First off, like most things in the real world, where is the money? From my latest reading, there is no significant prize money. You get prize money for qualifying for the FIFA Club World Cup, which is about $0.5 million from my readings, but there is no direct prize money from CONCACAF for winning the tournament. So, to make CONCACAF Champions League competitive, there needs to be some form of incentive for the teams to put forth their best effort. Just to clarify, by best effort, I mean best players playing, adding more depth, and making CCL a priority. The only CONCACAF can do this is through successful branding. And the good thing is that there is certainly potential for it. I believe I read @thegoalkeeper on twitter say that more than 500k tuned into the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions League final for the first leg on Unimas; I'm not sure about the second leg, that fell during my finals week, so I was completely unaware of anything that happened(outside of the result). In addition, you have to look at the gate sales for both the legs of the CONCACAF Champions league, both at Estadio Azteca and Stadium Olympic. Both of which were sold out with a total sum of more than 160k+ in attendance. If done properly, the CCL could become the premier spectacle of North American club soccer.
Secondly, when you think of CONCACAF in general, a lot of bad things come to mind. Bad officiating, racist fans, body fluids being thrown at players, and etc. CONCACAF needs to a better job of eliminating these incidents from the CCL. I know that it will be a difficult to eradicate completely, but the measures that CONCACAF has taken is definitely not up to par. For CCL to take a step up in the food chain of continental soccer, it needs to get rid of the unnecessary idiotic-ness in the competition.
A lot of soccer fans can recall Montreal's latest run to the CCL finals, and everybody began talking about how this would make a statement for the league and how far it has come. I mean, how far has it come really? Outside of the emergence of big-market, deep-pocketed teams like LA, Seattle, NYC, and Toronto, most owners are still very parsimonious with their acquisitions, and most marque-players coming over still past 32 years of age(what I consider to be the last year of their physical prime). I was rooting for Montreal like all MLS fans were, but I was heartbroken on cheering for them because of one key issue. And I'll break it down to three key parts:
a) Montreal wins the CCL, and all the other MLS teams snub it,and say something like, "look, this competition is so diluted that the team that was at the bottom of the table last year in MLS became continental champions." And they conti
b) Montreal wins the CCL and all other MLS teams become envious of the shiny new trophies in their cabinet and begin putting in resources to winning CCL in addition to their ongoing pursuits.
c) Montreal loses the CCL final. This once again shows the gap, a growing one if I may add, between MLS to Liga MX. MLS clubs decide to actively close this gap, and more money is put into improving the quality of play. Salary Cap is dramatically increased for the 2015 season up to about $5 million, and the salary cap increases aggressively with respect to 2015 cap.
d) MLS continues this slow and painful rise as a trot out players that say the same crap over and over again of it being a 'growing league' in which 'the quality improves every year.' Meanwhile, the league continues to bring in guys that are well past their prime, many of whom cannot take the physical tolls of league play, domestic cups, and CCL. I am not talking about the mid-tier DPs like Nigel Reo-Coker, but the high-end DPs such as Thierry Henry, Robbie Keane, and David Beckham. Guys who either by their choice or the choice of their coach, did not play in the CCL.
Secondly, when you think of CONCACAF in general, a lot of bad things come to mind. Bad officiating, racist fans, body fluids being thrown at players, and etc. CONCACAF needs to a better job of eliminating these incidents from the CCL. I know that it will be a difficult to eradicate completely, but the measures that CONCACAF has taken is definitely not up to par. For CCL to take a step up in the food chain of continental soccer, it needs to get rid of the unnecessary idiotic-ness in the competition.
A lot of soccer fans can recall Montreal's latest run to the CCL finals, and everybody began talking about how this would make a statement for the league and how far it has come. I mean, how far has it come really? Outside of the emergence of big-market, deep-pocketed teams like LA, Seattle, NYC, and Toronto, most owners are still very parsimonious with their acquisitions, and most marque-players coming over still past 32 years of age(what I consider to be the last year of their physical prime). I was rooting for Montreal like all MLS fans were, but I was heartbroken on cheering for them because of one key issue. And I'll break it down to three key parts:
a) Montreal wins the CCL, and all the other MLS teams snub it,and say something like, "look, this competition is so diluted that the team that was at the bottom of the table last year in MLS became continental champions." And they conti
b) Montreal wins the CCL and all other MLS teams become envious of the shiny new trophies in their cabinet and begin putting in resources to winning CCL in addition to their ongoing pursuits.
c) Montreal loses the CCL final. This once again shows the gap, a growing one if I may add, between MLS to Liga MX. MLS clubs decide to actively close this gap, and more money is put into improving the quality of play. Salary Cap is dramatically increased for the 2015 season up to about $5 million, and the salary cap increases aggressively with respect to 2015 cap.
d) MLS continues this slow and painful rise as a trot out players that say the same crap over and over again of it being a 'growing league' in which 'the quality improves every year.' Meanwhile, the league continues to bring in guys that are well past their prime, many of whom cannot take the physical tolls of league play, domestic cups, and CCL. I am not talking about the mid-tier DPs like Nigel Reo-Coker, but the high-end DPs such as Thierry Henry, Robbie Keane, and David Beckham. Guys who either by their choice or the choice of their coach, did not play in the CCL.
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