MLS still has a major league perception problem

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MLS still has a major league perception problem

October 5, 2016

By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (Oct 5, 2016) US Soccer Players - Kevin Baxter’s article in the LA Times on the unique travel challenges of Major League Soccer is not exactly news. What it is, however, is a fresh look at an old issue. Namely, that for the entirety of the league’s existence, MLS teams have had to deal with a perception problem. The punch line was right there in the name, and it took exactly no time for people to notice. "Major League" means something different when it comes to topflight soccer. With travel, it means lining up to take a seat in coach.

That's a hard line the league continues to cross between major league perception and MLS reality. Pro sports teams, not to mention big-time college programs, travel on private plans. It's a concession to the exhausting schedule and needs of pro athletes that's become the norm in major league sports. Well, most major league sports.

It hardly needs saying that no other major professional sports league in America (or Canada) requires its teams to fly commercial anymore, much less coach. Pro sports is serious business. The athletes involved are finely tuned human beings who get every advantage to remain at peak condition. Beyond physical benefits, other professional sports know that having their famous players mingling with the general public on a four-and-half-hour flight from New York to Los Angeles is a bad idea for a host of other reasons.

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Baxter’s piece again shines a light on that hypocrisy. For the good of its players, both physically and psychologically, it’s time for MLS to stop making excuses. Stop protecting the more inane nods to parity. Let teams that want to stretch their legs in the roomie first class seating of chartered airplanes do it. All it means is accepting the minimums of being a major league sport.