Goal-line technology will surely provide its high-tech edge to Major League Soccer some day down the road.
But it’s not happening anytime soon, and definitely not for 2015, the league’s milepost 20th season.
An MLS spokesman confirmed to me this week that, as most of us suspected at this point, 2015 will come and go without the relatively new technology, deployed in last year’s World Cup and now in use in England’s venerable Premier League. And he doesn’t see it happening anytime soon – although it’s fair for the rest of us to wonder how quickly that could change if the right kind of “wrong” should befall a high profile MLS match. But more on that in a minute.
For now, here’s why the top tier of U.S. Soccer’s pro pyramid is passing on the technology for now: MLS Vice President of Communication Dan Courtemanche said it’s simple economics and timing. The systems currently available cost a lot, and league officials reckon they have better places to spend its money at present.
Understand, MLS is hardly run by Luddites. Courtemanche said MLS is now and always will be open to improving its product through technology, and that includes adding GLT at some point.
But cost of implementation, about $250,000 per stadium for a total of $5 million league wide, remains prohibitive. It’s just a matter of prioritizing spending in a league where, according to commissioner Don Garber, teams lose a combined $100 million annually.
Said Courtemanche: “If we have the option of investing millions in goal-line technology, that technology, while great to have, could pay perhaps 2-3 impact players. Or we could invest that into a number of different players, or one really great player. At $5-6 million, you have some tough decisions to make. Thus far, we’ve decided to make the investment in impact players or in the youth academy systems.”
Fair enough. But now for a little round of “What if?”
I say the league policy makers – people often forget that Garber works for the owners, who are making many of the big choices that shape MLS – might shift their weight on this matter in a hurry if some high-profile match is affected because GLT was adjudged an economic impracticality. Imagine, for instance, DC United missing a place in MLS Cup 2015 because a Fabian Espindola “goal” in a huge playoff match wasn’t one, not officially, that is.
Or, what if the LA Galaxy get the “goal” that sends Seattle home in the post-season when replays show clearly that no such thing happened? Or New England misses the playoffs entirely for the same reason? You get the idea. In any of those cases or many others, we’re taking about your basic PR catastrophe.
In that way, GLT is exactly like auto or medical insurance. None of us enjoy writing that check. We’re paying for something we hope to never use – all the while wondering if we really even need it?
Well, we don’t ever need insurance … until we actually need it. And then, well, we really, really need it and we’re super-duper glad we have it. Same with goal-line technology, I’m afraid. MLS could go skipping through several seasons without ever regretting the choice. Or … well, re-review those painful scenarios above and wince at the thought.
Regardless, MLS just isn’t there yet. And it sounds like we are not going to see this anytime soon?
“That would be accurate,” Courtemanche told me. “It’s certainly something that our competition [committee] experts will continue to evaluate. But right now we are focusing our resources in other areas.”
Read Steve’s other columns on World Soccer Talk. .
100+ Channels With Sports & News
- Starting price: $29.99/mo. for fubo Español Package
- Watch Premier League, LaLiga, Liga MX & MLS
- Includes NBC, NBCSN, ESPN, FS1, FS2, TUDN, beIN SPORTS and more
Favorite Leagues At The Best Price
- Starting price: $7.99/mo. for Live TV Package
- Watch LaLiga, Primeira Liga and Copa Libertadores
- Includes beIN SPORTS, GolTV, TyC Sports and more
Many Sports & ESPN Originals
- Price: $5.99/mo. (or get ESPN+, Hulu & Disney+ for $12.99/mo.)
- Features Serie A, Bundesliga, FA Cup, EFL & more
- Also includes daily ESPN FC news & highlights show
Live TV, Soccer & Originals
- Starting price: $5.99/mo.
- Features Champions League, Europa League & NWSL
- Includes CBS, Star Trek & CBS Sports HQ
5 million is less than some player salaries. It seems for a entire league it would be a no-brainer to invest in it. It should also lower phrasing costs by reducing the number of zebras needed to roam the fields. Not to mention the added viewer satisfaction knowing the goals are all actually called appropriately.
Phrasing = operating. Auto correct = auto wrong
“It should also lower phrasing costs by reducing the number of zebras needed to roam the fields.”
You’ve never actually watched a soccer game before, have you?
Liga MX doesn’t even have goal line technology… so why would MLS need it? It is a silly investment to think that people are suddenly going to jump in and start paying attention to the MLS just because it has GLT. At this point in the growth of the league they need to focus on player development and getting those impact players to get @sses in the seats and viewers at home.
The EPL is the only league that currently uses it but they also make the most money of any league in the world so they can afford it.
I am 100% in agreement with the league’s decision here. It would be foolish to think at this point in time wih the cost of the item, that goal line technology should be something for MLS to invest in. No way no how. There’s a reason why the only league that is using these technology at the moment happens to be the only one flush with money to burn. I don’t think any other top leagues around the world are ready to throw that much money at something you can spend the whole season and never use.
To compare GLT to car or health insurance is asinine. One is a necessary expense because of what you’re afraid of spending in the event something goes wrong, the other’s absense is at best going to generate controversy that to this day has never stop the game from growing in popularity. The Barclay Premier League was certainly able to become the cash cow that it is today without GLT, not because of it.
Other than the Premier League, Serie A and the Bundesliga have both decided to add goal line technology in the near future.
Judging by the number of times the technology is used in a typical Premier League season, I disagree with you that leagues would be “spending in the event something goes wrong”. We know that the technology would be used several times.
MLS has quietly had an excellent offseason.
If these changes were to take place, can MLS sustain itself? Is there enough money in the sport here in America to pay the level of wages that will align MLS with the other leagues around the world? I know what we all want, but is it really possible? If these changes were to allow pro/rel can teams, similar to many situations in England, survive the drop?