The NY Times has an article about Sunil Gulati, who’s taking the helm at the US Soccer Federation. Besides being an accomplished economist, he’s been involved with soccer from an early age, playing, coaching, and refereeing though high school. They get him to talk pretty frankly about the issues he has to deal with, not just ni relation to the national teams but also to the professional side of the sport. About a women’s pro league he says "There’s no right to exist, so to speak, of any sports venture, or any business venture, for that matter." and similarly about MLS "It comes down to two things: one is economics and the other is the quality of the league itself," But there are hopeful signs for MLS:
"Those leagues are second to none except to each other," he said.
"But that means 195 countries are below that level. You can have a
pretty darn good league with a population of 300 million people and
just some international players."Though M.L.S. is not yet
attractive enough for the best Italian or English players in their
prime, Gulati pointed out, it is a magnet for good players from Latin
America on their way to Europe. "I think that’s going to continue to be
a pattern," he added.
Found vis Skip Sauer and Off Wing Opinion.