Washblog

Both the Sounders and the Timbers, who are members of the United Soccer Leagues' (USL) First Division, are guaranteed a quick death when the MLS comes to town. The USL is a true mom-and-pop major sports league, having grown out of the ashes of several regional professional soccer leagues when professional soccer was first getting back on its feet in the mid-80s. In its two divisions (not including an associated, amateur developmental league) the league hosts over 20 clubs ranging from small to large cities.

On the other hand, the MLS is a recent upstart in the professional soccer world. The MLS has taken its first decade spending itself into the red in order to "establish" professional soccer.

In those ten years, they have also instituted some questionable practices, including allowing different owners to take on more than one team. Serious major leagues outlaw this practice because of fairness issues. If I own one team, and my opponents own three teams, how can I be sure that I'm competing on a level field for talent and fan support?  They've also begun signing rich television contracts and possibly the world's best player.

Now, the MLS can seemingly cherry pick new markets that they'd like to move into. After paying the MLS's $35 million expansion fee, the Keston family is choosing a market in the soccer rich Pacific Northwest. It seems like the MLS never seriously considered giving the owners of the two current teams a shot at playing at a higher level.

The owner of the Sounders (who has deep roots in the local soccer culture) seems willing to move his club elsewhere or possibly take a roll in the new organization and I don't know how the owner of the Timbers (which he actually just recently purchased, along with the Portland Beavers baseball team) is approaching the Kestons.

But, this entire situation smacks me in a Walmart sort of way:

A small operator serves his local community well. For years he plugs along, selling screwdrivers or professional soccer. Then Walmart or the MLS suddenly comes to town and spends it considerable cash to put the competition out of business. Or the local competition sees the writing on the wall and just leaves town.

The weird part of this is that in practically every other soccer league in the world, the Timbers and the Sounders (current owners and all) would have a good a chance as anyone to play at the highest level. Most soccer leagues in the world play in a relegation/promotion fashion: the worst teams in the top league get relegated to a lower division, while the best teams in a lower division are promoted.

This type of system is purely capitalistic. Any person who wants to start a team can compete as long as their willing to start at the bottom rung of the league system. The better they perform, the more people they draw, the more money they make, the better players they can hire.

In that kind of system the Sounders and the Timbers, current local owners and all, could play well in the USL-1 and be promoted to the MLS with little fear of outside owners barging in and putting them out of business. They would at least be playing under the same rules. But, in America, we reward those who already have the cash on hand and give them a spot at the big kids table table.