MLS is more than Messi as 2024 kicks off – but not all is good: Rueter

Before last Wednesday’s start of the 2024 MLS season, Don Garber gave a wide-ranging interview for Sports Business Journal. Finally, he was asked a question that has been on the mind of anyone with even a passing interest in the league or its history: “How is the league looking to capitalize on Messi’s star power in his first full season in MLS?”

The MLS commissioner’s response seemed to be going smoothly enough when, seemingly out of nowhere, he simultaneously took aim at those who cover the league and one of the world’s biggest pop stars.

“It’s easy and kind of lazy for journalists to just write about Messi — it’s like writing about Taylor Swift,” Garber said. “There’s a lot more here that I think people need to know.”

Garber’s message here puts him at odds with his fellow commissioners. of NFLRoger Goodell never begged the media to focus less on Swift — and why would he, given the significant growth of the audience has she behaved? Former NBA coach David Stern didn’t complain about frequent courtside interruptions with Jack Nicholson or Spike Lee, just as successor Adam Silver won’t worry about Drake remaining a fixture at Raptors games. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred would probably like to add some celebrity to the league’s public image if he were to keep spring training talk at bay. transparent pants.

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And that’s just the celebrity corner. You can imagine any of those guys looking for you less covering the leading lights of their respective leagues – like Patrick Mahomes, LeBron James, or Shohei Ohtani?

It’s worth noting, of course, that each of these sports has a historic and well-established level of local media coverage that fills in the gaps between the stars. MLS has never enjoyed that kind of buy-in, thanks to factors largely outside of its control: the rising status of soccer for much of the past half-century and widespread cutbacks in local journalism outlets among them.

But even with the opportunity to highlight lesser-known stories the league might like others to see, MLS continues to lean toward the big one. Garber’s annual open letter for the start of the season was just two sentences long before mentioning that “Messi told the world that MLS was his ‘League of Choice.’ The MLS Season Pass Center on Apple TV has a landing section called “All Eyes on Messi.” Two documentaries about the Argentine legend were often advertised during MLS games, regardless of whether Miami was on the field.

Even the league’s opening weekend seemed designed for maximum Messi exposure; Inter Miami has already played two games before Vancouver Whitecaps recorded a single minute.

LeBron James, Kim Kardashian and Serena Williams were among the celebrities who turned out for Messi’s debut in Miami (Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

In a vacuum, none of these are vulnerable. It’s Lionel Andres Messi, the most famous (and, for most, the best) player in football history! And yet, MLS seems almost embarrassed to play catch-up with a player it hires.

And what IS MLS (beyond Messi) in 2024 as its 29th season gets underway? It’s a competition that’s more confident in its direction and makeup than ever – whether you agree with it or not.

In some senses, MLS is consolidating aggressively. Following your favorite team requires paying for a mandatory season pass in all leagues no longer available through promotional discounts. The league is also now directing more of its promotional attention to the competitions it (at least partially) hosts: more the League Cup, less the CONCACAF Champions Cup. Every development team in MLS Next Pro, but none in the USL.

And then there’s the case of the US Open Cup.

Saturday – the night before The crew of Columbus were awarded their MLS Cup rings at Lower.com Field — the Houston Dynamo raised a banner in honor of winning the 2023 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup. It is a competition that bears the name of one of MLS’s most influential founding owners. Was shown as the greatest honor that is in the 1-1 draw of Dinamo against Sporting Kansas City, a team founded and previously owned by Hunt himself? Not really – the play-by-play referred to Houston as the defending champions and the flag was displayed for a few seconds.

Since mid-December, MLS has been trying to change participation in the 110-year-old competition. Midweek fixtures have not been an easy sell, even if the same fact arose during the first round of last year’s postseason. After the League Cup final reached a viewership of 1.75 million on Univision alone – although it would be lazy of me to point out that a newly arrived Messi was involved in that game – taking the tough steps in the name of a tournament of the century with matches played against teams in the lowest division, the owners of the league seemed completely strange. Especially after the launch of a louder Leagues Cup, ideal for broadcasting with Liga MX.

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The 2024 US Open Cup kicks off on March 19 and, thanks to MLS owners, we still don’t have a good idea of ​​what it will look like. We do know that all USL clubs will participate, though that wasn’t a guarantee amid MLS’ search for an exit door. We also know that 32 teams of amateur players have qualified in what is likely to be the highlight of these people’s careers.

What we don’t know is whether MLS teams will participate, how many will take the field and, if not, whether they will send their development teams from Next Pro to the arena while they relax in their most luxurious residences.

The season also kicked off amid a work stoppage as the membership of the Professional Soccer Referees Association (PSRA) voted overwhelmingly to reject its leadership’s tentative agreement with the PRO for a new collective bargaining agreement by a vote of 95.8 percent.” no”. As judges who have previously worked in youth, college and minor professional leagues went to MLS pitches, Garber called the voting result “very disappointing” and speculated that he it may have been intentional.

With no expansion team to offer some good “stepping up the game” vibes, no big star acquisitions out of Miami, and no big player sales to brag about, the refs and the Open Cup are arguably the two biggest stories in the league outside the frame. of legends of aging in South Beach.

MLS kicks off 2024 season with replacement referees amid lockout (Morgan Tencza-USA TODAY Sports)

There are not many changes to reflect in terms of the sports composition. The league’s place in the global transfer market has stabilized over the past half-decade, since the roaring trio of Miguel Almiron, Tyler Adams AND Alphonso Davies left MLS for Europe after the 2018 season. The biggest development here is that the league’s incoming signings get younger, with most teams set to build around players in their prime years from 24 to 29, while getting one or two sheets for promising talents from abroad. The aggressive shedding of roster rules that many predicted would accompany Messi’s arrival has not yet ended — and they may never have (though MLS executive Todd Durbin it had an upbeat tone with AthleticsPaul Tenorio after the piece was published, saying the talks would lead to “substantive and important changes.”)

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Garber has never been shy rejecting the “pension league” label. was set in MLS in its early years, and especially when David Beckham left Real Madrid for it LA Galaxy in 2007. The focus for much of the past 10-15 years has been on making MLS more of a sales league, both by signing younger players and by refining its clubs’ youth development pipelines.

Should he be frustrated, then, that the hard work towards that goal has been drowned out by a quartet of near-retirees playing for the team that Beckham started well below market value because of a clause in his Galaxy contract?

MLS teams outside of South Beach know the score. Ticket prices for games away from Miami skyrocket whether Messi is likely to play or not. of New York Red Bulls no dollar signs and conceded defeat in 2023, selling Messi and Miami gear along with their gear on the advice of Adidas.

On Sunday, the LA Galaxy booked house music great Alesso to play at halftime of their game against Miami – suffice it to say, this is no ordinary occurrence. Before the match, the procession of local youngsters walking onto the pitch alongside professional players turned into his own sideshow as Messi was accompanied by Saint West, the eight-year-old son of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West.

Remind me why Swift caught a stray in Garber’s interview last week?

There is no doubt that Messi is bigger than MLS at this stage, just as Pelé, Johan Cruyff and Franz Beckenbauer were bigger than NASL. Hell, Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were greater than La Liga at their peak. But like the Spanish leadership, MLS will endure well beyond Messi’s retirement. The question is whether the moves he’s making will create fans who stick around once he’s gone.

The Open Cup could be a possible route to creating those relationships. Instead, the MLS has decided that it is less of an asset and more of a product to be traded and profited from or abandoned, following a trend that is now occurring at a breakneck pace in all sports.

Many of us got into football because of the community around it: the camaraderie and the banter, the celebrations and the cheers. In the 2024 MLS, a team can win a historic domestic trophy just for the league to minimize the competition altogether.

The rest of us got into these games because of the skill of the athletes and the interest in seeing the style of play of a full-fledged football league being improved and developed in real time. But can the level of play rise without qualified referees to oversee it?

STL supporters marched tonight with commemorative banners @opencup trophies won by St Louis clubs during the tournament’s 110-year history. @MLS this tournament is historic and important to the US soccer landscape. #SaveTheCup pic.twitter.com/c2NlnzA5kf

— Chris ⭕🌹 (@cld711) February 25, 2024

At this stage, MLS wants to project a tone that is bigger than its most famous player. She feels confident enough in her build to stand tall and flaunt her entire entity, even in the midst of a strike and a messy fight for a historic tour.

In a cruel twist, the league may actually be counting for the fact that anyone who wants to write to me is Messi. If they focused elsewhere, they might find stories that are more difficult to understand.

(Featured photos of Messi: Patrick T. Fallon / AFP; Garber: Jason Allen/ISI Photos/Getty Images; Houston: Roy Miller/ISI Photos/USSF/Getty Images for USSF; Design by Dan Goldfarb)