The case against a second New York team

The following is, more or less, the rebuttal I wrote to an email from one of the Borough Boys, supporters of a second team in the New York metro area, this one inside the city limits, written to MLS Rumors, supporters of the same concept.

Who, today, ran this. Man, do I hate being right all the time.
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Let me start by saying that I want the same thing that the Borough Boys and MLS Rumors want: a second New York Metro Area MLS team, this one within the bounds of the five boroughs. The difference is that they want it as soon as possible, and why shouldn’t they? That just indicates their passion for the cause. I, on the other hand, want it when it would be the right time for the city and the league, and that time is not now, and is not 2012, either. I have some comments on the editorial in favor of a NYC ’12 team down below.

There’s absolutely no doubt that when MLS is respected as a major sports league in the United States, and a major soccer league in the world, there will be a second team in New York City. Or more accurately, a first team in New York City, since the MetroStars/Red Bulls have spent their entire existence in New Jersey, and will now continue to do so in Red Bull Arena in Harrison.

It has long since become obvious that the New Jersey-based franchise, whatever you call them, has utterly failed to catch the imagination of New York sports fans, and that their location is the primary reason why. So: should we, as the Borough Boys lobby for, bet that a second franchise will be commercially successful when New York has largely ignored the first one? Will its location turn the trick, or should the league demand some evidence that the Red Bulls are succeeding first?

Two points to start out: first, it's not a huge secret that MLS planned, from the very beginning, to harness the awesome power of the New York media market and the fanaticism of the sports fans who live there to make the New York franchise the most recognizable in the league. People outside the country who know nothing else about MLS were meant to assume not only that there is a team based in our country's flagship city, but that they are among the best and best-supported in the league. They have never been either.

Second, a huge part of the reason New Yorkers make their love of the various New York teams is that the teams are with them from the cradle. They walk into Yankee Stadium or Madison Square Garden from the first time at age 6. Their passion is greater than the average American sports fan, but their willingness to expand beyond their existing horizons is lesser. This is another reason, beyond geography, that the Red Bulls continue to play in front of a cavernous Giants Stadium to fans that, well, did you follow that link I provided up above?

THE NEW JERSEY QUESTION
Seriously, and I say this as someone who’s spent a great deal of time in and around New York City, refusing to take the PATH train to a game in Harrison is just plain bullheaded. And the problem fans have with it has not a damn thing to do with distance.
The truth is that the Red Bulls could play on the water in Weehawken, in a stadium connected to midtown Manhattan by a rail bridge over the Hudson with high-speed trains leaving every five minutes, and New Yorkers would still refuse to schlep way the hell out there to New Jersey to watch a game.

The fact is that New Yorkers tend to have an attitude about New Jersey that an outsider would think places it 800 miles away. That attitude is the worst excuse for not supporting a team that I’ve ever heard. Toyota Park is in Bridgeview, IL, four miles from the nearest train station, getting to Home Depot Center is pure Southern California hell, but run a PATH train practically into the penalty box at Red Bull Park, and all you get is “it’s not on the subway.” And MLS is supposed to hear that and grant the city another franchise?

THE NEW YORK DERBY
You know what? This stops right now. The argument that a second New York team would instantly create a roaring, passionate derby with the Red Bulls is, and has always been, patently ridiculous. And the comparison to Los Angeles even more so. The fact is that derbies are indeed the first thing that soccer leagues should look to for excitement and outside attention. They are a key to the identity of many a soccer city – when both teams have legions of passionate supporters throughout the city.

Kind of overlooking that part, aren’t you? The Red Bulls’ legion of feet on the street, taking over their half of the metro New York area, letting any visitor know that this is the part of town that bleeds red, yellow and white, where those Borough Boys better not get caught after dark? Nonexistent. If the Red Bulls were capable of generating a fan base large and passionate enough to form half of a bitter derby by the year 2012, they would have existed long before now.
The SuperClasico, or as some of us like to call it, the Battle of Los Angeles, actually makes sense.

Two teams with different major fan bases, separated from one another in large part by geography, style of devotion, and even heritage to a large extent. You have your part of town, we have ours. It’s not Roma-Lazio, but it’s like derbies are supposed to be. Comparing what New York has right now to what Los Angeles has is absurd. The city had enough fans to support two teams in 2005, while in 2009 New York can’t support even one.

That’s not to say it never will, and that this derby has no potential in the distant future, but answer me this: if all the fans of New York City proper would rather die than support the Red Bulls, as it appears, where are those passionate Red Bulls fans going to come from? Is the state of New Jersey going to somehow pile into Red Bull Park and propel them to prominence and fiscal stability, with no help from across the Hudson? Should we be praying for a best-case scenario of turning the Red Bulls into the New Jersey Nets of MLS? This promises to be the tamest derby ever seen.

“IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME” DOESN’T FLY
And what about that New York half of the rivalry? I have nothing but respect for New York soccer fans who fight hard for a team within the city limits, whether they call themselves the Borough Boys or not, but let’s be honest – there aren’t nearly enough of them to justify the awarding of a franchise. It’s not Garber’s job to close that excitement gap by plonking a team in the boroughs, it’s the fans’ job to convince an investor that a team will succeed. I want nothing more than for the Borough Boys to win out in that endeavor, but, MLSR’s support notwithstanding, they’re not close to that kind of ground level support yet.

Yes, the Sons of Ben were instrumental in getting Philadelphia its own franchise, but they did it by stirring up support on the streets, not by spending their energies bending ears at league headquarters. Garber wants to see a passionate fan base already in place before the team is created. Toronto, Seattle, Philadelphia, Portland, Vancouver: these were cities that coalesced around the idea of being home to an MLS team. Walk around New York and listen to the people: the city is not talking about getting their own team, or about the league, or even about the Red Bulls, who, you know, already exist.

When the league decides on new teams next year, they will be looking at the Toronto-Seattle-Portland model, and those fans are in places like St. Louis and Montreal. When they look out the window of the corporate headquarters, they can see that their long quest to make New York an anchor of the league's success has failed. If they started play in 2012, a second team would be considerably less successful than the first one.

So in conclusion, Borough Boys, let’s all band together and get you that expansion franchise. But you can’t just convince the league that you deserve it, it serves no purpose to convince the readers of MLS Rumors, and you certainly don’t have to convince me. Your job is to convince the sports fans of New York City. Until there’s some evidence that you have, MLS should not put a second team in New York.