Garber was well-received, even applauded, by fans who didn’t ask too many difficult questions and all addressed him in his native tongue of English. The commissioner himself admitted that this same exercise in Portland was “much harder.”
The challenges awaiting Montreal, the MLS, where soccer ranks in Canada, the importance of international competitions, were all subjects discussed and where marketing took centre stage.
Garber was very attentive when questions related to the fans were asked.
“Our objective is to continue progressing in the direction that our most loyal supporters have already undertaken while addressing the issues important to the greatest number of fans in order to reach the most of you,” he said. “We want to have a good relationship with our fans without using them as marketing tools. It’s a huge challenge that we are constantly working on.”
In place since 1999, Garber grew up in New York, far from the soccer pitch, and worked for 16 years with the NFL before being employed by the MLS. And as the beautiful game continues to grow since his arrival, the commissioner attributes some of that growth to the rhythm of the game now beating in his heart. “You have to understand what nourishes the fans’ passion in order to run a league. You have to understand the sport. Like a virus, I’ve now got it under my skin. I don’t think any other sport has more emotional ups and downs. That’s why football is so popular around the world and is growing rapidly in the U.S.”
And yes, Don Garber continually used the word football, and according to Impact President Joey Saputo, saying jokingly, “he now understands that real football is played with a round ball.”
On this Champions League day (semi-final return leg of Saprissa and Real Salt Lake), Garber demonstrated that he is familiar with Impact lore and is interested in international competitions. “Your game against Santos Laguna was one of the biggest events in North American soccer over the last few years,” he said. “Salt Lake has a really good team. It’s a smaller market with no star players, but they are proving that you don’t have to be in a large market with high payrolls to be successful. Even though New York and Los Angeles spend more on their players, the salary cap allows for a more level playing field between smaller and larger markets.’’
The Impact’s approach for 2012 might be inspired by that of the team from Utah. “We like Salt Lake’s system,” explained Joey Saputo. “As the expression goes, the star is the team.”
The salary cap has some fans concerned as they ask if the ceiling might be too low to support solid competition? “You’ll have to see how the cap might help us in a business sense,” said Garber. “I am not referring to profits here, but viability. We must continue to grow, to spend more but also make more money, all while remaining prudent. The intelligence behind the MLS is that a rich businessman from Abu Dhabi can’t just swoop in and put salaries out of whack.’’
This philosophy doesn’t mean that the commissioner isn’t ambitious for the long term, and to get the message across that there is nothing better than supporting a team they can see regularly in their own stadium. “We can’t compete with big teams like Chelsea right now, but we have to believe that we might be able to one day. You have your own home team, with its own stadium, and you must believe. That might not be the feeling of many of the fans right now, but we’ll have to change that. If you want to support Manchester United, the best way to do that would be to move down there. We are conscious that some day, the same loyalties will be found in the MLS. It takes time, 20 years have to pass to renew faith with a new generation, our league isn’t that old yet.”
More and more teams are starting to train their own youth players, and the Impact is no exception. Some fans expressed concern that all this effort in training young players may result with the loss of those players in the future. “The further we go, the more money will be available for teams transferring players, but a home grown player brings with him much more than money. We explain to our teams that if they develop a player, he is their player. He doesn’t have to go through a draft like in the NHL.”
Garber’s stay in Québec continues through Wednesday with media visits. But, before answering their questions, he wanted to meet some of the fans to show them that they are high on the league’s priority list and to guarantee that they understand, like he does, that soccer... sorry football, fever is unbeatable.
Matthias Van Halst, Impact Media
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