Rejoice, soccer fans: Indianapolis-based Indy Eleven, the Hoosier State’s only professional soccer club, has submitted a bid to join Major League Soccer.
According to an official statement, Eleven will bid for one of four available slots in the expanded MLS, bringing the number of participants into 28 professional teams.
Indianapolis will compete with other cities like Charlotte, Detroit, and Cincinnati to bring professional soccer to their city. If approved, teams will need to pay $150 million of expansion fees. The league is expected to make decision by the end of 2017, and new franchises will start playing no later than 2020 season.
It is important to note that MLS currently is the fastest growing sports league in the United States, thanks to massive investment and better quality of players. Last season, the league received a gross television viewership of 25.7 million, highest since its inception more than two decades ago. Its average seasonal attendance is in all-time high of 21,692: third highest after NFL and MLB. The average club valuation is in $185 million, an impressive 400 percent spike since last decade.
Arrival of renowned international players from across the Atlantic, such as David Beckham, the English version of Tom Brady, and Italian free-kick maestro Andrea Pirlo also significantly helped the league on attracting more skilled players and deep-pocketed investors. It slowly becoming more integrated to American sporting lexicon, challenging for the title of fourth major league from NHL.
Any person with basic knowledge of international soccer would know that pro leagues around the world operates with promotion-relegation system, in which the worst team in the highest league would be replaced by the best team in lower league. But this is America: no way NFL would kick the Browns out of the league simply because they ended 1-15 last season. MLS adopt the same principle, therefore any new addition would only be possible by the way of expansion.
The Eleven bid for a major league spot is a good example. Established in 2013, the team currently plays at the North American Soccer League, MLS’ indirect competitor but with less prestige and coverage: think of NBA Development League or Minor League Baseball.
For a four-year old team, their achievement has been quite impressive: last season, under veteran coach Tim Hankinson, they won the league spring season and made it to the play-off for the first time in history, marching to the Soccer Bowl where they lost to the New York Cosmos in a penalty shoot-out. With that kind of roster, they would have no difficulty competing with other MLS team.
Another major league team would give a huge advantage to Indianapolis itself. Dubbed by Brian Straus of Sports Illustrated as “America’s most underrated sports city”, the Circle City is a robust market for a professional sports team. Hoosiers’ passion for sports should be historically undoubtable: from pro to high school, from football end zones to basketball sidelines, one might wonder why we only have the Colts and Pacers.
For last three seasons, the Eleven has consistently attracted second highest attendance in NASL: only Sacramento fared better. Last season’s semifinal home game against FC Edmonton lured a record number of 9,700 people. A major league status would undoubtedly attracted more people. In 2013, a preseason match between European household names AC Milan and Liverpool at Lucas Oil attracted 42,000 spectators. With a major league status, hard not to believe that the Eleven would not lure more people.
Good quality talent will never be in short supply for the team. Unlike other candidate cities, Eleven would have a strong advantage in the form of abundant youth player supply from collegiate and high school level.
Indiana Hoosiers men’s soccer program is one of the best in the nation, having won eight NCAA Division I championship. The program have produced a significant proportion of players that goes pro and even became the backbone of their team: thirteen of them went to represent Team USA, several gone as far as the FIFA World Cup.
Up north, Notre Dame have good program too, having won national title in 2013 under Bobby Clark. Isn’t it better if homegrown Hoosier talent to be given chance to continue their career inside the state, just like how Stanford standouts empowered LA Galaxy to national glories in past ten years?
In many ways, arrival of a pro soccer team in Indianapolis would be a huge advantage for all. It is time for us to embrace the beautiful game, just like billions of people around the world.
An edited version of this column appeared in the 24 February 2017 edition of the North Star, the student newspaper of Lawrence North High School, Indianapolis.
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