Do Americans love college basketball? Do they get into a frenzy when the first pre-season invitational graces their TV screens and then keep the momentum building for months until it finally culminates in a grand tournament which brings ecstasy? For the average American, no, they may or may not watch a few college games on the weekends or a big mid-week clash on ESPN, but for the masses only one part of the college basketball season really matters... March Madness. The season ending champion crowning tournament of big vs little which brings a touch of the FA Cup to the American public.
What is it that Americans love about March Madness? What gets the masses stirring? Is it the sports equivalent of David vs Goliath? Or is it much simpler, gambling. Throughout America come March, people will begin filling out a bracket, or in most cases multiple brackets, trying to predict the winner of the tournament before it happens. As soon as the seedings are announced, the games begin. Pools are set up at many work places, schools, and amongst peer groups. The President of the United States goes on TV and fills out his own bracket. Getting past the first round with your bracket intact becomes a badge of honor, and the words "bracket" as well as "bracket buster" (when a team no one expected to be victorious ruins your bracket by pulling off an upset) become everyday parlance in the US vocabulary. Millions of dollars are wagered on the tournament. People take an interest, because whether they have money on the line, or just bracket pride, they feel like they have some skin in the game. There is a sense of community. Americans love March Madness.
Another question, do Americans love the NFL, American football? The simple answer is yes, but I am reminded of the not so distant past when I was a kid, and the NFL wasn't near the juggernaut it is now. In my youth, baseball was in the final death rattle of being king of American sports. Boxing could still draw national attention from the rise of Mike Tyson to the amazing battles of Marvin Haggler, Ray Leonard, and Tommy Hearns. The NBA was being born again in the era of Magic vs Bird. And more Americans were likely to be able to name a teacher who blasted off into space than the starting Quarterback for the Green Bay Packers.
What changed? For me there are three easy answers. #1 Trying to become a real network FOX did what SKY did before it in the UK, they used sports rights, in this case the NFL, to stake their claim and build their brand. #2, sports gambling became more legitimate and more accessible. #3, fantasy sports.
With fantasy football, people in Minnesota now had a reason to watch a game like Buffalo vs Houston. Someone in Seattle now had an interest in Green Bay vs Tampa Bay. People watched more than just their team, more than just what their local market. They wanted to see how their Wide Receiver was doing. Or their defense. And there was a gambling element often attached to it as well.
In the UK, throughout Europe and Asia, the gambling on matches is nearly as important as the match itself. Wagering on who scores the first goal or which manager will be sacked next is big business. People can even place wagers that their young child will one day start for Manchester United. Raising the stakes beyond typical fandom is the way of the modern sports world. In many ways gambling, and not sport itself, is king.
So how do we start to build MLS in a way that attracts American attention and brings more revenue to the game? Quite simply, we bet on it. Legalized gambling on MLS matches in Las Vegas may be as important to the long term health and success of the league as the arrival of Brand Beckham or Thierry Henry. Even more important may be the chance to take a flutter online or at the matches themselves. One of the easiest ways to enhance your national and global appeal is through wagers. It gives people more than just a sporting interest and gives matches a larger appeal than just the local markets. While Green Bay vs Minnesota may have a small local market area to pull interest from, (Green Bay, Milwaukee, and Minneapolis catchment areas may contain a few million people) 24 million people or more will watch the game.
With the addition of gambling to MLS, the sport surely would grow, but there is a downside which needs to be mentioned, a downside which Don Garber admits is a stumbling block when considering the gambling option... match fixing.
In the wake of Europol breaking the news of their match fixing investigation into hundreds of matches from the top to the bottom of global football and on the back of fantastic books like Declan Hill's "The Fix", match fixing needs to be taken seriously. Especially in a league with several "have's" but many more "have-not's". And where worse, many matches don't truly matter. In a league where all it takes to be champion at the end of the season is finishing fifth in your conference to get into the playoffs, there are many matches during a season where a goal allowed here or there won't ruin your season. A league where many players make $40,000 a season and referees are taking their first infant steps to become truly professional, match fixers would see an easy target. Many could try an argue a moral superiority of the American athlete over such problems that occur in eastern Europe or Asia, but the sheer number of point shaving scandals from high school on up in basketball would lead me to disagree. And let us not forget, MLS is not just an American league with American players.
Match fixing in Italy is greeted with an attitude of "who did it this time?". In America, it could be a death knell for a sport still trying to find its feet. But overall I feel it is a risk worth taking. If MLS is truly serious about becoming a top professional league in the next decade, gambling needs to be the gateway to bringing in a larger base of fans. When a fork lift operator in Iowa or a dentist in Nebraska begin wagering on when Boom Boom Chelis will be fired as Chivas USA manager, then we will know we are getting somewhere.
Until next time, get stuck in, and remember, MLS Matters.
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