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Throw-Ins L.A.'s qualification brings MLS mouthwatering money
Updated: Thursday January 25, 2001 6:52 PM
For American soccer, the figures are mouth watering. I, mean, $2.5 million just for showing up and playing three games and $6 million for winning the whole thing. That's what the competing clubs received for in the 2001 FIFA Club World Championship in Brazil, and this year's figures for the Spain tournament could be even larger in the wake of FIFA's deal last Friday with Traffic, a Brazilian marketing company that agreed to a major television and marketing contract. FIFA spokesman Andreas Herren said he expects this year's payout "to be Higher, as a major contract was signed with Traffic." But the $64,000 question, or should I say the $2.5 million question, is how the money will be divided up where the Los Angeles Galaxy is concerned. The sum is in the same neighborhood as the total annual salary cap for an MLS team. Remember, under Major League Soccer's single-entity concept, player contracts are owned by the league, and not the individual teams. So, any money brought in from outside sources may have to go to the league rather than to the individual team. That could lead to a dicey situation when huge sums of money are involved. How much does the league get? The same goes for the Galaxy and its players as well. The Galaxy, incidentally, also earned $75,000 from CONCACAF for winning the region's Champions Cup title last Sunday. One possible formula that has been bandied about has MLS splitting the FIFA money as the league, Galaxy organization and Galaxy players get equal shares. Another plan bouncing around has the league pocketing two-thirds of the money, with the Galaxy and players receiving one-sixth each, according to sources.
That doesn't seem very equitable, considering the Galaxy players did all the work on the field. Personally, I'd love to see the Galaxy players get half of the take, while the league and team split the remaining 50 percent. While he obviously wants to see more money go to the players, Los Angeles Galaxy defender Greg Vanney was quite diplomatic talking about the issue, seeing all three sides of the issue. "The league looks at it as 'We gave these guys a place to play. It's a way to pick up some money,'" Vanney said. "The same with the Galaxy. They have bills to pay. "From a players' standpoint, we're the ones who play day in, day out. We put in the hard work. We'd like to obviously have more. We did the business when it was on the line. In the end, the pressure was on and we stepped up. It's fair that everyone gets a little percentage. "One of the arguments about the league is: 'Why should they get a higher percentage? We're not taking any money away from MLS. We're bringing in some money to MLS.'" Galaxy general manager Tim Luce said no final decision had been made about the money. "That's something that needs to be decided by management," he said. "I'm supportive and will make sure they get their just rewards. I'm sure there will be plenty to go around." He said he realized that for many of the players, the bonus would be substantial and perhaps greater than some of their salaries. For example, if the players were awarded a third of the $2.5 million, that would come out to $41,650 per player, well above the league minimum salary, if evenly divided among 20 players. That certainly isn't chump change by MLS standards. "Some of these guys with the salaries they make, it would be a significant percentage of their salaries," he said. MLS officials did have any official comment by this column's deadline to give their side of the story. When will it be popular?You take a look at the total attendance of the recently completed CONCACAF Champions Cup -- 26,476 -- and you wonder when will it become more popular? Well, I have two scenarios. One has the Galaxy doing quite well in Spain, whether it is making the final four, the championship match or winning the entire thing (don't laugh, Necaxa of Mexico acquitted itself quite well last year in the tournament's inaugural edition). Then, the Champions Cup could get more respect because of what the Galaxy had accomplished. The other scenario would be the U.S. hosting the next FIFA Club World Championship, which would force U.S. Soccer to push and market the CONCACAF tournament much more, if it is held on American soil. The site of the next CONCACAF Champions Cup has not been determined, though Alan Rothenberg, the former president of the U.S. Soccer Federation, has publicly expressed an interest in having the U.S. host the tournament. Finally, Petke signsThe Mike Petke situation was finally resolved after three months of sometimes acrimonious negotiations, offers, counter-offers and tryouts with German clubs. He signed a four-year deal with MLS and the MetroStars (two years and two option years at the league's discretion) for an average of $110,000 per season. The deal also includes national team and All-Star bonuses. "To me, it was three months too late. It took too long," Petke said. "It was one of the worst times of my life, but also the best with a happy ending. I finally signed." Petke put into perspective about playing overseas vs. performing at home. "Everything is great when you're playing," he said. "But if you're sitting on the end of the bench in a small town in Germany, it's the worst thing that could happen." Petke said he doesn't know if he will start for the U.S. against China on Saturday against the team directed by former MetroStars coach Bora Milutinovic. Petke had more than his share of issues playing for Bora, who has a history of problems communicating with players. "This is very ironic, meeting up with him a year later," Petke said. "There's been an 180-degree turn in my career." Loser(s) of the weekLet's give it to those to those xenophobic soccer fans in England, who have protested to the English Football Association about the appointment of Swede Sven Goran Eriksson as the country's first foreign national coach. "Some of them have been very nasty and some of them have mentioned the fact that a Scot had appointed a foreigner as England coach," FA chief executive Adam Crozier told Reuters. "The really daft ones I passed on to the police." If I didn't know any better, I would say I was in Germany, which traditionally doesn't want foreigners in its country. My lord, comparing English views on foreigners to Germany -- that might be the ultimate insult to an Englishman. Sack of the weekFollowing a 6-1 thrashing by rival Olympiakos Piraeus, AEK Athens has asked coach Yiannis Pathiakakis to resign on Thursday. A team spokesman told Reuters that Panthiakakis won't continue as coach. Macedonia forward Toni and former OFI Crete coach and Dutch native Egen Gerard reportedly are potential replacements. Chip shots
David Dir was fired on Oct. 20, 18 days before the election. And Mike Jeffries was named coach on Tuesday, three days after George Bush's inauguration. So it took longer to figure out who the new coach of the Burn would be than it took for a peaceful transition of power in the United States. Hopefully, the Burn's decision process for the Feb. 5 SuperDraft won't take as long, or we'll wind up in Fort Lauderdale through President's Weekend (which wouldn't be such a bad idea this time of the year).
"He's just so comfortable on the ball," Mutiny coach Alfonso Mondelo said. "He also has great vision on the field. His game is so simple and so clean. Also, it's the precision of his touch -- the ball gets the right pace and where you want it to be."
"We think he is a rising young talent in this country," said Todd Durbin, MLS vice president of player personnel. "We watched his development last year. It became apparent to us he was getting better and better. We feel he can be an impact player if not immediately, in the future, in the league and at the national level. He has all the tools to be a great striker."
Michael Lewis covers soccer for the New York Daily News. He was recently honored by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America in the college division of its writing contest for Life is Beautiful, a column on University of San Francisco coach Steve Negoesco.
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