Column: Professional soccer’s battle at the top

The NBA, MLB and NFL are all the top leagues in the world in their respective sports.
However, Major League Soccer is still competing with leagues that are older and have more talented athletes like the English Premier League and Champions League.

The MLS is in its infancy compared to those leagues and has added more expansion teams in order to compete.

“We are doing really well, but we are young,” IU men’s soccer coach Todd Yeagley said. “This is like a toddler in comparison to what those leagues have done.”

Yeagley played for the Columbus Crew for seven seasons.

Others soccer leagues around the world don’t have to compete with major sports leagues like the NBA, MLB and NFL.

“We are competing in a tough market, but I think there is an avid base of sports fans that are entertained and enjoy the experience,” Yeagley said.

Currently in its 15th year, the MLS started out with 10 teams.  

This year, the MLS is adding the Vancouver Whitecaps and Portland Timbers to its league to bring the total number of teams to 18. The MLS will also add the Montreal Impact next season.

“I think the league has done a wonderful job of growing and developing from where it was in 1996,” IU assistant coach Brian Maisonnueve said.

Adding talent in recent years like David Beckham and Thierry Henry has helped bring more fans to American soccer.

Los Angeles went through the Beckham craze, which gained notoriety because he played alongside American star Landon Donovan.

But these international players are coming to America past their prime. Beckham can’t “Bend It” like he used to.

With international players coming to the MLS, American players are also going overseas when the opportunity arises.

“If you’re 19 years old and you’re getting double the money in another country, it’s hard to say you need to stay here,” Maisonnueve said.

Jozy Altidore is playing for Bursaspor in Turkey, Tim Howard plays with Everton in England and Clint Dempsey plays with Fulham, also in England.

These three logged a lot of minutes in South Africa as part of the U.S. National Team.
Keeping the American-born players in the MLS will be a challenge for a while, but soccer-specific stadiums and more media coverage will make it more popular to play on the homeland.

Soccer-only arenas are the future of every team in the league compared to playing in multi-purpose facilities like in the early years of the MLS.

More than 10 teams either currently have a soccer-specific stadium or are in the process of building a stadium.

Getting more television coverage is also helping the growth of the league.  
In the early years of the league there were TV blackouts due to not enough fans or popularity.

“There were plenty of games that I played in that you couldn’t even watch,” Yeagley said.

The MLS signed coverage deals with ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC.

Because of the signing, teams are now being paid for being on TV instead of teams paying to be on TV, Maisonnueve said.

But the ESPN family of networks also covers major EPL and Champions League games as well.

“Now with the coverage we are getting nationally with the TV exposure, that is where the next level of interest is going to take,” Yeagley said.

The league needs to find cities where it would be easy to grow a dedicated soccer fan base. Where the expansion will go is hard to tell, but the MLS will continue to grow and build its popularity. The growth of the MLS has developed because it has added more talented players, and media coverage is increasing its fan base in America.

All the pieces are moving in the right direction — it is only a matter of time.


E-mail: amsiegal@indiana.edu