My Take: No Libertadores for MLS untill success in CONCACAF

Far too much talk recently has been dwelling on the possibility of MLS teams playing in the Copa Libertadores, South America's version of the UEFA Champions League. The Libertadores is largely viewed to be the second-most prestigious club competition in the world, after the UEFA Champions League. Many fans in the Western Hemisphere seem to love this idea, quaking at the idea of a packed stadium for a final clash between DC United and Boca Juniors or watching Beckham and the Galaxy take on River Plate, but I'm not convinced. Major League Soccer should not be admitted to the Libertadores, at least not yet, and here's why.

Success in CONCACAF

Major League Soccer teams should not be guests in a prestigious competition unless they have earned their way there. And they have not. Admittedly, some CONCACAF teams participate in the Libertadores, but these are Mexican teams. They have risen to the top in CONCACAF. Mexican Clubs joined the Libertadores in 1998. By that time, Mexican clubs had won 7 of the prior 11 CONCACAF Champions Cups. There was nothing left to prove, so they moved on to the bigger fish. The first few years in the Libertadores, Mexican teams routinely got destroyed by South American sides. This is because the best of North America are not on par with the best of South America. It's not even close.

On this point, Major League Soccer teams are not even the tops in their own region. The last time an MLS team played in the final of the CONCACAF Champions Cup was 2000. LA Galaxy managed to take home the title without having to play a single game outside of Southern California. The entire tournament took place on US soil, since then, MLS teams have struggled on the road. DC United lost their away semifinal leg to Pachuca 2-0 this year. Houston Dynamo lost their away semifinal 3-0 to Saprissa. The competition has been dominated by Mexican and Costa Rican teams. If MLS teams were to participate in the Libertadores, they would be routinely massacred, as Mexican teams were, but at least the Mexican sides were the biggest fish in the small pond.

Fixture Congestion

One of the main reasons MLS teams would falter is lack of depth. Players 1-12 on an MLS roster can hang with almost any team in the world, however, in continental competition, your depth is strenuously tested. Recently, DC United had a league game Saturday, a CONCACAF game midweek, a league game Saturday and a CONCACAF game midweek the following week, followed by another league game on Saturday. For deeper rosters, this is not a problem, but due to a restrictive salary cap in MLS, after the first 1-12 players, depth is very limited, even on the best teams who presumably would be competing in the Libertadores.

Now, in this recent stretch, DC went 2-2-1. And their continental trip was only to Mexico. In the Libertadores it could be to Argentina. The Libertadores runs from early spring to mid-summer. This would cause fixture pileups with CONCACAF Champions League knockout stages, the MLS league campaign, and possibly SuperLiga. Because of MLS's limited salary cap (about $2.2 million per team, plus a Beckham Rule player outside the cap), the depth just simply is not there to compete with the South American giants.

Travel

While a New England vs. Boca Juniors match-up may be very exciting, a two-legged tie between them would chart huge distances and long travel times. It is approximately 5370 miles between Boston and Buenos Aires. At that point, travelwise, it would actually be a shorter flight to have MLS teams compete in the UEFA Champions League, as it is only 3800 miles from Boston to Milan. This kind of travel is just unreasonable. The world is too big and the technology is just not fast enough to hold a meaningful hemisphere-wide competition from Canada to Chile.

Fan Interest

When MLS in the Libertadores comes up, passionate scenes and great games are always brought up. There is this general consensus that MLS sides would regularly be butting heads against star-studded Latin American sides in front of packed houses. But this ignores a critical fact. Not all Libertadores sides have significant followings, or even knowledge of their existence in the United States. Without "name" opponents like Boca Juniors, River Plate, Sao Paolo and maybe a handful of other Brazilian or Argentinian clubs, would anyone care?

Would New York be able to attract a decent crowd midweek to see the Revolution play Bolivian Champs Real Potosi? Could Chicago bring in a decent crowd in March to watch the Fire play Uruguayan champs Danubio? Not likely, and these are what could be the more "diverse" cities with a larger South American population. What about MLS's more "vanilla" towns. Could Kansas City? Could Salt Lake?

Outside of that small handful of clubs who could draw a crowd based on a name, the only teams that could guarantee a gate draw are the Mexican clubs, and MLS already has involvement with them through the CONCACAF Champions League and SuperLiga. It would be redundant and superfluous to go through the Libertadores.

I'm not saying that MLS can't play in the Libertadores eventually. They just shouldn't be there now.