This Is American Soccer, US Soccer, MNT, WNT, and MLS - Tackling the subject of Soccer in the US, and worldwide.

WAITING PATIENTLY EDITION

The Barometer is back after a two-week layoff to open the off-season. It may disappear again, but that depends on whether the rumors continue or we have some actual news and more importantly actual writing. One might think the off-season is a good time to work on those longer features now that the schedule has slowed, but they’ve yet to appear. Also a point of concern – MLS single-entity structure keeping the teams on equal footing off the field.

The Offside Rules touches on the subject that should be given some diligent thought by the league and its followers as MLS continues to grow.

S.F. writes, “The one thing that concerns me about this is that while there is a salary cap for players, teams can spend whatever on coaches, training facilities, stadia, etc. While the salary is likely to never be revealed, Osorio’s salary will probably be second only to Ruud Gullit’s monster payday. Add this to 2 DP’s, the state-of-the-art training grounds and best of breed stadium Red Bull is building and LA’s “Jewel of MLS” title is really and truly challenged.

“While MLS has worked hard to keep player salaries on an even keel to prevent financial free-wheeling, it might be time to start regulating some other aspects of how teams are run before keeping up with the Jones’ becomes a very real problem.”

While I’m not ready to hand Red Bull any awards - their track record is poor and one of those DP’s is a handicap not a helper. guess which one - if Osorio has proved anything about MLS, its that a coach can have an impact in a league where cohesiveness and team play can trump what pure talent is out there. His hire also rests as an example of how just as in Major League Baseball some owners will be willing to spend money and others won’t. I don’t see that changing, but I also don’t think more regulation is good for a league where so many already believe it is too constrained. Pushing out the cheap owners would be a better option. You can’t have enough Joe Roths and Paul Allens. Owning a sport franchise is usually going to be huge suck on the wallet, so you need guys with pockets so deep a hundred million here or there isn’t going to be a worry.

In a few years, if the demographics continue to change – soccer is exploding at L.A. high schools - and Homeland Security doesn’t scare away or arrest every immigrant, a coach may not be worth a top ten draft pick, and those draft picks may need to be paid more than they are now.

The population push will win out, but it wouldn’t hurt for a certain mousey, near-monopoly to do a few obvious things. Of course what is more obvious than the fact that poker reruns can have better ratings than soccer games?

Until that changes, however, Glenn Davis will continue to have to fill his column with even more obvious suggestions.

Also obvious – everyone involved in MLS should be watching French football club Olympique Lyon. Simon Kuper’s breakdown of how they maintain unparalleled success in their league and among the super clubs in Europe is a must read for every MLS administrator. Taking a nod from their uniforms – historically one my favorites – wouldn’t hurt either. Having Juninho, also a bonus.

I talk a lot here about soccer being the sport of the internet and how if you took a half dozen or so of the best soccer blogs out there and combined them you’d have a web portal to dominate the world wide soccer web and a business model to make those few people a healthy income. Not rich, but healthy. It’s not a revolutionary idea, I know, but getting it done is no easy job – bringing independents together into a partnership is never easy, not when money is involved. Aint that right USL and MLS? Anyway, I came across Football Media, which seems to be structured to try to do something similar. They have a few nice sites who have joined up so far, EPL/MLS Talk being the one that jumps off the page to me. I hope they can pull it off, sending some profit the way of the writers, editors, and producers who deserve something for the fine work they do. But until someone can pull the heavyweights like Goff away from their newspaper exclusivity, the impact - and healthy salaries - aren’t going to be there immediately.

MLS Underground is under new ownership. The Offside Rules is taking over and seems to be doing away with the speculative posts (mostly) and calling press releases exclusive breaking news (hopefully). While that’s music to my ears, here’s the best part:

“While gossip, rumors and speculation is grossly entertaining, promoting the supporters culture is a task with much greater reward than an increase in page views for the day. These groups need to be praised, promoted and cultivated for the culture and atmosphere that we’d all like to see happen in this country to come to pass. And besides, Goff and Galarcep do a pretty damn good job of getting the gossip.”

Over e-mail S.F. continued: “Basically I tell Eurosnob guys to come to MLS games and they groan. If I manage to take them, and they come tailgate and sit with ESC, suddenly they’re all “when’s the next game”. It’s the experience not the game that they get into. And after a few good “experiences” they get into the game. And after a few good games they want to join up. I think if this could happen on a larger scale it could really enhance the atmosphere dramatically, and in turn change the perception of the game here.”

MLSU will try to create written guides for each MLS city as well as a national supporters group membership drive for the 2008 season. Well, sir, you’ve got some new page views coming from me. This sounds pretty great. I wonder if the new MLS PR software can do this sort of thing?

And lastly – Bobby Boswell is all over the news with his recent trade to Houston. Dan Steinberg at the Sports Bog has a magazine feature that never ran in which this comment from Boswell appears regarding his personal blog:

“It’s about me writing what I want to write about, doing what I want to do, not having to answer to anybody. I didn’t start it to make money; I started it to have fun,” he says. “The reason I think people are making an issue of it is, the league is very professional. The guys in it, the older guys, they have this idea of professionalism. A lot of them coming from over in Europe, they’re very serious, [they think] you’re supposed to be that way. I’m more of a believer that the younger generation is more risky, more out there, not afraid to express themselves. I’m going to be myself. Like it or hate it, I don’t care.”

Late Add: Mystic Ball (amazing chinlone documentary) now on DVD.

—-

banner photo: Ram Bahadur Bomjon, aka Palden Dorje, aka the buddha boy, aka the boy with divine powers. Credit: this photo is everywhere, hard to say. Also hard to say, whether it is fact or fiction.