WHY RAZZMATAZZ DIDN’T WORK: THE MLS FOUNDER’S VIEW
As thenpresident of D.C. United, Kevin Payne was one of MLS’ founders in 1996. Things were different back then, with razzmatazz galore, a whole day devoted to Carlos Valderrama’s hair, and draws settled by an ice hockeyinspired variant on the shootout, in which forwards dribbled from 35 yards out before trying to beat the goalkeeper. Over to Payne...
“The league misread the market at the start. They looked at what had gone on before with the J-league in Japan and thought that we were in need of the same hypermodern team colours and logos. We had the Metrostars, the Kansas City Wizards, the Tampa Bay Mutiny, the San Jose Clash... none of those names are around any more. Culturally they just didn’t resonate.
There were a lot of soccer fans across America and what they wanted was a product like they had seen across the rest of the world. They weren’t interested in skateboard culture. They wanted soccer culture.
We looked at what had worked in the NFL and what had failed with the North American Soccer League. In the NASL you had the New York Cosmos, a team in the biggest market owned by a huge corporate conglomerate. They could spend money no one else could afford. Others tried to keep pace pace; it was an unsustainable model.
In the NFL, the teams agreed to an equal share of the revenue, because the league was only ever as strong as its weakest team. So we decided to take a similar approach, with a great deal of central control.
MLS probably has the best group of owners of almost any sports league in the world. They are almost all extremely wealthy but they have bought into a system that requires them to sublimate their own ego for the good of the group. They are playing the long game. They’re not thinking: ‘How do we get to Premier League level next year?’ They want to get there in 10, 15 or 20. They’re well on the way.”