At All-Star Game, MLS Thinks Bigger
On the eve of its fifth All-Star game today, Major League Soccer announced Friday that it will expand from 12 teams to 14 in 2002 and that further expansion in 2004 will see the league grow to 16 teams.
Commissioner Don Garber said that MLS will add a team in New York in two years time and another in either Philadelphia or Atlanta. The New York franchise will be operated by John Kluge and Stuart Subotnick, the current owners of the New York/New Jersey MetroStars, who play at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.
In 2004, the candidate cities for expansion are Houston, Rochester, Sacramento and Seattle.
Today’s All-Star game is sold out, with a capacity crowd of 22,555 expected at Columbus Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio.
That contrasts sharply with last year’s poor attendance in San Diego and underlines Garber’s contention that the league must continue building soccer-only stadiums.
“It is the model for what we hope to achieve,” Garber said of Crew Stadium, which was privately financed by team owner Lamar Hunt at a cost of $28 million. “This sport suffers from not having enough places like Crew Stadium where people can be proud to be a soccer fan.”
The Galaxy has announced plans to build a stadium in Carson with a maximum capacity of 29,000, and Garber said others are on the drawing board.
“We’ve been making progress in a number of other cities, including the New York area, Chicago and Denver,” he said. “Although no commitments have been made this year, we’re encouraged by the progress.”
The All-Star voting process was skewed this season because fans used computer programs to cast multiple votes, leading to the teams being top-heavy in Galaxy and MetroStar players.
That caused some unhappiness among other players, notably the Tampa Bay Mutiny’s Mamadou Diallo, who was snubbed by fans despite being the league’s top goal scorer.
“I think the people need to vote on the players who proved it on the field,” Diallo told the Associated Press. “In Europe, the fans select all the good players. But here, everything is political.”
Diallo was added to the East squad by its coach, Octavio Zambrano.
The Dallas Burn’s Jason Kreis, most valuable player and top scorer in MLS last season, also said the system need modifying.
“Shouldn’t everybody be concerned about it if Lothar Matthaeus is a starter?” he asked. “How many games has he played this season? He may deserve to be there because he is a star, but not for what he has done on the field this year.”
Kreis was added to the West roster by its coach, Bob Gansler.
Garber said changes are forthcoming.
“We might have focused too much at first on the coach’s decisions, and now maybe we’re relying too much on fan voting,” he said. “We will evaluate that in the off-season.”
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The Facts
* What: MLS All-Star game
* When: 12:30 PDT today
* Where: Columbus, Ohio
* TV: Channel 7
