Los Angeles FC, which captured the Major League Soccer championship on November 5, is a model example of how in the United States you can create a club from scratch and immediately find a support base for it.
In almost every game, LAFC’s home stadium, 22,000 seats, has been sold out.
The stadiums are not massive by European standards, but the atmosphere at LAFC’s home stadium is that of a physical trainer Anton Matinlaurin according to excellent.
– Starting a new club can offer an opportunity. You can immediately modernize the operation and structure. Our games have been almost sold out since the beginning, and the club has been able to build a strong foothold in the city.
– Of course, you have to remember and take into account that the club has done a lot of work for this on many fronts. Despite this, it is hard to imagine that this is such a young club.
LAFC was founded in 2014, but it played its first competitive match in 2018, directly in the main league MLS. The championship came in the fifth season.
Read more: What is it like to coach superstars like Gareth Bale? Anton Matinlauri, 33, tells about his extraordinary work in Los Angeles
A strategic breakthrough into the hearts of fans
As is so often the case with MLS clubs, there are celebrities on LAFC’s ownership ladder: Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Will Ferrell… At the same time, it advertises that it brings out more than the surface of Los Angeles, palm trees and the Hollywood sign. The club advertises itself as cool because it dares to bring out the authenticity of its city.
Brand director of the club Rich Orosco said the MLS on the website (you will switch to another service), that the club has wanted to listen to its fans from day one. Examples of this are a bar set up for fans and a safe grandstand.
– We were very aware of how we can build symbolism and identity around our club, Orosco announced.
LAFC fans raved that the club is cool because it listens to them and because the fan base is diverse: fan shirts are printed in Farsi for Iranians, ethnic foods are served in the stadium, and so on.
The black and gold colors promise wealth and glitter at the same time that the club, at least in 2019, emphasized that it is cool when it has not acquired David Beckham’s and Zlatan Ibrahimovic super names like
Beckham and Ibrahimovic are reportedly so great that “it’s obvious and not interesting”.
– When you walk into the stadium, people sing Jump for LA Football Club and put their arms around the guests because they feel a real connection with each other. “I think what we’ve created — if you were to define cool — we’ve created a community that has real connection and real purpose,” Orosco enthused.
The danger of star failure is greater
MLS has been considered a league where superstars move from Europe to enjoy their last playing years. According to Matinlauri, this has already changed.
– Many may have failed compared to expectations if they came with that mentality. MLS is a high-quality and challenging series. Especially if you don’t take care of yourself, it can be seen in situations where the game fluctuates quickly from end to end, Matinlauri said.
For example, the Italian maestro, the world champion, can be raised from the players whose MLS years were not just a fluke Andea Pirlowho represented New York City FC from 2015–17.
Pirlo criticized MLS’s style of play With Fox Sports (you switch to another service) 2016. According to him, the league ran too much and played too little.
– What I’m talking about is a system or a culture. I don’t mean that the level of technical skills is low. I just mean that there is a vacuum in the culture that needs to be filled, Pirlo stated.
However, Pirlo knew why North America has attracted star names. He told Football Italian (you are switching to another service) adding that he loves a culture where people go to sports events first and foremost to enjoy and be together.
– It was a new league for me, but above all I wanted to come to America. It represents a new and different experience for me, which fascinated me, added Pirlo, who led Italy to the 2006 world championship.
The boom will continue to grow, believes Matinlauri
The clubs have partially changed their strategy. For example, LA Galaxy acquired a 23-year-old from FC Barcelona Riqui Puig’s.
Does MLS still have a chance to compete with the big Yankee sports, which have a completely different level of interest? Matinlauri says that at least there are resources and strategic know-how for sensible growth.
Matinlauri has seen the development and growth of MLS, as he studied and worked in the United States from 2009 to 2013. Now the first season at Los Angeles FC is behind us.
– When I left the Yankees last time, you couldn’t imagine now that this is the same series.
Below you can listen in more detail to how Matinlauri tells about LAFC’s foothold in Los Angeles and the club’s growth. Matinlauri also commented on the growth and development of MLS in general.
Criticized salary cap and Beckham rule
Reservation systems and salary caps for young players are familiar in MLS, like other North American major leagues.
In May 2022, the MLS Players’ Association by (you switch to another service) the average salary of the players was 472,008 (454,000 euros). However, based on the base salary, the clubs’ entire player budgets cannot be calculated, as possible bonuses, transfer sums and player loans come on top of that.
For example, the average salary of players in the English Premier League was already exceeded in the 2019–20 season According to the Guardian (you’ll switch to another service) the limit of three million pounds (approximately 3.44 million euros at the current exchange rate).
In the May listing, Atlanta FC had the most salary expenses, 20.99 million. According to The Ahletic (You will be transferred to another service) In the English Premier League in the 2020–21 season, Sheffield United had the lowest salary expenses, but still three times compared to Atlanta. The average salary costs of the French league are 70 million, even if the club PSG is left out of the bills.
In MLS, the salary cap has been 4.9 million for 2021 and 2022. It applies to the senior roster of 20 players, and in addition, the team can have a reserve group of ten players.
The ceiling amount of the budget is about 10 million, when calculating how much the teams can pay their players in salaries and other bonuses as well as transfer fees, reported by The Athletic (you will be redirected to another service).
In addition to this, however, the designated player rule was introduced in MLS in 2017, which was nicknamed the Beckham rule. It gives teams the option of three players whose entire salary is not included in the salary cap amount. Regardless of how much the Designated Player is actually paid, he only takes up the maximum salary, $612,500, from the salary cap.
In January, the Italian puck moved from Naples to Toronto Lorenzo Insigne gets 14 million per year. After that, the best earners Xherdan Shaqiri (Chicago Fire, 8.15 million) and Javier Hernandez (LA Galaxy, 7.44 million).
Insigne’s salary is more than the salary of the entire first team of nine MLS clubs in the 2022 season. The system has created a situation where, for example, Toronto FC, which acquired another Italian in addition to Insigne, by Federico Bernardeschiwill pay these two players 63 percent of their total salary.
Toronto FC clearly paid the highest salary in 2022, but the two top players don’t go far, at least not anymore. Toronto finished 13th in the Eastern Conference, second to last.
For the Philadelphia Union, who lost to LAFC in the MLS final, one league point in the regular season cost $155,000. It was the least of all the clubs, which means that it was easy to assemble the lineup. For Toronto, one series point cost 948,000.
Among other things, The Athletic criticized that MLS could give up different categories and create a simple spending ceiling. It would provide more options for the richer ones, when they could go after individual players or settle for a more even salary.
– That would not destroy the competitive balance. As long as the teams stay reasonably close to each other in terms of spending, and as long as the league continues to decide its championship in the playoffs, the smaller spenders have a good chance of beating the bigger-budget clubs, The Athletic analyzed.
– The opportunities would not be as equal as they are at the moment, but there would still be plenty of balance. And the quality of the game can increase without the league having to increase its overall costs.
Revenues are growing. Starting next season, all MLS games will be shown on Apple TV. The contract is for ten years and its value is According to Forbes (you will switch to another service) 2.5 billion dollars.
New shirt
Next season, the number of teams in MLS will be 29, with the addition of St. Louis City SC, which already has two designated players: the German Eduard Löwen and Brazilian striker Joao Klauss.
25-year-old Klauss is well remembered in Finland. He represented HJK on loan in 2018 and won the Veikkausliiga goal exchange with no less than 21 hits.
In St. Louis, hype has already been created at least with the help of the new, fun stadium complex. There are only 22,500 seats in the stadium, but the MLS website says so is said to be (you switch to another service) “The largest urban professional sports campus in the United States and the only one with a stadium, club headquarters and practice facilities all in one.”