Filed under: International Soccer, MLS
A few hours before last Sunday’s MLS Cup Final kicked off in Toronto, league commissioner Don Garber said he caught a glimpse at some highlights from that day’s Canadian Football League playoff game out in Calgary.
“There are people sitting in the snow, and they’re all bundled up,” he said. “Why wouldn’t they go to a soccer game if it’s in that weather? Assume you have a heated field. Assume the players can play.”
Some day in the not-so-distant future, that scenario could transition from rhetorical question to North American soccer reality. (It’s a Dutch reality in the photo above).
Under pressure from FIFA to adhere more closely to the sport’s traditional rhythms, and well aware that the game’s capricious governing body is scheduled to render a verdict on the U.S.’s 2022 World Cup bid next Thursday, MLS will “really seriously begin investigating aligning our league with the (fall-to-spring) international calendar,” Garber told reporters at BMO Field.
“We are going to make a serious effort to investigate the steps that we would need to take to determine whether or not we can change our calendar.” Success, he said, will depend on “growing the fan base, so ultimately they believe enough in their clubs and they’re willing to come out thick and thin to support their teams.”
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Today on the Internet: Are you a golfer? Do you know how to calculate a golf handicap>? You should learn.
Sat, Nov 27, 2010
World Cup Headlines