Throwdowns > Closed

williewilliejuan said 06/21, 10:33 PM
Jose Mourinho is widely regarded as one of the best coaches in the history of soccer. He has been successful everywhere he has gone. He has a 68% win percentage as a manager. He has won at least one trophy every year since 2002. If he came to MLS, what impact would it have on the league's fortunes?

As great as Mourinho has been, his addition to MLS, in and of itself, would do little to improve the league's fortunes.

At first glance, the addition of Mourinho would seem like a boon to MLS. He has been hugely successful; he's charismatic, photogenic and is known for his abilities with the media at press conferences. Unfortunately, as MLS found out with its David Beckham experiment, one star cannot bring MLS the exposure it needs to drive the popularity of the sport.

There are two main challenges to the success of MLS, neither of which would be addressed by the addition of Mourinho. The first challenge is financial. MLS has a fairly strict salary cap, with limited exceptions allowed for Designated Players (DP). The second main challenge is cultural. These issues would limit Mourinho's success and hamper his ability to enhance MLS fortunes.

MTC

williewilliejuan said 06/22, 10:39 PM
I'm sure Mourinho would be controversial. I'm just not sure how that will enhance MLS fortunes. People don't tune in for 90 minutes of soccer just to watch a 90 second soundbite they could just as easily get on Sportscenter, particularly if they don't care about MLS in the first place. Controversial coaches don't drive jersey sales or put butts in the seats at soccer stadiums.

The way to enhance the fortunes of MLS is to improve the quality of the product on the field and market that product to new audiences. Mourinho would get the best out of whatever team he coached, but he would be limited by the talent available on his team.

Mourinho is not used to coaching in a salary-capped environment. Teams he has coached (Chelsea, Inter Milan & Real Madrid) have had the ability to go out and buy whatever talent they needed to strengthen their club. He would not have that ability in MLS.

Top players want to play on the biggest stage. MLS is not that stage and does not have the history, tournaments or money to attract top European players.

Mourinho would not have the talent he needs to attract fans to MLS; without that, he will just be an amusing sideshow.

williewilliejuan said 06/23, 09:57 PM
There are major flaws with your "controversy" argument. The incidents you mention got people to pay more attention to something they already liked. Football, baseball, etc. were already major draws at the time of the supposed controversies. Additionally, even if Mourinho's controversial personality did get people to tune into MLS, why would they continue to do so if the product on the field isn't good?

Mourinho's possible addition won't do much to enhance MLS fortunes because MLS is not embraced by most Americans. Many Americans don't like soccer at all. The ones who do like soccer generally prefer international competition to MLS.

The 2010 MLS cup attracted 1.1 million views and got a 0.5 TV share. It got smoked by the American Music Awards on the night it aired. This was shortly after the US had a surprising run in the World Cup, but there was no resulting "bounce" to the ratings.

Mourinho will be limited in his ability to improve the quality of MLS play. Those Americans who do like soccer likely already have allegiances to teams outside of MLS who play superior soccer. I fail to see how controversial remarks will do anything to change that.