Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber is no stranger to comments that outwardly and, perhaps incorrectly, defend the MLS model. Most recently, Garber was a speaker at Leaders Week 2024 in London where he touted that soccer would be in a better position if it followed the lead of Major League soccer.
“If you were to ask the people that are running some of the big European leagues, they’d say, ‘Boy, MLS has got it right,’” Garber said. Specifically, Garber was alluding to the fact that the closed system and single-entity league have garnered the interest of investors. For reference, eleven teams have joined MLS in the last decade. Many of those sides have built soccer-specific stadiums that pull in decent-sized audiences regularly.
Garber’s close-minded view of world soccer
Yet, this is a close-minded look at Major League Soccer. Garber praised the lack of promotion and relegation and how it benefits investors and owners in the league. They know their investment will always be competing at the ‘top level’ of American soccer, regardless of how well they perform.
However, Garber misses the point that soccer is created and owned by the fans, not for the folly and investment dollars of owners.
Garber is still wearing his NFL hat when he’s thinking about soccer. The former NFL executive, who admitted he hated soccer when he joined MLS, looks at the National Football League as a comparison to MLS. A closed league that had massive expansion at one point. Investors spending billions to acquire NFL teams.
There is one key difference between NFL and MLS, though. NFL has no competition, while MLS must go up against leagues like the Premier League, Bundesliga, Serie A, La Liga, and tens of others worldwide.
Garber is off base to claim MLS is doing comparatively well
MLS is not a success because Garber propagates the closed system. It has done well so far because of the power of sports in the United States. Soccer continues to…
Source link : https://worldsoccertalk.com/news/don-garber-lives-in-fantasy-land-where-mls-model-is-a-success/
Author : Kyle Fansler
Publish date : 2024-10-17 22:12:19
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