Philadelphia Union Get Done Dirty by Their Own Clown League

Major League Soccer has been working for the whole of its 27 years of existence to not be seen as a clown show. To some extent, that effort wasn’t the fault of MLS. In the early 1990’s, the number of Americans who followed soccer at all was infinitesimal. The sport was still seen by many as belonging to Europe and South America and Central America. And, yeah, a lot of Americans thought the sport was soft.

Smash cut to 2021, and soccer has carved previously inconceivable inroads into the American sporting consciousness. It was once said that whoever created gambling was smart, but whoever had the idea to force people to gamble with chips instead of actual cash was a genius. Along those lines, whichever television executive woke up and realized that Premier League soccer A) featured teams with Anglo names from Anglo towns, and B) played their matches in the American weekend morning window where literally no other sports are played domestically…that person was a genius.

MLS has proven the old adage that a rising tide in fact lifts all boats. Some of this was fortune – Atlanta United draws 43,000 people per match at least in part because its ownership group spent a lot of money from the jump and because the city does not have an NHL franchise. But MLS has also wisely built beach heads in cities like Portland, Seattle, Columbus and Salt Lake City – places where most of the major American sports leagues haven’t been much of a presence. MLS is a viable league now, and it has a bright future.

Which makes what MLS did to the Philadelphia Union this weekend completely incomprehensible.

The Union hosted New York City FC in the Eastern Conference finals on Sunday. Earlier in the week, the betting odds on this match were essentially dead level – something like Union +160, draw +220, NYC FC +180. These were two evenly matched teams poised to deliver an enthralling, highly-competitive match to decide which team would travel to Portland to play in MLS Cup 2021. By Friday, though, all of that excitement had dispersed like wet air from a whoopie cushion.

Because on Friday, the Union could no longer really keep secret what their cancellation of their Thursday practice suggested – the Union had a COVID-19 outbreak on their hands, a bad one. How bad? (via ESPN)- 

The Philadelphia Union will be forced to field a vastly understrength side for Sunday’s Eastern Conference final against New York City FC due to 11 players being placed in the league’s Health and Safety protocols.

The list includes usual starters Alejandro Bedoya — who is the team’s captain — goalkeeper Andre Blake, left-back Kai Wagner, center-back Jack Elliott and center-back Jakob Glesnes. Also on the list are backup goalkeeper Joe Bendik, forward Cory Burke, midfielder Ilsinho, defender Alvas Powell, forward Sergio Santos and midfielder Quinn Sullivan.

That bad. The Union were compelled to sit five starters (Bedoya, Blake, Elliott, Glesnes, and Wagner) in a conference championship final, and to hear Union manager Jim Curtin tell it, no one can really say why:

#DOOP coach Jim Curtin frustrated by the protocols that prevented 11 players from being available for #PHIvNYC.

“11 guys who were healthy enough to play a soccer game who had the sniffles….I don’t know.”#MLSCupPlayoffs #MLSPlayoffs #NYCFC

— Glenn Crooks (@GlennCrooks) December 5, 2021

So…why did the Union have to sit eleven players in a conference title match, at home? Why didn’t the league postpone the match until Tuesday or even Wednesday? Let me help you with that one. 

As much as MLS prides itself on having clubs like the Portland Timbers and the Seattle Sounders and the Columbus Crew and Real Salt Lake “grow the game,” don’t kid yourself. A Portland/Philadelphia MLS Cup would draw a fraction of the viewership that this Portland/NYC FC match will generate. When in doubt, follow the money. 

The league’s decision not to postpone this match was never stated explicitly to be about ratings or optics or which final the league would prefer, but don’t let anyone piss on your head and tell you it’s raining. Precedent for postponing games in major American sports leagues to protect the integrity of the competition is anywhere and everywhere if you look for it. 

Last week, the National Hockey League postponed two New York Islanders games because of a COVID outbreak. Last season, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens had a game set to be played on Thanksgiving night moved by the National Football League to the following Tuesday due to COVID issues. The National Basketball Association postponed and rescheduled literally dozens of games last season for COVID reasons. And Major League Baseball postponed multiple games in 2021, including one as late as July involving the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees, due to COVID problems. Mind you – these were all regular season contests. These weren’t playoff games.

MLS didn’t owe it to Philadelphia or to the Union to postpone Sunday’s match. Major League Soccer owed it to itself. If a league wants to crown a champion and be taken seriously in so doing, that league needs to do anything reasonably within its control to confirm that the winners earned the prize on the level. New York City FC beating the Union without five of its normal eleven starters, including their elite goaltender and both central defenders, made a sham of the Eastern Conference final.

MLS is still trying to shed the label of a clown league. In this instance, though, if the bright red nose and the oversize shoes fit….

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