MLS takes another step towards credibility

Did you know that major league soccer has been around for 10 years now in the United States? Not too many people outside of the diehards in the country and those living in MLS cities would likely to be able to guess the league’s age. One reason the league has survived a decade is because of the willingness of a few uber rich men to lose super amounts of money to make professional soccer work in the country.

One of those men has been Phil Anschutz, the owner of a telephone company, movie chain and presumably the very air we breathe. The Anschutz Entertainment Group at one point owned six MLS teams at one time. Can you imagine one guy owning six Premiership teams? I mean, other than the six teams worth of players Roman Abramovich has bought up at Chelsea.

While Anschutz’s deep pockets have been critical to keep the league afloat, the mere fact that one guy could own multiple teams in a league doesn’t do much to lend credibility to the league’s competitive product. Nor does the single entity structure that gives the league negotiating powers with players and goes a long ways towards deciding which players end up where.

The single entity structure is not going anywhere soon, but things are moving in the right direction. There are reports that Anschutz’s group will be selling DC United to an investment group in the coming weeks for $33 million. That will leave Anschutz with control of three of the league’s 13 teams, which is precisely two too many.

The fact that MLS continues to attract new investors is a healthy sign both financially and with the product that is put out on the field. More owners means more competition and competition is really the name of the game, isn’t it?

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Category: MLS