MLS Says They’re Aiming for “Transparency.” Whatever That Means

By: Laurie | April 24th, 2008

It can sometimes be embarrassing to be an LA Galaxy fan. And I’m not talking here about play on the field.

(No. Really. They’re getting better this year. I’m serious.)

What I’m talking about are all of the behind-closed-door decisions by MLS that seem to benefit the Galaxy at the expense of other teams. This has been going on at least since David Beckham came on board.

I’m talking about things like how, exactly, the Galaxy got into SuperLiga last year after missing the playoffs in 2006. Or why they got that fancy international Asian preseason tour while the other teams were busy playing PDL and college sides. Or the fact that the Galaxy currently have three Designated Players on the squad without having paid or traded for more than their allotted one DP slot. That kind of thing.

(And the fact that the Galaxy pays a price for all these things that only the fans see, like the lack of cap space for the rest of the field when you have three DPs? That’s hard to explain to fans of other teams.)

Yes, MLS has come up with fairly good reasons after the fact. For example, Landon Donovan and Carlos Ruiz are allowed as DPs because they had high salaries before the actual DP decision and were “grandfathered” in. Which could make sense, except that it was decided so far after the fact that it looked like the decision was made just to benefit the Galaxy.

The weight of all these actions, combined with a general, league-wide lack of transparency in the decision-making process, makes even the most legit decisions suspect. In my mind, this will make it harder for Galaxy fans to enjoy their team’s success. When it eventually comes. Which it will. Eventually.

It’s not just the Galaxy, either. I think fans of every team look at the salaries listed by the MLS Players Union, run them through their calculators, and then scratch their heads at the disparity among teams, or the disparity between what’s listed on the books and what they know their players are actually making. Why is there disparity when all teams are purportedly operating under the same salary cap and rules?

And my personal pet peeve: “Allocation money” is defined and measured how, exactly?

Well, MLS apparently feels my pain. Deputy Commissioner Ivan Gazidis has addressed this perceived lack of transparency and says that the league is going to do better.

To his credit, MLS deputy commissioner Ivan Gazidis is quick to admit that the league has long had an issue with transparency. Still, Gazidis insists MLS has grown leaps and bounds since the early years, when the league office routinely initiated or vetoed player-personnel moves. In recent years, individual clubs have been given more leeway, within the modest financial constraints, to build their teams the way they see fit. And it is a fair point that the rules themselves, while ever changing, are much more clearly defined than in the past.

“I think we’re far more transparent now than we’ve ever been,” Gazidis said. “The fact that people are debating the [grandfathered] player issue is a manifestation of that. I think we have to explain to the public exactly what’s happening. I’m not sure we were even explaining things to our general managers and coaches in the distant past. Now, they may or may not like the explanation, but I think the fact that there is a controversy and we’re explaining it is healthy.”

Gazidis defends the existing system based on its main accomplishment: parity among teams. And he does have a point. Just four weeks into the season, there are no teams who have either zero points or full points. Our league is more competitive than almost any other league worldwide, with almost any team having a shot at the title in any given year.

“Our system isn’t perfect, but neither are any of the other systems,” said Gazidis. “I do believe our system allows more transparency and more competition between all of our teams than a completely unregulated system, which is essentially what they have around the world.

“There are always going to be criticisms of any process,” he added. “But in broad terms, yes, we are going to become more transparent over time. I think we’re pretty transparent now. In fact, candidly, I think we’re maybe the most transparent soccer league in the world.”

He may be right.

But Ivan? About those allocations…