Heady Times

After seven years the MLS is finally winning America's hearts and minds

By Grant Wahl

On Sunday, almost lost in the noise created by the World Series and college football, the NFL and the NHL, NASCAR and the NBA, 61,316 fans attended Major League Soccer's seventh title game. And what went on outside Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass., where the Los Angeles Galaxy beat the New England Revolution 1-0, might have been more remarkable than that fat attendance figure. Waving in the pregame barbecue smoke were many national flags -- Portugal and Jamaica, Guatemala and Ireland, Mexico and Honduras. And yet the colors of the United States vastly outnumbered the rest.

Too often, soccer fans in the U.S. are treated as if it's un-American to follow the world's most popular pastime. Nonsense. "Soccer is the most American of sports," says MLS commissioner Don Garber. "This country is getting increasingly more ethnic, and professional soccer is positioned to capitalize."

Yes, MLS is still losing money. And regular-season attendance averaged just 15,822. But average attendance rose this year for the second straight season, and billionaire Philip Anschutz, who owns six MLS teams, broke ground on the Galaxy's new jewel of a stadium, The Home Depot Training Center. Though Anschutz is being investigated by Congress for his financial dealings with troubled Qwest Communications, he insists that won't interfere with his commitment to soccer. "Mr. Anschutz will spend $20 million a year for the next 300 years if that's what it is going to take," says Anschutz Entertainment Group president Tim Leiweke.

As we learned at the World Cup, the league is producing a generation of precocious Yanks, including San Jose's Landon Donovan, Chicago's DaMarcus Beasley, both 20, and New England's Taylor Twellman, a 22-year-old striker who led the league in scoring. "They're much more confident and technical than previous American players," says U.S. coach Bruce Arena.

That showed on Sunday. "This game was an incredible advertisement for MLS," Galaxy defender Alexi Lalas said after Carlos Ruiz scored in overtime. Afterward, an endless free-kick wall of cars clogged the streets. On one car a pair of bumper stickers issued a red, white and blue challenge. YO APOYO A LA SELE (I SUPPORT THE NATIONAL TEAM) read one sticker. And the other? I'M PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN.

Issue date: October 28, 2002

 

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