Detroit, MI - In a recent conference call, Don Garber went on the record over his concern with Detroit City FC.
"They are simply having too much fun for an NPSL game" said the commissioner of Major League Soccer. "These games are supposed to be a tortured, dreary affair before a sparse crowd on a rec-league field that only serves as a dire example of what they could have if they were an MLS franchise. However, you look in the stands and it looks fun. This, to me, is a major problem. Soccer fans in North, North America are expected to be encumbered with concerns about league television ratings, clandestine agreements over allocation money that no one outside the ownership groups can measure, single entity issues, and bizarre player acquisition methods. They should not be buoyantly cheering for their city unencumbered by our league baggage."
Garber continued in his statement, "It's almost as though Detroit doesn't need Major League Soccer, and we know that isn't the case. While clearly they are having some kind of fun, it is very much a minor league kind of fun. They'll never make it to the top of the league if they don't start dreaming bigger than Detroit City FC. Imagine what fans in Detroit could do with 20,000 people in an 80,000 person stadium like the Silverdome with $20 parking and the league owning their rights."
The President and deputy director of Major League Soccer, Mark Abbot, agreed. "You look at the success we have had with creating brand new teams in Portland, Seattle, Montreal, Vancouver, Orlando and it becomes clear that Major League Soccer knows how to create fun new teams around the league. These teams are now our cornerstones and it is in no small part due to Major League Soccer, who put those teams and cities on the map. 20,000 people in Portland and 40,000 people in Seattle is due to our marketing, our ability to sell fun, and our ability to bamboozle the general public into paying stadium creation and improvement taxes with our ability to hide how much money our investment teams actually have. Detroit could have all of this and more! A publicly funded stadium somewhere in the suburbs, pay for parking, a new kit every year, a new badge, even a new management team that is more inclined to vote yes in lockstep formation with management issues on our board, it could be a brand new start and a team from scratch, just like in Montreal!"
The Nutmeg News will continue to cover any potential development in the MLS to Detroit story.