Ticket Giveaway Contest: Give Your Pitch On Why CCL Is Important

World domination starts here. I see no reason why MLS shouldn’t be the biggest league in CONCACAF. The only way to be the best is to beat everyone else. We have shown we are one of the best teams (winning percentage) in MLS. Now we need to start beating teams in other leagues.

This will also show to the talent in CONCACAF that MLS is a viable place to progress your career. There are a lot of talented players that play in and are from the region. If we can start to unearth these players and to be able to out bid other teams for their services it will only help to increase the product on the field. In turn this will help grow the league.

Lastly, as the CCL grows in stature the TV contracts will also grow. The more importance the MLS puts on the tournament will force the other leagues to either follow suit or be left behind. This will put more eyes infront of TV’s and butts in the seats. This will put more money into the clubs coffers to buy more players and improve our facilities (grass).

So in review, it will establish us as a regional powerhouse, bring in better players, and more money. Oh yeah, and help fill our trophy case with silverware.

From a practical standpoint, the Sounders have made it plain that they want to be known on the world stage. Being a recognized brand in Mexico and Central America seems like a good place to start. You can’t be a known team in the world if you aren’t a known team in your region.

I can’t think of a better way to get your name out there in the region than by going to the CCL year after year. (they’re going to have to deal with us next year as well).

That we are through this year is even better.

But taken solely as a fan experience, we have nothing else like it in any sport.

We get to watch our beloved team compete in a tournament featuring the best teams from a whole bunch of different leagues. Including teams in leagues better than ours.

In no other big league sport in America is this even possible. To say nothing of it actually happening.

You get real apples and oranges competition. You don’t have to wonder if your Sounders could keep up with a team like Monterrey. You get to play against them in meaningful competition. A non-friendly. Two of them actually.

We don’t get this is basketball. (FIBA is sort of doing a world club cup, but they aren’t even inviting NBA teams yet.) We don’t get it in baseball (excluding the little league world series). And we certainly don’t get it in ice hockey and football.

Our big league sports are generally so far ahead of the rest of the world, that you can’t even make a competition out of it. Not with soccer. And that’s why we should enjoy it. Because winning this thing would actually mean something.

CONCACAF being an international tournament of Champions means three things for the Sounders. Competition, Marketing and Revenue.

These games are not only an opportunity to compete, but to improve team chemistry by providing precious game time opportunities to play more people on the team roster; best yet, those players experience playing dominant teams from Central and South America.

This tournament also creates exposure, not just for the team’s players, but for the team’s name brand: Fans and players across the Americas get a first hand look at what a MLS Club plays, looks, and sounds like; we’re not all english only speaking players on a team, we also have players from Argentina, Uruguay, Sweden and Mexico – and we can talk to their media.

International media is more inclined to be covered by our domestic media, creating an opportunity to be seen on ESPN/FOX creating a brand synonymous with “Excellence!” Potential is there to create new fans in other parts of the US, simply by being on a larger stage. The impact in other countries, having seen, played or heard of the Sounders FC means an increased demand for television and internet coverage, sold out stadiums and merchandise potential, which are all various ways to ensure the team is best leveraging revenue potential, enabling us to compete by continually signing the most competitive players.

Ultimately, CONCACAF means more games. More games to play, more games to see, more games to watch, and another way to be actively engaged with your team! Take them all, watch them fall!

1. Trophies.

Why else play professional sports? The only winning team in the end is the one that wins the finale game of a season or tournament.

2. Winning.

The CCL, most importantly, is NOT the end game. If we hoist the CCL championship cup in March of 2012, the very first thing our then-Captain needs to say to the crowd is, “We’re not done yet, and we’re going to Japan in December for you!” The 2011-2012 CCL is just the middle ground that gains us entry to the 2012 FIFA Club World Cup.

American soccer and the MLS has already stunned the North American soccer community with our showing so far in this cycle of the Champions League. If the Sounders (or, maybe, the Galaxy) win CCL and advance to Japan in December 2012, then we’ll have surprised the world. If we put on a good showing in Japan—or, dare we dream, win—we’ll have stunned the world.

The attack on goal isn’t finished until you score. The game isn’t finished until you outscore them by the final whistle. The season or tournament isn’t over until you’re eliminated from any possibility of advancement. Kasey Keller said we have one more trophy to win—this year: the MLS Cup. He’s right. But we have to win versus Monterrey on Tuesday, because if we do and Comunicaciones beats Herediano, our path to winning the CCL gets significantly easier.

An easier CCL Champions round gives us a clearer path to Japan, for yet another trophy on the biggest scale stage possible that we can win on. Yes, yes, some people poo-poo the FIFA Club World Cup. Some people also poo-poo the early domestic titles we have in the USA, such as American football championships that predate the Super Bowl. But you know what? Teams like the NY Giants, that won gobs of NFC championships pre-Super Bowl? They still have those old titles and trophies, and they have a place of pride amongst the fans and their team history, and they count as won championships just as much.

When my kid is 13 and we’re sitting at some Sounders game, and he asks me, “Dad, why do other teams and their supporters hate us so much?” I want to point up at a banner from the CCL, Japan, or Morocco, and say, “That’s why, son. That’s why.”

Simply playing in the CCL is an honor. The CCL consists of team from almost all of the major leagues of North and Central America, many (most?) of those leagues have a much more storied history than that of MLS. Teams like Monterrey are recognized on the national stage, something that really cannot be said for any team in MLS. One could argue that the Galaxy are known internationally, but they are known for signing Beckham, they were not able to sign Beckham because they were known.
  
We all want the Sounders to have this opportunity to represent MLS on the international stage. We have the depth to deserve that honor, and with some key wins we can show the world that Seattle is the capital city of MLS. Our players have been spectacular all year, they deserve the chance to play at that level and they know that we will be there as fans to support them however far they go and wherever they end up playing.