allowed to compete within the league.
If MLS allows teams with highest attendance to spend what they want on players you would end up with a league dominated by those with highest attendance.
I think the teams with the most revenue in MLS are supporting the teams that are least profitable. There is no reward in spending. A team with terrible atendance can become dominant, NE.
The teams that produce the most revenue in MLS are handcuffed by the league. If a team makes the money and wants to spend it, there should be some way they can bring better players into the MLS.
We need bigger senior rosters to be able to compete. Larger senior rosters gives more cover for injuries, or international games (don't get me started on that issue) It also lends itself to be able to hand more games in a year. You would also need to expand your salary cap accordingly to be able to have some quality backup in your ranks. It doesn't help to have senior players but no quality at depth.
It's all scheduling.
So "None of the Above"
"Oh, the salary cap issue. The MLS uses a salary cap to allow smaller teams to be competitive and survive financially."
Who is surviving really? It's more like the top teams are making enough .
Better players = better product = more dollars.
This league is going to out grow some of it's currently markets, we can't wait for some teams with terrible business plans to catch up, better off to burry them.
At this point, for the purposes of not getting embarrassed in international tournaments, I'm all for dropping the Cap. While the Galaxy, Red Bull New York, Chicago, Chivas USA and Toronto would become the big five of MLS, there are other teams that would probably spend money to remain competitive like DC, Houston, and next year Seattle.
Seattle is on pace to be a top 3 revenue team in its first year.
Think about that for a second, this isn't some podunk backwater that lies to you and calls itself small market while being the #4 team in revenue (I'm looking at you Mariners).
This is a team that is already paying players hundreds of thousands of dollars to NOT play for it (3 players signed prior to the offseason starting).
I'm all for opening up the salary cap. With up to 30 home games in a season and 67,000 seats available and an ownership willing to sign the huge name (rumors of Henry, Adu, Ljungberg) they would field a team that the expats in the area immediately recognize, and that could win.
The creative capology thing has to stop, but if it doesn't the league is going to wind up like the premiership with four teams at the top and the rest of you hoping that Toronto wins the Canadian Cup so there's a chance for a 4th qualifier for the CCL from the USA.
what happend to free speech??? my point was valid, we here in Columbus would like to see the league remove black players.
instead of a hard cap, there should be a soft cap + luxury tax implemented