The expansion MLS club in Atlanta, which is set to begin play in '17, has been "quietly putting the groundwork in on preparing" for its entry into the league, according to Graham Parker of AL JAZEERA AMERICA. Club Owner Arthur Blank said MLS Commissioner Don Garber and President & Deputy Commissioner Mark Abbott "tell us we're starting earlier with our staffing than any other expansion team ever has. We're hiring a president two and a half years before playing our first game. So we're trying to do it right." MLS Atlanta earlier this month named EPL club Tottenham Hotspur Dir of Football Administration Darren Eales the club's first president, and as "statements of intent go, it seemed an emphatic one." Why the Falcons owner would "want to invest in that other football" when he has "no particular stake in the game might seem puzzling to the casual observer." As things stand, Blank "doesn't need soccer." But "arguably, it's not so much the landscape as it stands but how it might shift that attracts Blank, who has had MLS on his radar for a long time." He said, "We looked at it probably seven or eight years ago. ... When we were (first) looking at MLS, it probably wasn't even in the top 20 of leagues around the world. Today, depending on what standard you're using, it's somewhere around seventh. So the bar continues to (be raised), and the quality of play is just going to continue to get better." While Blank will "admit to being a soccer novice, he is convinced of his ability to transfer his business skills to a sport whose demographic profile skews younger than for other major American sports" (AMERICA.ALJAZEERA.com, 9/20).
HI, MY NAME IS...: In Atlanta, Doug Roberson notes Eales "hasn't given his first interview since he was hired," but Real Salt Lake GM Garth Lagerwey was "able to fill in a few more of the blanks." Lagerway said Eales is a "really smart guy; Atlanta's got a real winner. He's as smart a guy I met at any time in my soccer path." Eales' wife is Amercan and Lagerway said that Eales "loves America." Lagerway: "He will have a breadth of experiences that will prepare him well for the job. ... He's clever. He can think analytically. He's able to look at all sides of an issue" (ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION, 9/23).
