The Latino Factor: The Gateway to American Footballing Success
From a far off view, the MLS comes off as a far inferior league. A league that is not worthy to talk about if David Beckham is not involved. The attendance is modest, and the salary cap limits the quality of play.
These are just realities that the league and its fans deal with. Although the execs like to aim high and suggest the ’soccer’ is becoming the fourth (hockey has the same level of support as ’soccer’) major American sport, that day is still not here. The path ’soccer’ in America must take to get to that day is clear, and it lies directly upon the Latino population.
This past Sunday, I attended the CONCACAF Gold Cup Final, the North and Central American equivalent of the European Championship’s Final. The match was being contested by the USA and Mexico at the Meadowlands, a sports complex just outside of New York City. The game was a sell out, and the most well attended ’soccer’ match in the history of the stadium with 79,000 plus cramming in. The crowd was 20% Pro-US, and 80% Pro-Mexico. A light went off. If there are 80,000 fans who care to see USA-Mexico despite the fact that the USA had a C-Squad, and Mexico had a B-Squad; why can’t some of them come out to the local team’s games, Red Bull New York?
The atmosphere was top class. Once the Mexicans scored fifteen minutes into the second half, the crowd went wild. The Mexican Wave went around the stadium, beer went flying, and the Mexican Flags were out. Why can’t this pride for country become pride for one’s local club team? If MLS teams market more aggressively to Latino populations, they can improve their attendances, improve their bottom lines, and will be able to put more into the product on the field.
While an increase in Latino fans will make the league more successful in many facets, the Latino population is also the key to improving the quality of play directly. The US team that I saw had no latino names on it. It was a squad of names such as Goodson and Holden, not of names such as Martinez and Rodriguez. Now I’m not saying the team has to be all Latino, but a mix would better represent the demographics of America. The latino population is 44 million strong, and growing rapidly. Despite their status as the biggest minority group in the USA, they still have yet to produce many strong footballers that are capable of representing the US Men’s National Team. Recent signs are encouraging though. Jose Francisco Torres is the first true Latino since Claudio Reyna to make the US National Team, featuring in a couple of World Cup Qualifiers, and making the Confederations Cup squad. There are other hopeful signs as well. Edgar Castillo, a promising left back who slipped through the youth systems in America wound up being a star in Mexico. After representing Mexico in three friendlies, he has decided to switch his allegiances to the USA. These are encouraging signs, but the Latino population, being soccer obsessed has the potential to produce many talented players for both MLS and the USMNT.
The path is clear. Engage the Latino community to support MLS and MLS will benefit. Have the Latino community produce players that can help MLS and the USMNT and both will benefit. That’s how ’soccer’ will gain a larger foothold in the US.
Unfortunately, as with hockey, the NCAA and the MLS have systematically avoided encouraging and recruiting young Latinos and blacks into the kind of scholarship/pro system so successfully utilized in basketball, baseball and American football. Here in Chicago I can take you to Summer games of soccer on the Lake Michigan beaches and on the Park District fields that are far superior to the lame, cynical mediocrity practiced in Toyota Park by the Chicago Fire. Immigrant kids from the Congo, Burundi, Mexico, Colombia, Haiti, etc. are far technically superior to the kids who play in the SAY and AYSO in most cases. It’s called organized racism, dude! Until we can get past that, the US will never reach it’s potential.
Well one of the reasons they won’t come out to support the Red Bulls is they aren’t very good. But you do bring up good points, only 3 players on the Confederations Cup roster were of latino descent in Torres, Bornstein, and Bocanegra (Feilhaber was born in Brazil but has Austrian grandparents). Its also entirely possible Bocanegra will be the only one of those three who is at Azteca next wednesday. With latinos obviously coming out in force to support the Mexican National team (I was also at Giants) its questionable why the US isn’t able to identify more as prospects for the national team. Maybe then the US can have a true home game.
In 1947, American professional team sports changed FOREVER. Why? Jackie Robinson broke the color line in MLB and then the NFL and the NBA would open their doors to the American black athlete. Black American MEN & WOMEN have changed the face of American sport far beyond their numbers and our major leagues would be a lot less MAJOR with their absence. I am a very proud Brown American. However, since the 1968 Mexico Olympics, I have only cheered for ONE team, the AMERICAN team. And that means whoever wears the shirt represents us all. I cheer FOR the shirt, not for the person IN the shirt.
With that said, if I were an eccentric billionaire and wanted to improve American soccer, I would go DIRECTLY to the black neighborhoods and set up FREE academies to introduce Black American parents and kids to soccer. I have NO doubt that once Black America embraces soccer and decided to put the SAME effort into it that they have shown for baseball, basketball, and American Football, they would change American Soccer FOREVER. Sadly, but truthfully, American men and women of Mexican decent have never had and never will have ANY serious impact or success in mens and womens amateur and professional sports in comparison to the Black athlete.
I agree.
I think though that MLS made a dumb move when they named the second franchise in LA “Chivas USA” – that alienated a few million Club America supporters and perhaps even other club supporters. I know their intent was to draw hispanic fans, but it turned off alot of them too.
My thoughts exactly Bobotonto, I couldnt agree more with what you said. i can go out to any park in my area and see high quality football being played by athletes who no one cares about,The MLS and US soccer cannot continue to ignore such talent if both of them want to succeed in the future.
You guys all have valid points, and the issue is money when it comes to recruiting these talented foreign technical players. You cannot at this point play high quality club soccer for free unless you can get picked up by an MLS team, and let’s face it, even MLS teams have limited budgets.
@Mr. Cam
You’re 100% correct. Unfortunately, our cities and poor neighborhoods have basketball courts, not football pitches. In Brazil, the slums have caged football pitches and that is where the kids learn and gain their skill. Also, the kids who would like to play soccer don’t have the same type of idols you find in basketball and American Football. Who is the Kobe of soccer that the young poor kids can see? It would be ronaldo and Kaka, but by and large, those guys don’t get on American TV very much.
In the end, it comes down to money. The Latino community has potential, but US Soccer, SUM, and MLS need to invest in it. We have 45 million latinos, almost half the population of Mexico, so our full national team should have at least six or seven quality players of latino descent.
We certainly have a long way to go.
BS!
Our national team is based upon the best players that the country has produced for the system it plays. To say that it is organized racism is BS!
If you are saying that some kids that have potential might or have fallen through the cracks, I would agree. That does not mean it is organized racism. More to the point it is a disorganized system that allows this to happen.
I can go out to any park in my area and see kids kicking the ball too, some with skill. I have watched the ones (and played in some) of the games in Chicago and, though some kids have skill, they are a far cry from what you see on the pitch in MLS.
Are they a few who might have the skill to make it? Its possible. But it takes a lot more than just skill to be a professional athlete.
Your article is not very helpful. Saying the MLS needs to attract more Latinos to be successful is not in itself a solution. It is just common sense. If the MLS attracted more African Americans or more Italians or more Americans it would be more successful too. The obvious crowds that some games in the US draw are very Latino and very large, so I can understand your point that it is a very large potential MLS audience.
What I don’t like about this article (maybe a follow up is in order) is to how you would actually get these Latinos in the seats. Do you sign more big name Hispanic players (Blanco, Juan Pable Angel) in Hispanic areas (Chicago, New York)? Do you artificially encourage cross border games like Superliga? Do you lower ticket prices even more to attract a lower income population?
Don’t just reiterate the problem in your article. Look for a solution. I dare you to post some good ideas in a follow up article. If it was my job then I would think about it, but since I don’t have time and since I do go to every Redbulls game I will leave this job to you.
“Our national team is based upon the best players that the country has produced for the system it plays”. Say what? A real Professor Irwin Corey meets Bill Clinton moment of claruty there, Tom. Approximately 285 million Americans and we consistently produce… goalkeepers. It’s a start: Right? The system isn’t “disorganized,” it’s racist. A hypocritical yet promiscuously profitable system allows a conveyor belt of brilliant black youth to show up for college and audition for the draft. As organized footie has always kept it itself in the suburbs and part of the NCAA system, wherein kids have to get a real education and pass their classes, etc., it’s pretty clear that the dice is loaded against you if you’re black, Latino or just plain poor from the inner city. If you don’t like the smell of that R word, it’s okay by me. Having gone to grad school at Penn State and taught at
various colleges where varsity sports is big big business, I can absolutely assure you that minority athletes in the big three American sports don’t need to worry about grades or money in the way soccer players do.
Last, but not least, you might, in all honesty, wonder why–if pro games where Latinos teams like Club America, Necaxa, Guadalajara visit MLS cities and the stadiums get packed crowds–more QUALITY young Latino players from Souh and Central America aren’t recruited instead of greedy veterans like Becks or even my beloved Guahatamoc Blanco? The answer is very clear. Even though it would be very good for business, MLS owners really don’t want their stadiums packed with minorities.
Nice theory, does not work.
Chicago has been trying for a few years with various marketing methods and has one of the biggest names from Mexico in Blanco. His signing is good for a few thousand fans both at home and on the road, but winning seasons and stadium location are more important.
There was a lot more excitement to go to a game in an oversized Soldier Field, than in Toyota Park. TP is great, but it is tough to get out of the city both for hispanics and others, and people from other suburbs want to go into
Chicago if they leave their suburb.
Also, there is always a Mexican game in Chicago in the summer which eats up MLS fans money. Why would people switch if they still get their fix of Mexican soccer.
What would help is better soccer with more B+ players staying in the league instead of going to Belgium, France, Portugal, Greece, Bundesliga 2, Scotland, etc.
This is a great post. If there were more Central, South American players, ticket sales would jump.
Another consideration: If there were more black college players moving into professional soccer, the NCAA might loosen up its stranglehold on player development.
@Mr. Cam
You’re 100% correct. Unfortunately, our cities and poor neighborhoods have basketball courts, not football pitches.
You seem to forget that FIFA had basketball courts in mind when they adapted the rules of futbol de salon. An NBA reg court has the minimum dimensions needed for a Futsal court. Futbol de salon, Futsal, and American basketball have many things in common, five per side, throw ins, a net, a center circle, movement, passing, dribiling, players play both offense and defense, & rebounding.
In Brazil, the slums have caged football pitches and that is where the kids learn and gain their skill.
No one knows EXACTLY how many basketball courts exist in America’s inner city.
Also, the kids who would like to play soccer don’t have the same type of idols you find in basketball and American Football.
Educate and show Black Americans how many Black players have achieve greatness in our hemisphere and on the world’s stage as the greatest players to ever play the game. Bottom line, show the urban black kids the fame and FORTUNE they can achieve playing soccer, and we can some day challenge Brazil for supremacy.
So let me understand you correctly, you think that we are not allowing better players to play on the National team because they are not white suburbanites? MLS owners are not hiring latino players because they are racists even if that would make them lots of money? That is laughable.
The reason that you get large crowds for Mexican clubs is that many of the fans (say 25 years and older) are recent immigrants (legal and illegal) and have very strong ties to the club they supported before they arrived. The league is still too young to have built that bond. There have been quality latinos that have played, such as Blanco, as well as young ones, such as Montero. The problem is that they have not necessarily brought in significant crowds and certainly have not made any impact on the TV audience (think $). The only one that has has been Beckham. Say what you want about quality, he has put butts in seats.
As for the national team, for selecting 23 people, it seems to be a pretty diverse bunch. Have never looked at the heredity make-up before but thinking about it now, it is loaded with people from across the spectrum. Black (Beasley, Altidore), latino (Bocanegra, Torres), recent immigrants (Gooch, Adu), white (Donovan, Bradley), poor (Dempsey).
To say that picking that team is racist and not based upon quality, well, I guess if you have an agenda you can see anything. It is a shame you have to look at things that way but that is your choice.
This article doesn’t aim to provide solutions for the problem, it merely identifies a major problem; the latino population has a lot of potential and that potential is underutilized. The Solution that gets latinos into the stands and onto the pitch for the USMNT is one i quite frankly don’t have at this point.
Bobotonto, I call shenanigans.
As one of those latino kids that plays on Montrose Beach in Chicago. Theres no way those games are more entertaining than MLS games unless you’re playing in them, all the tricks and feints are a result of crappy defending more than anything else. I would dare anyone one of those weekend warriors to take on Wilman Conde and Bakary Soumare for repeated challenges.
The Fire have National Team players from Guatemala, Costa Rica, Mali, and Mexico and they’re all way way way better than anyone playing on those gopher fields at the park.
Those are exactly the sort of players you claim MLS doesn’t sign, it shows you’re not actually paying attention to the team you’re criticizing.
US soccer isn’t racist it’s classist. The only color that matters on getting your kid on the right club team is green and politics, but then…….how is that any different than Mexico, Brazil or anywhere else in the world.
Besides, MLS teams themselves are actually signing a lot of latino kids to their academy teams and for free. They have open tryouts several times a year. Chivas has 3 latino players from it’s academy and Chicago probably isn’t far away from having it’s own.
Mr. Ruiz, I take it back. You are right and I am definitely wrong. App. 90M Latinos in the U.S., at least half of them from a non-Caribbean soccer-playing tradition and the best we can do is Claudio Reyna and Carlos Bocanegra. “The Fire have National Team players from Guatemala, Costa Rica, Mali, and Mexico and they’re all way way way better than anyone playing on those gopher fields at the park.” ¡No nos engenamos:es verdad! If you say so, it has to be true. Then again, you might wonder why Guahatomoc repeatedly refers to his colleagues as a pile of shit to their faces and when he’s out socializing. The truth is that the U.S. is mostly a dumping ground for second-rate and over-the-hill hacks and most Americans, regardless of race, would rather stay at home and watch the EPL, the Bundesliga and Mexican soccer over the MLS. l love that, “it isn’t racist, it’s classist… the only color that matters is green” sophistry. Even better is the old ‘why don’t you try living in Mexico, Brazil or with your friends in Cuba’ argument. As Richard Pryor used to say, it’s not ‘just-ice” it’s ‘just us.’ Classist/racist: Same shit, different stink! Depends where you’re standing, doesn’t it? And why is it that attacking the status quo somehow gets equated with a lack of patriotism?
Chivas are being smart and savvy. But academies need to be the rule, not the exception. In terms of perception and exaggeration, I stand corrected, those guys on Montrose Beach are not nearly as technically gifted as most MLS players. Still, I’ll stand by my Congolese, Malian, Burundian and English ‘amis’ who play no prisoners football on the sand in Rogers Park for their love of the game and commitment any time.
Last, but not least, Mr. Zeger’s point about the MLS’ limited means is the bottom line. Why, one wonders, is the league expanding when the pool of home-grown players is obviously shrinking? Holding a few tryouts on workdays makes for really nice P.R. The MLS owners need to exercise due diligence while planning for the future and make every team start an academy… for all ‘classes’.
Bobotonto, you are definitely wrong when you say that soccer in the United States is racist against Hispanics. While I do believe that there is a great deal of this unnecessary activity that occurs in this country you cannot use soccer as an example of racism. I would actually counter that soccer in the US is helping to bridge the gap even further.
You cannot say that MLS is racist and they do not want Hispanics in the league. Not only is statement incorrect, but it is actually very opposite. Look at the current Designated Players and see that while Beckham and Ljungberg are white the other DP’s are all from South or Central America (Blanco from Mexico, Angel from Columbia, Schelotto from Argetina, Emilio from Brazil). And also look at four more past Designated Players (Denilson from Brazil, Marcelo Gallardo from Argentina, Claudio Lopez from Argentina, and Claudio Reyna from the US but hardly a white product since his parents are Argentinian and Portuguese). So that makes for 80% of the DP’s to be of Hispanic decent while only 20% to be white. And even if you consider players who have been close to the DP limit (Eddie Johnson, Donovan, Carlos Ruiz, DeRosario, Shalrie Joseph, Christian Gomez, Taylor Twellman) then the numbers become 18% black, 23% white, 59% Hispanic. Maybe the league is promoting itself a lot more to Latinos than it appears.
The list of examples where you are wrong is just to large to list here as I am sure I am restricted to a character limit, but look at all these big name singings by all different clubs to target that demographic. The clubs and league do not care what color the players are or what ethnicity they come from. The reason why you do not see more big names is due to the salary cap. The increase in salary cap is critical to bring in more talented players which will lead to more people consistently in the seats. The obvious reason that this will not happen is because the league wants to keep teams equal in quality until it has a strong enough support. The salary cap will continue to move up but there is no chance of its elimination until all 20 teams have soccer specific stadiums. So until then, we are stuck with a lower quality soccer than we care to watch.
Max Zeger and any one else who cares to chime in,
The MLS has been strongly trying to promote to the Latino community for a while now. They have tried many ideas and they have always failed. That is why I say your article is pointless is because the MLS staff sees the opportunity for attracting this large crowd but they are unable to come up with the ideas of how to do it. I think one way is to buy up a bunch of the quality players in Central and South America who are young or in their primes. Bring some of the big names to the MLS and people will watch for sure. The problem is obviously the salary cap which is there for a reason. Maybe it’s time to admit that MLS is finally doing things right and they do need time. They have realized that shootouts and counting down clocks are not going to fill seats and they have abandoned old practices which don’t work. So can you come up with solutions as to how to get Latinos or any other ethnicity in the seats?
MLS will never draw world class players unless they get their calender in sync with the rest of the soccer world… just look at what a disaster and waste of time Beckham has been…. Without great players there will be few fans….. for example who is going to watch MLS next summer when the world cup is going on…MLS wake up…
MLS teams need to create attractive brands that draw the Latino fans in. Winning helps, big name Latino players help but obviously don’t solve the problem. Look at Seattle. They’ve made their games fun with a great atmosphere, and the people have flocked to support the team. That is something that can be repeated all over the league with the Latino community if MLS teams can replicate what has happened in Seattle. A little bit of listening to the fans and their ideas can obviously go a long way.
This kind of blogging is really great. Different perceptions of a very complex issue. The bottom line is that the MLS will never get better through bringing in jaded foreign talent with no commitment. I’m not clear as to how trotting out players from Central and South America draws American Latinos to the sport, however. I just want to live to see American kids, all American kids, playing the sport. I think Fergiesonn is right. Changing the calendar is a good idea for right now. Still, the main thing for me is that we need to start serious academies. If the MLS powers are smart they’ll hire someone like José Pekerman or Aimé Jaquette to come in and build a series of academies and train American coaches with an toward the future.
1. Scrap playoffs and go to one league with the best team being the champions (like every big league in the world)
2. Have relegation into the USL for lowest 2 teams and promotion for top 2 teams in USL
3. Go to the same calender as the rest of the world, and same transfer windows as well (noone wants to watch MLS during the world cup/ euros/ basically anyting in summer)
4. Invest more in academies and less in the draft
5. Take the Concaf champions league more seriously or attempt to gain entry to copa libertadores
ALl these steps and MLS will become world respected and one of the best leagues in the world
Academies are key, but switching the schedule is unrealistic. Toronto, Chicago, and Boston in February. It’s very hard to do that.
There aren’t that many teams, Max. August through early December and then March through May/June. Or would that inconvenience Becks? Wouldn’t want to do that, would we?
@claudio
unfortunately mls owners would never agree to promotion relegation because the values of their franchises would plummit. Those are good suggestions, and I think many will come when the league becomes more profitable.
so max England and Germany do not play in the cold? This is the dumbest reason i have heard for not changing the schedule buy your players gloves and underarmour…
If you have ever been to Chicago in winter, you will now that the temperature hovers around 0 degrees fahrenheit or -18 degrees. Not to mention that Chicago routinely gets over snows of a foot plus. I’d Imagine all the Latino fans from warm climates that I suggest MLS needs to attract wouldn’t want to brave that kind of weather to see a football match played on a sheet of ice. Snow is a whole other issue, especially when we are talking in feet, not in inches.
Promotion/Relegation is a not starter. Won’t happen.
Calender change might happen later. Weather is certainly a big concern, namely for the midwest and northeast, for 6 (soon to be 7) of their teams. England doesn’t get very cold. Seattle is comparable. Germany does get cold but they take a long summer break. There is a reason the Scandanavians have a schedule similar to ours.
Playoffs bring in money. Doubt that that will go away.
As for getting latinos to watch MLS, MLS has tried a lot of different avenues (which Zara mentions) with varying degrees of success. I think that maintaining allegience to your team when you immigrate is one thing has held in the Latino community. Similar to when people move to Atlanta from the Northeast, they still root for the Yankees or Red Sox instead of rooting for the Braves. This is the same deal. It will take a while.
I am your average soccer/football fan stuck here in MLS heavy country USA and I will tell you the reason why the average soccer/football fan knows exactly who won the Barclays Cup, La Liga, or the Scudetto opposed to who might have won the MLS cup last year. Aside from so many other leagues with more talent, aside from me running into 6 different channels that will have a MLB game instead of the super classico equivalent “Chivas USA vs LA Galaxy” and taking in consideration that I have already forgiven the MLS for inventing the “shootout” tie breaker . I am simply not interested in MLS soccer matches because starting from the owners who dove into the idea of a major soccer league in the US without even understanding the game, meaning the passion for the sport has to be demonstrated from the top level of management to the youth academies. The sport has sold itself in all of the other countries, I agree that it may have been partially due to necessity based on the fact that it is much more affordable to buy a ball and kick it opposed to buying helmets and shoulder pads and things as such. Above all sports, I love soccer, but as the average fan that I am, I will trade a Kenny Cooper for a Nani every time, any time and maybe its because of some many fans like me that this sport hasn’t flourish like they predicted back in ‘94 (world cup in the US) but thats just how it is.
Thanks.
In response to MR Cam. You keep playing the race card, Bro, and fail to recognise the hard facts. If you do your research, you would find that in a world of 6 billion people, the top 3 greatest players at the moment by a country mile, are Latinos, and WHITE Latinos at that, Kaka, Lionel Messi, and Crisitano Ronaldo. Fancy that hey?? Since you want the hard facts, have a look at the top clubs in the world and tell me what nationalities the players are? So dare I say, the future of football in the US is in fact, in the Latino community. Latinos are by far the greatest exponents of the game, and the record books reflect this. If Black Americans in 100 years of football have not excelled in the game by now, it’s a little too late bro, especially considering the huge interest in the game around the world. It is impossible to totally dominate a sport that is so sought after. Considering how much money and incredible infrastructure there is in the US, there is absolutely no excuse for never having a world class side, especially considering that the US has more registered soccer players than the total populations of some nations. THERE IS NO EXCUSE!! If you ever win a world cup, it will be because your global recruitment will finally pay off. I often wonder why American headhunters are recruiting school kids all over the world, offering them “football scholarships”. Very cunning
I have a friend that has been offered one of these “scholarships”, and I imagine he will be considered for US representation at some point. I have no doubt that the US is systematically scavenging kids from all around the world to build a strong national team for the 2018 World Cup they are looking to host. The US is desperate to mark a mark in football, because all other sporting achievements count for zilch if you can’t excels in the one that really counts. Another factor is this, hot dogs and buns, Hip Hop and Rap aint compatible with a sport that is so artistic and majestic. It just simply isn’t in your blood bro. I remember my friend saying the following about many of America’s sporting achievements, “they are great amoungst themselves”. How true this is, because in any other part of the world, if you can run fast, jump high, or fight hard, you play football.