Superliga Time. For “Bragging Rights.” (Because Who Needs $1m?)

By: Laurie | June 20th, 2009

I got an announcement in my mail from MLS the other day for SuperLiga, the tournament between US and Mexican clubs that starts tonight. It contained this paragraph.

The rivalry between MLS and Mexican League clubs returns this weekend as the third edition of SuperLiga kicks off Saturday. MLS’s Chicago Fire, Chivas USA, Kansas City Wizards and New England Revolution take on four top clubs from the Federación Mexicana de Fútbol – Atlas, Tigres UANL, San Luis and Santos Laguna – for bragging rights.

My first thought: Bragging rights? That’s kind of an odd way to promote a tournament. Then I remembered last year, when the promotion wasn’t for bragging rights. It was for $1,000,000. And that’s where the problems began.

You may remember that when the Mexican club Pachuca won in 2007, the initial rumor was that they gave all of that $1m to their players. MLS, on the other hand, decided that players could receive only $150,000, total, for the entire winning team. The rest went to the league. And the teams themselves were barred from giving the players any extra money themselves. (If you want more of the history on this issue, be sure to read the above-linked post.) The players were understandably upset, and the players’ union filed a grievance.

MLS Commissioner Don Garber struck back, saying that Pachuca told him that they gave the players only $300k. And that the players union was to blame because the terms were spelled out in their collective bargaining agreement. (Expect a fight on this issue in the next contract negotiations, which will start at the end of this season.)

Or, in other words, lots of hard feelings and frustrations, and little of the positive press MLS was hoping to receive when the first US club, the New England Revolution, won last year.

So this year I can’t find anything anywhere saying whether or not the winning leagues will still receive $1m this year. What I am finding? Smiling, happy words about “Bragging rights.”

Schedule (from the official SuperLiga site). Games can be watched for free at SuperLiga2009.com

Group	Teams	Time (ET)/Result	TV, Radio/Highlights
Saturday, June 20 – Toyota Park – Bridgeview, IL
A	Chicago Fire vs. San Luis	8:00 p.m.	TeleFutura
Saturday, June 20 – The Home Depot Center – Carson, CA
A	Chivas USA vs. Tigres UANL	10:00 p.m.	TeleFutura
Sunday, June 21 – Robert R. Hermann Stadium at St. Louis University- St. Louis, MO
B	Kansas City Wizards vs. Atlas	4:30 p.m.	TeleFutura
Sunday, June 21 – Gillette Stadium – Foxborough, MA
B	NE Revolution vs. Santos Laguna	6:30 p.m.	TeleFutura
Tuesday, June 23 – Toyota Park – Bridgeview, IL
A	Chicago Fire vs. Chivas USA	8:00 p.m.	TeleFutura
A	San Luis vs. Tigres UANL	10:00 p.m.	Galavision
Wednesday, June 24 – Gillette Stadium – Foxborough, MA
B	NE Revolution vs. Kansas City Wizards	7:00 p.m.	TeleFutura
B	Santos Laguna vs. Atlas	9:00 p.m.	Galavision
Saturday, June 27 – Toyota Park – Bridgeview, IL
A	Chicago Fire vs. Tigres UANL	8:00 p.m.	TeleFutura
Saturday, June 27 – The Home Depot Center – Carson, CA
A	Chivas USA vs. San Luis	10:00 p.m.	TeleFutura
Sunday, June 28 – Gillette Stadium – Foxborough, MA
B	NE Revolution vs. Atlas	4:30 p.m.	TeleFutura
Sunday, June 28 – CommunityAmerica Ballpark – Kansas City, MO
B	KC Wizards vs. Santos Laguna	6:30 p.m.	TeleFutura
Wednesday, July 15
-	Semifinal 1	TBD	TBD
-	Semifinal 2	TBD	TBD
Wednesday, August 5
-	Final	TBD	TBD

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Category: World Football

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Laurie

Paul, my opinion is that it's less "MLS has no idea what they're doing" than "The contracts and legalities haven't yet caught up with reality."

In the early years EVERYTHING was structured to keep the league itself financially viable "so we won't end up like NASL." Being recognized as a soccer presence in the world was way down the list.

That's changed a fair bit, and I think the next bruising round of negotiations is going to change things a lot.
Paul

It seems kind of pointless to talk like games between the US and Mexico have many bragging rights implications. The $1 million makes it more worthwhile but not when they can't figure out where that money should go. This story seems like more proof that the MLS has no idea what they're doing.
Alan

The FMF teams take this "tournament" (see what I did there?) as warm ups, demonstrated by the fact that both Atlas and Tigres traveled to the US with their younger players and not their starting team. Also, at least on the Spanish commentating they're still talking about the mil
Al

I remember two years ago somebody in the comments said something like "this is another way for the US to try to prove that they are better at soccer than Mexico". It made sense...
Laurie

Jon, I considered describing SuperLiga as "probably not the most pointless tournament in the universe, except that I can't think of any that are more." But I'll save that for my next SuperLiga post. :-)
jon

i try to care....yet....