I’m an avid soccer fan. I’ve been a Manchester United fan for more than a decade, and I have also supported my local MLS club, FC Dallas, for it entire existence. But watching the inner workings of the leagues of Europe, it exposes what a tremendous problem the MLS has become. The biggest issue with the MLS is its single-entity ownership structure, which generates even more problems. But first, the ownership structure. The MLS is designed so “owners” aren’t owning a majority stake in a team. No, the “owners” are buying stakes in the league itself. This means that all the teams are owned by one giant ownership group, which you would think would be a textbook example of conflict of internist and playing favorites. Another problem this creates is player allocation. Player allocation is what happens when USMNT players come to the league, and the really bad teams or really good teams get the player based on this odd concept called player allocation rankings. But star players are almost always never subjected, i.e. Clint Dempsey, Michael Bradley, even though the exemption was implemented after these players signed. This leads into the black hole that is free agency. The CBA has essentially eliminated a true “free transfer market” and its taken the player bargaining power with it. It makes players who signed long term deals as young, emerging players stuck, because free agency is available to players who have: 1) Been in the league for eight years and 2) are at least 28 years old. But enough with that. My last two points of emphasis are the MLS Draft and the lack of promotion and relegation. Sports drafts are basically the most American thing a league can do, because it rewards teams for quitting. That’s connected to the promotion and relegation issue. Because teams aren’t relegated for poor performance, but instead rewarded with promising young players, there is no need for teams to be scrappy and fight for the three points. This removes a certain aspect of competition, and ultimately further taints the MLS in its pursuit to become an elite league.
Best rushing season?
As the Dallas Cowboys travel to California to open training camp without last seasons NFL leading rusher, we have our first stat of the day: 4.71, DeMarco Murray’s 2014/15 NFL rushing yards per attempt average. Murray ran for 1845 yards over 392 carries, which many would call one of the greatest rushing performances ever. But in comparison, Adrian Peterson’s 2012/13 earth shattering season saw him achieve 2097 yards over 248 carries, averaging 6.03 yards per attempt. Murray also had 6 fumbles to Peterson’s 4
The stat kid 