Questions for Garber?? I'll be asking tonight.

[hamiltonfan]

Gents,

Don Garber, Major League Soccer commissioner, will be speaking at my university tonight. He’ll be discussing USA’s bid for a WC and happenings in MLS. I should be able to get a question or two with Garber, any suggestions? I would like to ask something Canadian specific, possibly about the Toronto-MLSE affair.

[El Hombre]

He mentioned that the failed reciprocity in the "US as domestic players on Canadian teams" issue is due to there not being a plethora of Canadian talent there (ref. Gian-Luca's second post here). In my mind, that's not sufficient reasoning and I'd like to see him challenged on this issue, although I'm not quite sure how I would phrase the question.

There are Canadians playing on US based teams that are counted as internationals however this will not happen on Canadian based MLS teams and I believe that's unfair.

[rdroze]

I'd like to know more about relationship (if any) between MLS and the CSA. Are they in regulat contact? Does the CSA have any influence whatsoever over MLS (or vice-versa for that matter)?

[TFCRegina]

If there aren't sufficient talented Canadians to play on MLS teams, why should there be a quota which discriminates against them? Shouldn't Canadians pose no threat to American players if they're not talented enough to force them out of the roster? Also, doesn't it put American sides at a disadvantage as they have a smaller pool of players who are considered domestic?

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I'm in favour of getting rid of all quotas in MLS for the record.

[Gordon]

El Hombre and TFCRegina are on the right track...if there is no "threat" to american players from Canadian players on US MLS teams, why not just make it reciprocal?

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

...because as has been explained many times there are legal issues with US employment legislation. Given the flexibility of the import quota these days (i.e. 8 players with no SI and YI restrictions) and the restrictions on bringing in players from elsewhere that are introduced by the salary cap there is no huge barrier to Canadian players that are good enough being signed by American teams.

[El Hombre]

...because as has been explained many times there are legal issues with US employment legislation.

Not according to the Don in the thread that I linked to. I used to think there were legal barriers too, but if there were why wouldn't he have mentioned it when pressed by John Molinaro?

[BringBackTheBlizzard]

I've read elsewhere that they could seek an exemption from Congress to the legislation in question but obviously that's not something you do lightly. I've no idea why they didn't keep a reduced quota level in place just for the optics of it. Given the expansion back out to 30 players to accomodate reserve games and the emphasis being placed on Academy programs these days there is zero chance of there ever being no Canadian players on the TFC, Whitecaps and Impact rosters. As with MLSE and some aspects of the recent ticket price debate the "suits" sometimes seem a bit out of touch and/or naive about how people within the soccer community will respond to some of their decisions.