Mls Players' Opinions On League Issues

Keith Putnam

Keith Putnam

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ESPNFC just published the results of an anonymous poll of MLS players regarding opinions about, as it says in their headline, "diving, relegation, salaries, concussion and more".
http://www.espnfc.us/major-league-s...us-player-poll-on-diving-relegation-promotion

Some highlights:

64% of MLS players polled are in favor of Pro/Rel
52% of MLS players polled "admit" to diving
54% of MLS players polled believe MLS will be one of the world's "elite leagues" in 10 years
 
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Keith Putnam said:
54% of MLS players polled believe MLS will be one of the world's "elite leagues" in 10 years
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That's really interesting. My first reaction was: Now that's some first class delusional optimism.

But on reflection, what does it mean to be an elite league? Do we have to be able to beat teams like Man U or MCFC? Or do we have to be equivalent to Crystal Palace or Sunderland? In 10 years, how many MLS teams will be sporting trios the equivalent of Gio/Bradley/Altidore or Villa/Lampard/Pirlo (please, please, please)? And how much will the surrounding talent have upgraded in that time? And if clubs like TFC and NYC are already sporting those trios, how much better will our top players be 10 years from now?

Maybe those delusional optimists are onto something. Maybe "elite" status can be had in the next decade. COYBIB!
 
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FootyLovin said:
But on reflection, what does it mean to be an elite league? Do we have to be able to beat teams like Man U or MCFC? Or do we have to be equivalent to Crystal Palace or Sunderland?
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To me, MLS could be considered "elite" if young players see joining the league to be at least as attractive an option as going to La Liga or the Bundesliga or Serie A or the Prem.

All of those leagues feature two to four dominant teams which can compete in the Champions League. When MLS reaches a point of quality where there's serious talk about creating an international league in which the very top MLS teams can compete with teams from the big Euro leagues (some sort of UEFA + CONCACAF thing, I dunno...), then I think MLS can legitimately claim to be "elite".

When you're invited to hang with the elites, then you can probably be considered elite.
 
Average salaries are misleading if you include DP salaries and regular salaries together . They should release numbers like average DP salary and average "regular" salaries.
 
Well, MLS is less elite than Liga MX right now. We should probbaly try to be the most elite league in north america first. Then you might be able to start looking at Europe. Four elite leagues in Europe? What about Ligue 1 in France? We'd have to get past them. each one gets harder to pass. MLS being an elite league in 25 years is a pipe dream. Soccer is not even the fourth most popular sport in the USA. Why would top top top players come here when they can play for more money in countries that are absolutely soccer mad? And MLS is not giving up their owner friendly terms anytime soon. Listen to Ale Bedoya, he rips the contracts in MLS all the time. If top american talent won't come here, why would top foreign talent come?

I say enjoy the underground status of soccer while we can in this country before it gets ruined like the other sports have been.
 
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Tom in Fairfield CT said:
Four elite leagues in Europe? What about Ligue 1 in France? We'd have to get past them.
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An oversight on my part. Didn't mean to dis Ligue 1.
Tom in Fairfield CT said:
Why would top top top players come here when they can play for more money in countries that are absolutely soccer mad?
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Yes, that's a fair point, and achieving "elite" status will certainly require adopting free agency for the players at minimum, and an overhaul of the contract system entirely, most likely.
Tom in Fairfield CT said:
I say enjoy the underground status of soccer while we can in this country before it gets ruined like the other sports have been.
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Indeed.
 
jerseyhotspur said:
Average salaries are misleading if you include DP salaries and regular salaries together . They should release numbers like average DP salary and average "regular" salaries.
Click to expand...

I think this is why they specifically mentioned the median salary:
"App developers, economists, nurse practitioners and physicians' assistants make about the same as MLS' median salary, which is $92,000. "
 
Keith Putnam said:
I think this is why they specifically mentioned the median salary:
"App developers, economists, nurse practitioners and physicians' assistants make about the same as MLS' median salary, which is $92,000. "
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How many players are actually making anywhere close to that? Aren't players either payed way over that or way under it?
 
Big overseas contracts don't mean a thing if the team can't pay it or the government takes a huge portion of it.
 
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