By Tony Edwards - San Jose, CA (Mar 17, 2015) US Soccer Players - I spent a lot of this time past week visiting organizations that have some form of leadership position, as the Harvard Business Review would call it, in their industry. As one well-known concept goes, companies that have taken leadership positions in their industries in the last decade typically have done so by narrowing their business focus, not broadening it.

I was talking earlier this week with the CEO of a company in a non-soccer field whose company has essentially gone from nowhere to becoming the leader in its sector in less than 18 months. They did this while offering a product with a significantly higher price point than that of its competitors. How did this happen?

As this CEO explained to me, from established principles, generally companies that want to thrive focus on “delivering superior customer value” along one of three disciplines (operational excellence, customer intimacy, or product leadership) while at least meeting industry standards on the other two.

One example this CEO used was McDonald’s. You’re not getting customer intimacy or product leadership from the Golden Arches. Yet, you know you can walk in there and your kids will get a meal that will meet your, and their, expectations within only a few minutes, depending on the line.

Contrast that with a high-end restaurant, like a Ruth’s Chris. A steak is pretty much a steak, but you ask them for an item that’s not on their menu, and you’ll get that item. You’ll pay for it, generously, but they excel by focusing on customer intimacy.

The CEO’s company focuses on the third category, product leadership while more than meeting industry standards on the other two items.

So 270 words later, what does this have to do with soccer, particularly with MLS. Which of these three disciplines has this league mastered? Operational excellence? Customer intimacy? Product leadership? Please.

I’d argue MLS should focus first on product leadership.

The League of Choice would no doubt tell us that they have mastered operational excellence and that leagues and teams from all over Europe are studying the MLS model. The MLS model is, even after this latest contract, “how much can we exploit our biggest asset, the players?” The league will tell us it is moving towards customer intimacy by having 15 soccer-specific stadia. I’d say having the equivalent of a minor league baseball stadium in some suburban community isn’t customer intimacy, but doing things on the cheap.

There are franchises/investors who strive to reach a level of excellence. Almost by definition, the players, coaches, and trainers have to master all three to reach the top of their profession. If a player isn’t good enough physically or technically (operational excellence), if they can’t relate to their teammates and coaches (customer intimacy), and if they can’t contribute to the success of their team (product leadership) – there’s someone else ready to take their spot.

As a business that wants you to pay major league prices for their product, you can point to only a few franchises who have mastered even one of these principles. I’d argue you can make a case that the Galaxy, the Sounders, the Timbers, and Kansas City all focus on at least one of these three concepts.

I’d say the jury is out in Columbus, Toronto, Salt Lake, Orlando, San Jose, Houston, Vancouver, and the Red Bulls. That’s 60% of the franchises in the league. We’ll give NYCFC the benefit of the doubt for the moment, but it’s difficult to argue that Montreal, New England, Chicago, DC, Colorado, Dallas, and Philadelphia are giving seminars on how to apply these three principles to franchise success.

That’s the issue. The players and coaches more than hold up their end of the bargain. However, when 40% of your franchises’ culture is to take the players and audience for granted (relatively high ticket, concession, and parking prices, mediocre stadium experiences, not giving coaches and players the resources to succeed, etc), there’s a problem.

Consistently and historically, the focus isn’t on the teams and the players, but on the league organization as a whole. Hence, the league structure is more important than actually letting teams compete for players. League-wide branding (and outfitter branding) is more important than individual team identity. Making fans work to buy overpriced and poorly designed apparel is more important than quality and reasonably priced merchandise. League-controlled communication is more important than making it easy and worthwhile for the established media.

For the many strides your League of Choice has made and for the many positives coming from individual franchises, there’s too much focus on league-wide goals and not enough commitment to best practices, to mastering at least one of the three key operating principles, for each franchise.

Until MLS focuses on product leadership (which means more team responsibility, giving the players and coaches the resources to deliver, and creating the financial environment to really encourage players to want to come, and stay), the words “League of Choice” will continue to be just that, words.

Tony Edwards is a soccer writer from the Bay Area.

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