MLS Boys Won’t Have to Fly Coach. At Least not All the Time

By: Laurie | January 26th, 2008

If you’re an MLS fan, you probably remember last year when the New York Red Bulls asked for permission to fly charter planes to games. And MLS said that no, the Red Bulls had to fly on regular airlines, even if the owners offered to pay for it, because to do otherwise might give the Red Bulls an unfair advantage. And we all know that MLS is all about parity.

Fast forward a few months, and the Galaxy asked MLS the same question. Except that the Galaxy had David Beckham and the Red Bulls didn’t. So of course MLS said yes.

Of course, the situation was a little more complicated than it looked at first glance. One of the reasons the Galaxy asked to use charters was because MLS had saddled them with an insane two-game-a-week schedule for months on end in an attempt to get every team a home game with Beckham. Beckham on your field translates to $$$, which MLS teams desperately need.

This schedule led to multiple, back-to-back away games. The team was exhausted and started having major injury problems. The Galaxy saw charter flights as a way toward leveling the playing field again. It wouldn’t put them on the same footing as teams playing fewer games, but it would help.

The problem here is that since Beckham has come to the Galaxy, a lot of rules seem to have been bent for the team’s benefit. Fans of other teams are starting to cry foul.

But this year, with luck, the charter flight rule will not be a bone of contention, because there is now a written MLS rule that will, in theory, apply to all teams equally. It says that teams can fly charter for four flight legs. Total.

The Red Bulls and the 13 other MLS teams will be allowed to use charter flights on four legs of trips this season, according to the team and league.

That means the Red Bulls could charter a pair of roundtrips, one roundtrip and two separate legs or four separate legs.

“Teams have the chance to petition the league for up to four legs where they can show there would be hardship involved in flying commercial,” MLS deputy commissioner Ivan Gazidis wrote in an e-mail. “Approval is in the league’s discretion.”

Uh-oh. Is anybody else a little worried by the words “league’s discretion”?