It’s a popular, albeit entirely misleading, notion that fantasy sports are popular because they allow fans the ability to exercise some fantasy of being a real life GM.
The true appeal of fantasy is sports is the granular control fans have over the experience. For every thriving fantasy league you see a granular level of control that simply does not exist in the MLS fantasy product.
Let’s be clear, I am not knocking the salary capped fantasy league system. Most fantasy leagues have this as an option. The issue is not the type of league. The issue here is it’s the only type of fantasy league option available.
People like choices. Were the NFL or MLB website were to limit their fantasy patrons to the choices of MLS, fans would bolt to competitors websites, a possibility that simply doesn’t exist for MLS fans.
The league certainly has the right to run their fantasy league as they see fit. Likely faced with little interest in fantasy soccer, but understanding the importance of a fantasy presence, the league deployed the simplest and easiest fantasy roll-out available.
Again, for many that’s great. The league’s website certainly promotes its fantasy presence with weekly fantasy columns and videos even going so far as to incorporate fantasy news into “actual news”.
MLS Commissioner Don Garber has said he wants MLS to be a “league of choice” by 2022. You become a league of choice by leading. When every other sports league in the world grasps fantasy sports, either give the fans a complete fantasy experience that knocks there socks off or, if it’s not worth doing, devote your time elsewhere.
When Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs created their first Apple computer, they sat down to write up a business plan. As geek mythology goes, Wozniak suggested Apple follow the IBM model. Jobs replied:
“It’s more fun to be a pirate than join the Navy.”
Apple would expand upon that vision years later when Jobs returned to Apple with their “Think Different” campaign. Major League Soccer may owe its roots and original business model to the NFL. But just as no two children are alike, no two leagues should be run in the same light.
That means having the courage for the league to find its own path, not following merely following in the footsteps of the league’s American cousins.
The league’s fantasy sports offering is the league in a microcosm. The more MLS tries to “Americanize” the league, the more harm it does than good (imagine if MLS decided to “punish” a team by forfeiting their draft picks!!). Soccer continues to grow around the world by people who know less about business, marketing, and long-term investing than the people running the league.
Because it’s not about brains, bank accounts, or spreadsheets. It’s about passion, loyalty, and desire. In other words, stop trying to be the fourth best Navy in the United States sports scene and instead become the most feared pirate fleet in the hemisphere.
