MLS Digs a Deeper Hole By Spinning Frank Lampard Fiasco

MLS Deputy Commissioner Mark Abbott dug MLS a deeper hole when he claimed today that he’s not sure why the Frank Lampard deal got characterized as a loan and refused to admit that New York City FC fans got duped into buying season tickets despite the MLS club using Lampard as the face of its season ticket drive.

The “was it a loan or wasn’t it” situation with Lampard was seemingly “put to bed” Saturday night when MLS Commissioner Don Garber explained to SI’s Grant Wahl that Lampard signed a contract with City Football Group last summer to play with Manchester City FC in 2014 and New York City FC in 2015-16.

However, MLS President Abbott, who MLS itself describes as the “architect of Major League Soccer’s business plan,” said the following in an interview with FOX Sports’ Alexi Lalas:

““There wasn’t a loan and I’m not quite sure why it got characterized as a loan.”

But it was characterized as a loan by MLS’s own website (see screengrab above) as well as Manchester City and New York City‘s social media accounts (see screengrabs below).

Did MLS and Manchester City themselves mistakenly report the news last year, or did MLS spin the news this weekend to try to save face?

In the same interview with Lalas, Abbott answered whether he thought NYCFC season ticket holders were duped into buying tickets because everyone believed Frank Lampard was joining the club in January, 2015. Abbott said, “I don’t think anybody was duped.”

However, you can look at the graphics below from NYCFC and judge for yourself whether New York City FC soccer fans were led to believe that Lampard would be playing for the team when they launched in 2015:

New York City’s own website ran a story last July about welcoming Lampard to NYCFC by stating, “Season tickets to see Frank Lampard and New York City FC’s inaugural season in MLS are on sale now. Call 855-77-NYCFC or visit www.nycfc.com/tickets to order online.”

I believe that Lampard originally planned on joining NYCFC in January to begin preseason training for the club, but that he nor anyone else could have predicted how much of an impact the player would have on Manchester City’s season. However, in hindsight, MLS and New York City FC should have been more transparent in July and August of 2014 to explain the exact details of Lampard’s contract situation. By not being forthcoming, it has put MLS and New York City FC into a reactive PR mode to try to spin that it had never been a loan deal at all. At the same time, MLS and NYCFC has egg on its face because the majority of the US soccer media feels that it was lied to last summer when it was announced that Lampard had signed a two-year contract with New York City FC.