MLS. Because “Geriatric” Starts with an “M”

By: Laurie | January 5th, 2008

Tucked away in the Luis Figo MLS rumors and denials was this quote from the man himself:

“Going to the USA is a possibility at the end of my career, but for me it is not the right time.

Figo’s a great player. But…ummm…Luis? Sweetie? This may have escaped your attention amid all the hype and excitement of your long and thrilling career, but you’re 35. Look around you. Your peers have pretty much retired already. In the immortal words of my buddy Jeff Bull over at Center Holds It (who has written an excellent piece on this topic), “In case you haven’t heard, life gets slower and fatter from here on out.” Sad, but true.

Barcelona’s Thierry Henry’s the other one. His quote from late 2007?

Some players want to finish their careers in Australia, the Middle East or back at the club where they started. For me, it’s America. I don’t know when it’s going to happen, I just know I’ve been wanting to do this since I was young.

As much as I love Titi (since he’s French and all,) he hasn’t exactly been fit and healthy for the past couple of years. He has ongoing back problems that are limiting his ability to play at his best. This makes me wonder when he’s planning on coming. When he has to pay people to bend over and lace up his cleats?

Funny thing was, when we got Beckham at “only” thirty-one, I thought MLS had scored a coup. Thirty-one wasn’t young, but it was young enough. Young enough to be fit, and healthy, and on the field! Young enough to avoid the “retirement league” curse of the NASL!

And then Beckham turned thirty-two and got broken and still got a monumental payout ($6.5 million, plus millions more in merchandising rights) for spending very little time on the field. And this was exactly the wrong message to send to aging European superstars.

I guess I don’t understand how MLS benefits from bringing in players who have used up their best years on other teams. Name recognition? Higher profile? We got that from Beckham. Any additional benefits from here on out would be minimal at best. And at worst? NASL, redux.

From another excellent piece on the topic, this one from the Toronto Star, on what brought down NASL:

The klieg-lit names best associated with that defunct league – Pele, Franz Beckenbauer, Johann Cruyff – were all pushing into their third decade when they arrived.

That didn’t stop them from dominating. But it robbed the game of heat. It was an ending for these great players on teams they clearly judged second-best. Fans can smell that sort of indifference.

We can’t compete with the Europeans on salary. Simple economics: We don’t have the revenues coming in to justify the payouts. But there is a whole huge big world out there outside of Europe, and there are a lot of players — young ones, too — who would love to come play in the US because it’s the US.

Fortunately a lot of teams have gotten this message and are looking south for new talent. The only owner that doesn’t seem to be on this bandwagon? AEG, owners of my LA Galaxy and (for now) the Houston Dynamo.

We’ll see how long the older-European obsession lasts when the Galaxy gets its butt kicked repeatedly by the teams who have spread their salary cap further by buying younger, non-European players. I’d give it two or three years, tops.

But in the meantime they can rake in the merchandising bucks as every kid in the world buys shirts with the names of players who were once famous in Europe.

Maybe that’s what really matters.