After all, what’s more…
If I were king of the forest, or at least the czar of American soccer, the first thing I would do to improve the sport in this country is to institute the worldwide system of promotion and relegation among the various leagues.
After all, what’s more American than watching an underdog come from seemingly impossible odds to make it to the top?
It worked for Rocky, Rollie Massimino and the Villanova basketball team in the 1985 NCAA tournament and the 1980 US Olympic hockey team (Do you believe in miracles?).
OK, maybe the Italian Stallion was a bad example, but you get the idea.
So why not in soccer?
Why not give hope to the Syracuse Salty Dogs and Utah Blitzzes of the world and local teams like the Queens-based New York Freedoms and Brooklyn Knights, that one day they too can take the field against the MetroStars, Los Angeles Galaxy and the rest of Major League Soccer?
Unfortunately, even as ruler of American soccer, I am powerless against the evil tyrant known as the almighty dollar.
“With the A-League, Pro-Select League and MLS, I think it’s just a financial issue, really,” said Brooklyn Knights head coach Dan Fisher, who, like many involved in American soccer, loves the idea of promotion/relegation. “It is what it is, and it’s a business to a lot of people and that’s the unfortunate thing.”
For the uninformed, promotion/relegation is a system that has been in soccer for eons and basically unites the top league — here it would be MLS — with the lower divisions in the sport.
The top two teams in the lower division receive a promotion into the higher league while the bottom two teams get relegated to the lower division.
While my jurisdiction as czar is only the soccer field, and the American soccer field at that, just imagine how great this would be in other sports.
Why, right now the New York Mets with their overpaid, underachieving stars would be fighting for the very right to stay in the big leagues, while the ‘AAA’ Buffalo Bisons would be getting ready to leave the International League for the majors.
OK, Mr. Soccer Czar, what about minor league affiliations and player call-ups?
You’re right, Mr. American Sports Fan, which is why I’m sticking to my sport.
In American soccer, there are no set-in-stone affiliations with MLS teams. Like in other parts of the world, players are loaned to clubs for an agreed-upon period of time.
Each team in the four divisions of American soccer (MLS, A-League, Pro-Select League and Premier Development League) and the two women’s divisions (WUSA and W-League) are separate, unattached entities.
As for the benefits of promotion/relegation in America, there are many. First, it would increase competitiveness throughout all levels of soccer. If you’re a team struggling in MLS, you are going to do everything you can to avoid the embarrassment of relegation, thereby making every match — especially those games down the stretch that used to be meaningless — absolutely critical.
On the flip side, as a team with a chance to reach the highest, or next level, you would also play each match like it was a Cup final.
Since it would increase the level of the game, I believe promotion/relegation would also bring more fans, more passionate fans, to games.
A quick glance at the standings in each of the leagues creates some interesting scenarios if my plan were put into effect.
First, the two MLS teams to be relegated to the A-League would be the Dallas Burn — which for many would be welcome since their home, a high school football field, is the eyesore of the league — and the Colorado Rapids, the two cellar dwellers in the Western Conference.
Replacing the two teams would be the Montreal Impact, thereby bringing MLS expansion to Canada, and the Charleston Battery, although A-League perennial powerhouse Rochester Raging Rhinos (why they’re not already in the MLS is beyond this American soccer czar) are also in the mix.
Heading south to the Pro-Select League would be the lowly Calgary Storm and the Atlanta Silverbacks.
In the Pro-Select League, the Carolina Dynamo and the defending champion Long Island Rough Riders would move up to the A-League.
It wasn’t long ago when the Rough Riders were in the A-League, drawing huge crowds at then-Hofstra Stadium.
The San Diego Gauchos and the Northern Virginia Royals would move down to the PDL.
As for teams moving up from the PDL, a league that draws much of its talent from the top college players, that’s a whole other mess involving amateur eligibility.
Not even the American soccer czar wants to mess with the wicked witch known as the NCAA.
Finally, in the world of women’s soccer, the Philadelphia Charge and San Jose CyberRays would head down to the W-League while the undefeated Boston Renegades and Hampton Roads Piranhas would join WUSA.
In the case of the Renegades it would set up an instant rivalry with the already established Boston Breakers, which would be great for the soccer-crazed fans of New England.
But while promotion and relegation makes sense and would better the sport, the bottom line is the American soccer czar concedes to the dreaded almighty dollar.
There’s no way MLS investors like Anschutz Entertainment Group, which owns six of the 10 MLS teams, would risk flushing the millions they’ve already put up by having one of its teams sent down to the minors. So it’s unlikely the MLS would ever sign off on this concept.
“What’s stopping the Freedoms from being an A-League team? Money,” said Freedoms head coach/general manager David Price. “What’s stopping the Freedoms from becoming an MLS team? A stadium and money. If our owner turned around and provided a 20,000-seat stadium and provided millions, then we’d be in the MLS, not because of what we’ve done.”
In fact, Price said he sees the American caste system as the way of the future in European soccer, citing the recent decision by the Scottish Premier League to deny the promotion of First Division champion Falkirk because the club didn’t meet the league’s requirements for a sufficient facility.
“Let’s say an MLS team becomes an A-League team. Then you have wage structures, sponsorship deals — you just have so much on the line,” Price said. “America as a society is economically driven and Europe is going that way.”
There goes my reign of American soccer czar. I guess I’ll stick to sports writing.
Reach Associate Sports Editor Dylan Butler by email at TimesLedger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 143.
