Opinion

Major League Soccer in S.A.? It's a goal

Financing and stadium requirements are kicking MLS down the road.

Financing and stadium requirements are kicking MLS down the road. Photo: Andresr, Getty Images Photo: Andresr, Getty Images Image 1 of / 8 Caption Close Major League Soccer in S.A.? It's a goal 1 / 8 Back to Gallery

SAN ANTONIO — It was time for the kickoff against FC Dallas, and San Antonio Scorpions' fans had a message to send to Major League Soccer.

Packed away in the corner of Toyota Field, the Crocketteers, the team's most enthusiastic and rowdy supporters — who bang drums, chant throughout games, and even wear soccer scarves in the middle of summer as a mark of passion — unfurled a group of banners over their heads.

“Scorpions are MLS ready,” the banners read in black and white letters, rippling in the wind.

The MLS was in town for an exhibition match. Scorpions management was hyping it as a major-league test run. Just a few weeks earlier the league's commissioner held a four-hour dinner meeting with Mayor Julián Castro and team owner Gordon Hartman. A petition to have San Antonio join the MLS had been circulating online with thousands of signatures.

While the message from fans couldn't be clearer, off the field the game is much more complicated. Any jump to MLS would entail tens of millions in city funds, and would have to satisfy the expectations of private investors with team owner Gordon Hartman's dream of supporting people with special needs.

Even then, San Antonio might not make the MLS cut as the league expands to 24 teams by 2020. That would be crushing for fans, and a potential blow to Scorpions' attendance.

Reflecting this, Hartman, a philanthropist and home builder, has walked a rhetorical tightrope, often sending very mixed messages.

“First of all, I am not out there spearheading, making this happen,” he said. “If this happens, it happens.”

Yet, he's been meeting with the MLS, private investors and Castro, and recently said MLS is San Antonio's “last and best chance” at a second major league team.

Soccer for a cause

The Scorpions are unique in pro sports. The team's motto is “Soccer for a Cause,” and profits are funneled to Morgan's Wonderland, a theme park named after Hartman's daughter that serves the special-needs community.

Hartman has said he doesn't care what league the Scorpions play in as long as Morgan's Wonderland is supported. Last year, the team's second season in the North American Soccer League, which is a rung below MLS, the Scorpions delivered more than $660,000 to Morgan's Wonderland.

It's a beautiful cause, really.

Hartman had a vision to provide a space that served the special-needs community, but not in isolation.

“We visit a lot of places that have to do with special needs, and this is around the country, and they are off by themselves. I said, 'I am not going to let that happen. We are going to be a part of something.'”

That something became soccer because basketball was taken — hello, Spurs! And he saw thousands of people playing soccer across town.

Yet, when I practiced with the Scorpions a few weeks ago, staffers mentioned how last year's players didn't buy into the cause. They viewed it as taking away resources.

Those players are gone. The roster has been almost completely turned over.

“We were not doing what I think we need to do, and that is give back more,” Hartman said. “And these (new) players will do that.”

Soccer for a Cause is also a sticking point in any talks about the MLS. When it comes to an MLS deal, Hartman is most clear and direct on two points: city financing is necessary, and any deal must benefit Morgan's Wonderland and the special-needs community.

The stadium factor

From the very beginning three years ago, the Scorpions have teased their fans with MLS aspirations — even while expressing satisfaction with the NASL.

“If we want to stay in the NASL forever, that's fantastic because it's a good league,” team President Howard Cornfield said.

Toyota Field, which Hartman built for $40 million and opened last season, seats about 8,300 people. But it's set up to expand to 18,500, which happens to be the baseline attendance MLS wants.

In this way, Toyota Field has served as steady kindling for local MLS chatter.

“No one has been more committed than Gordon Hartman in putting up private funding for a soccer-specific stadium,” said James Hope, president of the Crocketteers supporters group.

This was a few weeks ago during a fan event at the Crockett Hotel.

Scorpions players meet with fans regularly, and they will also linger on the field after games to sign autographs. Both are part of the team culture of “giving back” Hartman places so much value on.

Hope was high on San Antonio's MLS potential, and thought Soccer for a Cause was an inspiration. But he also said something that should worry Scorpions management.

“I do believe that San Antonians want to see us playing at the highest level, and if we're not, then you might see some (fan) drop-off,” he said. “Anything less, and then we start thinking about ourselves more as a second division or a minor league team.”

Although it's an incredible investment and a symbol of fan aspiration, Toyota Field is nowhere near MLS-ready. Hartman has said it would cost another $35 million to $45 million to bring it up to an MLS level.

This includes more seats, additional parking, luxury boxes and concessions and improved locker rooms.

When I practiced with the team a few weeks ago, there was a moment that seemed to capture this gulf.

The players had just set up a Mr. Coffee pot on a rickety folding table in the locker room. One of the players asked a staffer if it would be possible to get a mini-fridge where they could store cream.

It was a small request, but the staffer wasn't sure they could get a mini-fridge.

The exchange seemed to reflect a tension with last year's team about resources. But it also captured the gulf between fan expectations and present-day reality. A mini-fridge and coffee cream wouldn't be an issue in a major league clubhouse.

And the Castro factor

Enter Castro, who is all in about making San Antonio an MLS town.

“I would like to make this happen,” the mayor said.

While Hartman would continue to explore the private sector side, “We are all ears over here, and we will work on what's possible in terms of the public-sector side,” Castro said.

It's unclear what that would be, exactly. The mayor said there is nothing formal on the table. With howls over San Antonio proposed streetcars still reverberating because of the public cost and taxpayer support for the Alamodome still an open wound for some, any public participation is highly likely to raise loud opposition.

At the very least, it's bold of the mayor just to be out front pushing for this. And the MLS has responded.

“Mayor Castro is one of the great politicians in our country,” MLS Commissioner Don Garber recently gushed. “We love him. He's very passionate about our sport.”

Castro's star power helps. But given history with other S.A. mayors, it's easy to see why MLS loves him.

In 2005, San Antonio was close to landing an MLS team, but the deal was a bad one, poorly executed by then-Mayor Ed Garza. When Phil Hardberger was elected as mayor, he then kicked the door shut on MLS before ever taking office.

“Goodbye,” he said. “That's what I would tell MLS.”

And the community was with him! But that was nearly 10 years ago, and soccer has continued to grow in the U.S.

It is just as popular with 12-to-17 year olds as Major League Baseball, according to this year's ESPN Sports Poll Annual Report. The MLS has been hugely successful in Houston, Portland and Seattle.

Suddenly, the league is like the sexy date that everyone wants to take to the prom. The league is adding four teams by 2020. But two cities, Miami and Orlando, have secured clubs, and Atlanta is considered the likely third city. That leaves a host of other cities — namely Minneapolis and Austin — vying for this last slot.

With so much frenzy, it's easy for soccer fans to picture MLS as the next National Football League. But is this entirely realistic?

Raise your hand if you know who Clint Dempsey is?

Chances are you don't need to put your hand down, which is a huge growth limit for MLS.

A lot of people have played soccer but few people in the U.S. follow the players. Dempsey, by the way, is the captain of the U.S. men's national team and plays for the Seattle Sounders. He's also a Texan.

This will change, but it will take 20 years.

“It will be... hockey. It will not be American football. And it will not be baseball. And it will not be basketball,” said Andy Markovits, a University of Michigan professor and author of “Offside: Soccer and American Exceptionalism.”

Development or civic pride?

Over the last 10 years, MLS stadiums have received about a 50 percent contribution from the public, said Victor Matheson, a sports economist at College of the Holy Cross.

Many of these stadiums have cost about $120 million, so by comparison, an $85 million Toyota Field is a good deal. It's also significantly cheaper than stadiums for other sports, notably the NFL.

In terms of economic benefit, though, sports stadiums are never good deals.

“We have very little to suggest that sports stadiums are a wise investment in terms of pure economic investment for the cities that host them,” Matheson said.

They don't generate jobs. Very few visiting fans travel for games, and the local fans would likely be spending their money elsewhere in the local economy, Matheson said.

Still, major league sports give civic pride a boost — even soccer — and add to quality of life in incalculable ways.

In a time dominated by CAVE people — Citizens Against Virtually Everything — Castro and Hartman are going to have to overcome this strict economic argument from critics of public funding for soccer.

“To make this happen, this is going to have to be a public-private type of partnership,” Hartman said.

Hartman and Castro owe it to San Antonio to explain what that entails.

They will also have to win over reluctant pols. Several public officials I spoke with were open to the idea of MLS in San Antonio, but were hardly excited, preferring football or baseball.

Only, San Antonio can't support the NFL or Major League Baseball. That issue has been studied and settled.

But San Antonio can support the MLS. It's amazing, really, that a meaningless game against FC Dallas had an announced attendance of nearly 8,000. A game the Scorpions tied with a dramatic last-minute goal.

For years, local leaders have wanted a second major league team. Well, here it is. Goodbye to this minor-league chip on our shoulders.

With an eye toward the future, city leaders, not just Castro, should embrace this last major league opportunity and go for the goal.