Interesting to see the commissioner of a smaller pro sports league stepping up to play hardball with somebody’s government.
Don Garber, chief cook and bottle washer for Major League Soccer, has suggested to all concerned in the greater Maryland-Virginia-District of Columbia area that flagship MLS franchise D.C. United could actually – relocate.
This after yet another soccer-specific stadium proposal collapsed soggily into the Potomac River due to a lack of public funding.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
“We don’t seem to be able to get a deal done and it could be that, if something can’t be resolved, we will move the team,” Garber told Steve Goff of the Washington Post.
It’s the classic pro sports leverage game. But does Garber, in fact, have any leverage? D.C. United is hugely loved by its passionate fans, but is that a large enough group of people to put any significant pressure on the public purse during a severe economic crisis?
Garber is essentially telling towns, counties and cities all over the area that if they build a stadium, they get the team. But I can think of at least one other city near and dear to the Canadian heart that might want to get a seat at this poker game.
Are you listening … Montreal?
The last time the Montreal Impact played poker with Don Garber, the commish reached across the table and folded their hand early in the most recent MLS expansion race. Impact owners Joey Saputo and George Gillett tried to low-ball the game, and were unceremoniously removed from the table.
Now, these are not the best of financial times in Monteal, either. Gillett owns the Montreal Canadiens and is co-owner of Liverpool, and is sell, sell, selling as the money gloom rolls in. Whispers are even percolating up that it might have been Gillett, from the shadows, and not Saputo who low-balled MLS.
Nonetheless and regardless …
If Montreal is to have any hope of landing an expansion team in either 2012 or ’13, they have to get back to the table – with enough chips to get it done. Vancouver and Portland won the last hand at $35-million (U.S.) each. Look for a price increase – especially since the league made a $10-million last-hand concession to land two prime west-coast markets.
That may be more chips that Joey the Cheese Man can rustle up. But if the issue that might divorce MLS from the District of Columbia is a soccer stadium – Montreal’s already got one.
My crazed, warped thinking this morning is that if Garber is serious and Maryland won’t blink, Stade Saputo could be expanded as a wonderful, welcoming home for United, at a fraction of the cost of bidding for, winning and financing an expansion team.
There’s a lot going against this.
- Garber is not serious. Not yet, anyway. This is one of MLS’s few name franchises we’re discussing, and everybody knows it. Garber is certainly shaking the tree, but that’s a long way from shipping out.
- Montreal has to prove it wants in. This is a bottom-line money situation. How many chips are you flashing in front of Dealer Don?
The Impact need to step up – right now – with a new and bolstered expansion bid. New investors would help, as it doesn’t look like Gillett’s got the gelt to continue tip-toeing through MLS’s tulips.
If Montreal can at least convincingly bluff its way back to the table, the city could be in excellent position to play life boat for D.C. United if Garber starts seriously screaming “iceberg!” And if Garber can use the Impact as the bargaining chip that actually gets the D.C. stadium built, that’s a lot of good will and future considerations that might help grease the way for a Montreal expansion team.
Jus’ speculatin’.
Onward!