MLS stunts momentum with a light schedule

Major League Soccer opened last weekend. The 15^th season! The biggest field yet, all 16 sides a-passin’ and a-trappin’ the night away.  In some markets, Major League Soccer tickets were a hot item, in demand like the last bag of chips at a stoner party. 

Then came Week 2!  More of the same, right? Time to keep the party going and all, right?

So who threw the hand brake?

As all 16 teams were in action last week, and as MLS now has a nice, round number of teams playing, the logical way forward would be for … oh, I dunno, all 16 teams playing again this weekend?  Ya know -- create a little consistency.  Generate some momentum for all.

So why would MLS play just five games this week (two tonight, three Saturday)?

It’s like you're rockin’ a really cool party – but suddenly all the hot women leave about the same time some jackhole hijacks the music and plays a bunch of Jimmy Buffet. I mean, damn! Talk about a buzz kill.

I know why some people believe MLS needs a lighter schedule on this particular weekend.  But I say you’ve got to crack a few eggs to make an MLS omelet, for goodness sakes.

I think what we have here is some old school thinking creeping into what should be a new day in a bigger and better MLS. Read on for more …

There was a time when going a little easy on the schedule on Easter weekend may have made sense.  When this was a 12-, 13- or 14-team league, things were a little more tenuous. Teams needed good gates every chance they could get them. There wasn’t much (er … any) money coming in from TV to provide cover for a couple of dogs attendance-wise. And since that was back in the day when MLS marketing mavens still thought selling to families was the way forward, that was one of the dates teams asked not to have a home match scheduled.

(That’s the way MLS scheduling works. In a multi-step process, one of the first elements is having teams submit lists of days they’d prefer not be scheduled at home. Maybe there’s a big July 4 celebration in town that tough to compete against, etc.)

So lots of teams ask off for Easter weekend.  Now, add in the fact that MLS smartly attempts to avoid scheduling matches in the northeast in early April, and I get why this has always been the way in MLS.

But here’s the thing: MLS is getting to be a big-boy league now.  Did you notice there are 16 teams? Not bad, eh? There are TV networks paying real money – MLS gets rights fees from ESPN, FSC and Telefutura. Sponsors keep climbing on board. And rich dudes are still lining up to pay $40 million franchise fees. As they say where I’m from, “Pretty soon, you’re talking about real money!”

So they’ve got to make big boy decisions.  And that means playing every weekend. Yep – even Easter weekend.

Plus, most MLS sides have figured it out now, that marketing to families is pointless. Yeah, they’ll come out to one or two games a year, as MLS qualifies as an officially sanctioned, upright Saturday “activity.”  But they don’t become real fans who show up game after game and … well, we should all know that argument by now. Like I said, most teams have figured it out. Even in Dallas, they are now (finally … mercifully) focusing on that audience. Whether they can get it, well, we’ll have to see.

So, again, they need to be big boys and girls about their scheduling.

Go ahead and schedule 8 matches on Easter weekend, just like it’s any other weekend. If 10 teams ask for the weekend off, well, that’s too bad.  The commish will just have to get on the phone and say, in so many words, “suck it up, buttercup.”

Anybody see the English Premier League cutting back on the slate this weekend? Nope. How about Italy, orGermany, France, Spain, etc.? Nope-arooney.

So, time for MLS to be big boys. Yank the training wheels off the bike. Move over to the big kids’ table at holidays. Stand at the big boy urinal and stop dropping your drawers all the way to your ankles to pee, for goodness sakes!