Don Garber Speaks

The State of the Game speech has rarely been ground breaking or earth shattering news. But represents a feel good moment where we can delight at what has been accomplished and exult in what's coming. So lets look over what was said.

1) Look, We're On TV!
The ESPN deal has been confirmed yet again. Thursday night coverage is a certainty on ESPN and it has been announced elsewhere that Saturday coverage will be on FSC and HDnet and Sunday coverage will be on Univision (or a sister network). ESPN and MLS will be looking for ways to improve coverage, from an 18 yard offsides cam, sky cam (remember what happened to the last one?), HD coverage, and pre-game coverage on sportscenter. Although in the after chat Garber stressed that the final programming grid had not been determined, but that MLS does expect to receive its share of ancillary programming.

So here's to the MLS Monday Night show! (Note, no such show was mentioned.....yet)

2) Beckham/Superstar/Franchise Player Rule
No deal. It turns out it isn't financially viable for the league to invest in big names to try an drive attendances and sponsorship revenue. Not a huge surprise for some, but probably a disappointment to others. But this announcement was mentioned along with the next big announcement.

3) Vertical Player Development
No no, not growth hormones for height. But the institution of an academy system, or at least the right to develop and sign local talent rather than seeing them snatched up by other teams because of the current rules with signing players. This should be huge for those teams that have already made some youth investment like Chicago or New York. We can only hope to see more MLS teams invest in PDL franchises, expanded roster, and an expanded reserve division. But its a relief to me to hear them talk about greater investments in "vertical player development" than bringing over players known for their name rather than their ability these days.

Of course Garber has said we'll have to wait a while for an announcement with any kind of details, but that they are in the final stages is a good sign.

4) Expansion & Relocation
Current plans are still to expand to 16 teams by 2010 and then take a break. Obviously Toronto was one of the four that will be added. As for the other three Garber mentioned Las Vegas, Miami, Seattle, Cleveland, St. Louis, and Atlanta. I hesitate to say it, but I think San Jose will also get one of those three remaining spots, Lew Wolf has certainly been making a point to announce the staff he has hired and the offices he is opening for them. All of those cities have been mentioned before, besides Las Vegas. So we know Cleveland has made progress as well as St. Louis and Philidelphia. The Atlanta bid sounds like it has promise, but I would be curious to find out who the investors for Seattle are, and who is trying to bring MLS back to Miami.

Kansas City may or may not be relocating, Garber still seems hopeful that the situation can be resolved. And Salt Lake City will not be going anywhere, Garber seemed pretty firm in his resolve that Salt Lake City will find a way to build a stadium and that the team is in no immediate danger or relocating.

5) Scheduling Issues
Plans are in place for an unbalanced 13 team schedule next year, using the current conference set-up. Although Garber did not totally discount the possibility of a single table in the future, it was not mentioned as still being discussed. However he did mention that they would be discussing the possibility of a split season schedule, or a summer break. So we'll see what happens, be very interesting to see what comes out of the board of governors meeting in respect the schedule, conference set up and the future of the playoffs.

6) Advertising?
Ads on the front of jerseys are apparently "a plan" that's being worked on. So good news there as far as helping teams hit the black. Currently many teams have little quarter size ads on the back of jerseys. I can only hope that front ads will generate greater revenue. Otherwise they just wouldn't be worth it.

Gardner also hopes that MLS advertising will expand this coming season now that ESPN/FSC will have a vested interest in promoting the programming that they are paying for. So we should start seeing ads aired on ESPN during more than just the actual game.

7) Stadiums
Red Bull Park should break ground any time now. And this time it really seems like its going to happen. And despite failures by the MLB and NFL to build a stadium in Boston, the MLS has been having some success in this area. The cost and size of a soccer stadium make it a lot easier to fit in somewhere in the city, so I guess all we can do is stay tuned.