In a release that shocked nobody, MLS closed the door on its failed Chivas USA experiment on Monday. The league also announced a conference realignment that will shift more power to the West.
BY
Brian Sciaretta
Posted
October 27, 2014
5:05 PM
MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER today announced a pair of significant changes to the league—a conference realignment and the elimination of the troubled Chivas USA franchise.
Most soccer followers already knew that Chivas USA was on life support but today MLS Commissioner Don Garber made it official: “Effective this afternoon,” he announced through a letter to supporters, “Chivas USA will cease operations.”
Garber also hinted that a plan for a new team is well under way.
“As part of our new Los Angeles strategy, we will launch a new MLS Los Angeles club for the 2017 season and will announce the new team’s ownership group later this week. I believe strongly that a new MLS Los Angeles team with passionate local ownership and an inclusive approach targeting all soccer/sports fans will be very successful.
Garber added that the new ownership group was going to be announced formally on Thursday. He indicated that the second Los Angeles team would resume play in 2017 but he also did not eliminate the possibility that the team might play in temporary location in case the plans for its own stadium are delayed or stalled. He also said that as of now, the potential location is near the USC campus although the preferred location is in the vicinity of an urban area.
The league also revealed that there was also going to be a dispersal draft of Chivas USA players—likely before the MLS expansion draft—and that the successful Chivas USA academy would terminate in June 2015. This marks the first termination of an MLS team since 2001, when both the Tampa Bay Mutiny and Miami Fusion were laid to rest.
During the press conference Garber admitted that the responsibility of the franchise’s failure was shared by both the ownership of Chivas and the league.
“While they didn’t get everything right, neither did the league,” Garber said. “They did believe in us and they did invest a great deal of money in MLS.”
The commissioner was also blunt about Chivas USA’s marketing strategy of marketing to a Hispanic audience and was reflective of the philosophy of its parent club, Chivas de Guadalajara, to only employ Mexican internationals.
“We found out quickly that strategy wasn’t effective,” Garber said.
With the elimination of Chivas USA, Garber also announced that MLS would realign its conferences. Starting next season Sporting Kansas City and Houston Dynamo would shift from the Eastern Conference to the Western Conference and expansion clubs Orlando City and New York City would take their places in the East.
As a result, the already-strong Western Conference will become even more powerful while the Eastern Conference will add two expansion clubs and likely grow weaker. While Garber acknowledged the validity of this, he also preferred to take a long-term view of the situation.
“Today’s strong conference becomes tomorrow’s weak conference,” Garber said.
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