Wednesday’s press conference to announce Vancouver will join the MLS in 2011 came as no surprise to many. It’s a club with a rich history of developing talent and producing winners, and one that had the financial backing, as well as the political support, to make it happen.
And despite the pleas of a few loudmouthed, protectionist soccer pundits who believe it should remain an American league, the MLS made the right decision by expanding to Canada again.
MLS will appease those short-sighted soccer patriarchs, as early as today, when it unveils a long-term vision for the Pacific Northwest and announce Portland as the 18th MLS franchise — which will join in 2011 as well.
Again, really no surprise.
But it was at that same Vancouver press conference that MLS commissioner Don Garber dropped a collective bomb on those watching when he announced the league has plans to expand to 20 teams by 2012.
So what? Well, to make that point clear — it’s the beginning of what appears to be a severe recession in the U.S. And at a time when every other major sport in North America is either looking at contraction, job cuts or has no plans for expansion in the near future — soccer is continuing to expand.
The NHL has as many as 10 markets in serious financial trouble. We learned at this year’s NBA All-Star break that 12 of its teams will accept a financial bailout from the league to the tune of $200 million. And even the NFL, with its rock-solid business model, appears to have backed off on its near future expansion plans.
That’s in contrast to the situation in soccer. Earlier this week, MLSE, which owns Toronto FC, revealed that it is looking to expand BMO stadium by as many as 20,000 seats — which would double the current capacity.
That’s music to the ears of the MLS, which is going to anger those poor U.S. soccer patriarchs once again when two Canadian cities — Ottawa and Montreal — become the frontrunners for the 2012 expansion.
Watch Ben Rycroft on the It’s Called Football show every Sunday at metronews.ca;
ben.rycroft@metronews.ca.
