Garber: No update on Kraft
Don Garber began his 20th season as MLS commissioner with a whirlwind weekend tour of the country and the league, starting in Los Angeles for meetings with former Galaxy star David Beckham and L.A. executives, continuing in Seattle for Cincinnati’s inaugural game against the Sounders and ending in the cold and rain of Washington for D.C. United and Atlanta United.
Before the match at Audi Field, Garber fielded a few questions from reporters.
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The first topic was the Galaxy’s decision to buy out Mexican attacker Giovani dos Santos’ contract, a deadline-beating move last week to meet the league guidelines of employing no more than three designated players. Until taking action with dos Santos, the Galaxy had four.
There had been widespread speculation that MLS would allow the Galaxy to skirt the rules.
“It was a bit overblown, and that’s OK,” Garber said. “We’re at a point now where people really do care about the water-cooler talk and all the interest in how rosters are being developed and how teams are managing the rules. We knew all along it would get resolved. Every team has to be roster-compliant by Friday night, and they were. There were a lot of discussions as to how they were thinking about restructuring Gio’s contract, and they ultimately ended up buying it out.”
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D.C. United and the Colorado Rapids are the only remaining MLS teams that charge families for entry into their youth academies. Will the league address that matter?
“We are in the beginning phases of deep investment into player development, Garber said. “Although this year there were some positive developments on selling players our clubs have been investing in, it’s been a long process to get to the point where there’s been a reasonable balance between buying and selling. All of our clubs have got to find a way to manage some return on massive investments in facilities and costs associated with that.
“I think the concept of pay-to-play is an issue in our country and is something we as the sport and as leaders in our sport need to address. It’s a broader issue than just within our own academies; it’s an issue the leadership of U.S. Soccer and the league (have) got to get together and try to find a solution to. The vast majority of our clubs are free for our academy programs. I have not spoken to Jason (Levien, the D.C. club’s CEO) to get a sense of what his plans are, but I do think the future for our country if we want to develop players effectively is to have access for as many kids as possible, boys and girls.”
--Robert Kraft’s high-profile arrest for allegedly soliciting prostitution in Florida turned attention on the NFL for possible disciplinary action against the New England Patriots owner. But Kraft is also one of the founding fathers of MLS and the man behind the New England Revolution, a position that could subject him to league penalties.
In an interview with ESPN’s Taylor Twellman, Garber said, “all of us, whether it’s the commissioner, staff, players or an owner, has a conduct policy.”
Kraft pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to appear in court March 27.
“We’re aware of the case and following the developments closely,” Garber said. “It is a legal proceeding, and as such I probably can’t comment any further.”
On Sunday, Garber said, “Nothing has changed. Nothing more for me to add. The statement (to Twellman) spoke for itself.”
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MLS shorted the season this year, thus minimizing potential weather problems in the playoffs. (Previously, the MLS Cup match was played in December; now it’s in November.) But as the conditions in Denver and other venues this opening weekend showed, the March start remains problematic in some spots.
Regarding whether the league has set this time period as the earliest to launch the season, Garber said: “I can’t help but smile remembering the former president of FIFA meeting with the president of our country to talk about World Cup and the only thing he really could talk about was how we have to get on the international calendar.”