So the final edition of the Beckham down under experience has come and gone and with it the now annual comparisons between the A-League and MLS.
Yesterday my fellow Roar writer Luke Doherty wrote: “it would be fantastic to see the A-League champions and the winners of the MLS Cup face off every year for a trophy”.
While I chuckled at the suggestion of calling such a competition “The Salary Cap Cup”, I’m not convinced that it’s either a viable or beneficial concept.
Firstly let’s clear some things up – a match between the champions of both the MLS and A-League would only be a success if David Beckham happened to play for the winning team. With Golden Balls’ American journey about to end, that seems more than unlikely.
Do you think 36,000 fans would stump up to see Houston Dynamos (this season’s other MLS Cup finalist) or Real Salt Lake who won the league a couple years ago as they did in Melbourne on Tuesday night? The answer is no.
With members of A-League clubs having to buy tickets for such an encounter the organisers would be lucky to get more than 10,000 through the gates.
Secondly there would be almost no increase in brand awareness for the local team in such an encounter. The Galaxy friendlies worked because associating your club with Beckham is a positive public image move.
Finally, putting together some make believe competition between the two countries would not increase the fixture’s competitiveness. How do I know this? Because it’s been tried before.
A similar tournament – the Pan-Pacific Cup – was run by the same marketing company behind the MLS and even with all their experience and industry strength they couldn’t make it work (a little know fact – an edition of the tournament ended up being hosted in Australia one year) but even that competition had to include Beckham’s Galaxy to have any broad value.
To me the whole concept sounds a lot like the AFL’s international rules competition and we all know how seriously both players and fans take that.
In fact, it goes hand in hand with the greater desire we seem to have with comparing the A-League with its American counterpart.
While there are a handful of similarities, both leagues are based on entirely different structures with completely different markets.
FFA could have avoided a number of mistakes if it had of done better research into the experience of the MLS but the same is true for Japan’s J-League and even European football.
While I applaud Lou Sticca and his promotional company for once again putting on an enjoyable and positive event, I hope we’ll start considering these fixtures for nothing more than what they are – a bit of fun.
steve
Guest
Hernandez ripped Galaxy apart cos they let him, would they if it was a serious match though? the Galaxy players were walking whilst the likes of Allsop and Cernak were covering every blade of grass...kinda embarassing.
Bondy
There fantastic P.R. events when you have the world star but when you don't fairs fair nobodys interested , i'm not terribly interested in seeing the Colorado Rapids with no star names play the Brisbane Roar at really a time thats not really compliant to eithers league in relation to timing . I said on another thread recently lets acknowledge Beckham as a star a one off , he has been to the city's of and played against Sydney F.C. Newcastle Jets F.C and now Melbourne Victory F.C. and gave clinics for kids . If we could get Beckham out here for the next 10 yrs in some form of role occasionally than that will never hurt the sport .
Ticker
Guest
Apples and Oranges, agree with you chris p, Carlos was actually ripping the Galaxy apart before being subbed off at half time. Lack of active support was very off putting, the Mexican wave is always a bad indicator representing a bored crowd.
chris p
Guest
That doesn't mean anything tim, it was because Hernandez wasn't considered "fit" which is fair Mls is probably a faster league but in terms of technical ability there probably about the same
Tim
Guest
MLS is clearly better, the average American is better and much better foreigners. For example: Carlos Hernandez trialed with Real Salt Lake earlier this year and was turned away and he is widely considered to be one of the best if not the best player in all of Australia.
B.A Sports
But if the MLS, by some chance, grows and is able to attract more stars to their league would it then be a good idea? We have seen the impact a "star" name can have on a crowd - Newcastle had their biggest regular season crowd in over 5 years last week because Kewell was in town.
oly
Guest
I see where he's coming from. After these games there seems to be endless online debate about which is the stronger league.
TomC
Guest
I'm not sure Davidde gets to title his own articles but is there really an A-league vs MLS 'obsession'?