But unless you're seriously counting on MLS cheating for us like they do for the Galaxy, being in a "big market" matters less in MLS than it does in any other league in the US. It helps us to attract three DP players, sure. But beyond that, it doesn't mean as much. Chicago totally sucks, and they're in a huge market.
Correct, being in NYC does help massively in attracting the three DPs, but also those other international guys such as Iraola. I'm sure there will be an instance down the road when a somewhat aging star decides to play in NYC for less than DP money. Other teams won't have that luxury.
We don't have a right to be top flight in MLS simply because we're located in a big city. It might be good for us to learn some lessons from teams that have made it work. 13 international players is quite a few to manage w/ MLS roster restrictions.
I know you're somewhat entrenched in your position on this, but I think everyone here is saying yes that is a bad long-term strategy. But until our academy is up and running, it has to be the play in order to be successful. Once the academy is producing first-team guys, we are going to need all the international help we can get.
We don't have the luxury of being able to grab cheap Americans as much as we can. And acquiring them from other teams costs $. Look at the Americans on our roster now, most of them were acquired via Expansion Draft. Over half of the players we acquired via the Expansion Draft are no longer with us as they couldn't cut it and some were too expensive (Grabavoy, Wingert, Jacobsen).
We have three acquisitions that came through free agency (White and Lopez) whose teams didn't want them or either were just sheer luck (RJ).
The only other American was a draft pick. Its not as easy in year two of a brand new franchise to stock up a team full of cheap Americans and have success.
I'd be with you if the academy wasn't down the line, but it isn't too far away, and there's a lot of money invested in it.
