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MLS Season Preview

MLS Begins Season In Strong Position Despite Continued Comparisons To European Leagues

MLS begins its 21st season this weekend "in a stronger position than at any time in its history," according to Martin Rogers of USA TODAY. The overall quality of play "has risen," and high-profile foreign players "continued to head Stateside, many of them at a significantly younger age than in previous years." MLS in many ways is a "hybrid league, mixing traditional European soccer methods with the franchise-based business realities of American sports." Factors such as the draft, salary cap and playoffs are "unheard of elsewhere in soccer." But MLS is "consistently plagued by the inevitable question of when the league can begin to match those further afield." The reality is that the best leagues in Europe "have been around for a century or more, while MLS still had only 12 teams just over a decade ago." NYC FC coach Patrick Vieira said, "It is still new, the league is still young. When you look at the league now compared to a few years ago, it is unbelievable. When I was young in France, Italy was the big league. No one was talking about England. Now look at it" (USA TODAY, 3/4). Vieira added of MLS, "It is growing so fast and it is growing in the right way. The MLS now reminds me of the Premier League when I was there a few years ago" (OMNISPORT, 3/3).

BIG YEAR FOR TV: Each of MLS' 20 teams will be in action on Sunday. While '16 will not see the addition of any new teams or a stadium launch or a slew of new corporate sponsors like in '15, this season still remains an important one as the league continues to build towards Commissioner Don Garber's goal of being a top-flight soccer league by '22. Perhaps one of the biggest areas of importance for MLS this year is continuing to build its viewership and relevance in terms of TV viewership. In the second year of its eight-year pact with ESPN, Fox and Univision, the '16 season will see the league receive enhanced coverage across all of its partners -- including shifting the vast majority of its games over to ESPN, as well as four matches being shown on the Fox broadcast network for the first time. MLS games also will receive more pre- and post-game coverage from its TV partners, who will likely be expecting higher ratings when MLS games are aligned alongside coverage of Copa America Centenario and UEFA European Championship matches this summer (Ian Thomas, Staff Writer).

ENJOYING LIFE OUTSIDE THE SPOTLIGHT: The AP's Greg Beacham wrote "relative anonymity" is just one of the "many reasons" for top European players to come to MLS when they reach a certain age. Their wealth and fame "don't vanish, but they can live and play" in MLS "without spending their everyday life under a spotlight." The league's "growing international profile and deep-pocketed owners make it more attractive than ever to players hoping to end their careers with comfortable living and regular playing time in a relatively benign fan culture and media climate" (AP, 3/3). NYC FC MF Andrea Pirlo is profiled by Jeff Oloizia in the N.Y. TIMES' fashion magazine and the Italian soccer star notes anonymity "is a delightful novelty for him, after years of contending with fanatical supporters and near-constant police escorts in Europe." Pirlo said, "There were times we were kept in our dressing room until late at night because it wasn’t safe to go home" (N.Y. TIMES, 3/6). 

LIFESTYLES OF THE RICH AND FAMOUS: The GUARDIAN's Marina Hyde wrote MLS is "on such an upward trajectory that some wonder if it will eventually overtake Serie A." Hyde: "But I can’t help feeling that the glorious ascent of MLS will be delayed if its biggest signings continue to give the unfortunate impression that the league’s USP is everything that happens off the pitch." Galaxy F Robbie Keane has said that he now "constantly fielded calls from European players 'really desperate to come over here,' because they can see how the league has improved 'and because of the lifestyle too.'" Galaxy MF Steven Gerrard last year said, "The attraction of America was the different lifestyle." Hyde wrote, "You can hardly blame players for feeling this way, particularly at that stage of their careers at which they currently tend to be drawn to an MLS move."  However, if MLS is "to get bigger and brasher and better, in the exhilarating American fashion, then the 'lifestyle' stuff has to go." League officials "must have a stern word with the highest-profile signings, whose perpetual foregrounding of this aspect gives a very good impression that MLS is a bespoke kitchen island in the Hollywood Hills with a football contract attached" (GUARDIAN, 3/3).

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