Taking the paper out of the house

Last night in New England, 5,221 people showed up to watch the Revs first, and likely only, playoff game of the year. This in a NFL stadium. It was nationally broadcasted in the U.S., so every MLS-basher in Omaha could have flipped by to see 45,000 empty seats watching a playoff game.

It ended in a scoreless tie, by the way. The Revs bunkered up and survived. They are likely looking to play for penalties.

It's a two-year old article now, but the papering the house issue was first reported in the San Diego Union-Tribune by reporter Mark Zeigler. Although, the league may say that it has 15,000 in the stands most weeks it has never been clear how many of those fans have actually paid for their tickets. Between packages and freebies there are a lot of semi-interested fans at a typical MLS game (in the US. No one in Toronto is getting into TFC games for free).

It's a problem in a league that shares profits. And, it's especially frustrating for Toronto fans who are essentially propping up teams that are then beating them on the pitch (which is something Toronto sports fans are pretty much used to). Somehow, in soccer, it seems worse that the two most profitable teams can't spend the money they make to take advantage of their popularity than it does in other salary cap sports.

It's widely understood that MLS needs to raise its cap to attract a better middle class of players and until it does that it will suffer in the eyes of certain soccer fans. It's a vicious circle, because MLS needs those fans to show up if it is going to make enough money to raise the cap and it probably can't raise the cap until it gets those fans.

One thing that is being talked about is a reduction in the cap hit that a team suffers for signing a DP. DPs benefit the league, putting money in everyone's pocket. But, the cap rules make it difficult for a team to sign one and remain competitve on the pitch (depth, it's all about the lack of depth).

MLS needs to find a way to reward teams that make money. That's a capitalistic viewpoint, but this is a capitalistic world and a capitalistic sport. Take the DP off the cap books and teams like Toronto, LA and Houston can benefit from the good work they do off the pitch. And, before the parity police scream unfair let me ask this: Why shouldn't they?

Why shouldn't a there be a consequence for drawing less than 6,000 people to a playoff game?