Not unexpectedly, Darren Eales, president of Atlanta’s new soccer franchise, believes in commissioner Don Garber’s goal that Major League Soccer will be considered one of the world’s best by 2022.
Atlanta and Eales will play a part in trying to fulfill that goal. The team, owned by Arthur Blank and which will play in the new stadium downtown, will begin competitition in 2017. Eales shared his thoughts in an interview last month.
Q: Do you believe Don Garber’s goal of MLS becoming one of the best leagues in the world by 2022 is attainable?
A: Yes. I think (it is) already if you look at the progression of the league. When I go back to when I started, they were trying to Americanize soccer. How can we make it higher scoring? How can we make it like basketball? They realized about 10 years ago they just need do it like rest of world and keep it authentic and we will grow our fan base and that's what they've done.
We came (to the U.S.) with Tottenham four years ago and played at San Jose and New York. It was a good atmosphere and very much felt like they (fans) were coming to watch an EPL team as a novelty. This year we played Seattle, Chicago and Toronto. It was big numbers. They were supporting their team. I can remember the Seattle Supporters Club. They do the march before games. We asked if our supporter’s club could join them and they said, “No way.”
The other big thing I found was I went to the USA playing Turkey just before the World Cup in New York. It was the first time I was going there. It was a young crowd. They were all wearing U.S. shirts. They were singing. They were chanting. It was the first time I felt, “Wow, America’s got soccer.”
It’s about fan culture now. You’ve got that added to the youth development programs increasing, the bonus of the smartest and savviest owners in the land coming to MLS and the media values, while not huge at the moment relative to EPL, they are only going to grow.
It’s going to come. There will be a tipping point where a player will say, “Why go to La Liga when I can go to America where commercially it’s better, the TV market, the fans appreciate it, the crowds are bigger?” I’m sure it’s going to happen. The interesting thing will be how it gets there. The MLS has done a good job in understanding its strengths and growing slowly year over year. You can’t jump too (far) because you destroy the foundation you’ve laid down.
FIFA changes stance: FIFA last week reversed course and decided to publish parts of the report on the investigation into the World Cup winning bids by Russia and Qatar. Soccer's governing body originally decreed that it would reveal just a few pages. Following that decision, Michael Garcia, who authored the report, resigned in protest.
However, FIFA also said that the publishing the report won’t change the outcome of the bids.
Stadium looks: It appears that D.C. United will get its new stadium, increasing the number of soccer-specific stadiums in MLS to 14.
Expansion: Las Vegas has seemingly moved to the front of the pack of MLS expansion candidates after the city council approved a subsidy to construct a soccer stadium.
The stadium is dependent upon the arrival of a MLS franchise.
Openers: MLS unveiled the home openers for each team for the 2015 season. The season will begin with Los Angeles hosting Chicago on March 6.
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