Thursday, February 23, 2006

Young players and the MNT

Teen phenoms need plenty of guidance Major League Soccer, in contrast to other U.S. pro sports leagues, has no age minimum. That's because it fears losing American players to leagues overseas. "Unlike the NBA and the NFL, we aren't the dominant player in the world market," said Ivan Gazidis, MLS' deputy commissioner. "We're a relatively small player. Around the world players are signed young. Most don't go to college. For us to set regulations would simply mean young kids dead set on being pro would sign with overseas clubs." It all comes down to economics - if they can't sign here, they'll sign elsewhere. This reminds me of what happened back when MLS iniated Project-40. Their rationale was to build up a strong base of young players. I found it interesting that MLS had to rationalize their choice in the media, by saying much of the same things: players overseas sign young, and few of them go to college, much less play there. Things certainly have not changed!

MLS players called in vs. Poland

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Yeah, the general sports media here are still too self-centered to appreciate what goes on elsewhere.

I guess it goes against the (false)paradigm of the United States having the best league in every sport.