SoccerTimes’ Robert Wagman hits out at comments made by MLS Commissioner Don Garber in a recent Soccer America report. After watching D.C. lose 2-0 to Pachuca in Mexico, Garber said, “Boy, we’ve got to do better. For this league to win over the core audience, we’ve got to be able to be among the best clubs in North America.”
Wagman says Garber “must have been joking,” when he said this: “As chief executive of a professional sports league in which a third of the players aren’t paid a living wage and a good deal more make a meager minimum,” he couldn’t possibly expect his poorly paid teams to compete with the likes of Pachuca. If he were serious, Wagman suggests there are a few things he could do to make MLS teams more effective in international competition, starting with raising the league-mandated salary cap by $1 million per team, to $3.3 million. The second thing he could do is raise the senior team roster size from 18 to at least 21 players, if not 23 or 24. The likes of Houston and D.C. will be playing 15 to 16 extra matches this season, but they simply do not have the depth to remain competitive in these matches with an 18-man senior squad.
Finally, Wagman says Garber could also help out teams that play in international competitions by rescheduling their leagues matches, which is a common practice in the European leagues