FanHouse

Oh my, isn't that a mouthful of a title? Either way, Das FanHaus and the official unofficial source of all things MLS here at Fanhouse is here to say "Nay" with a hearty dash of name-calling. Dave Warner disses the current state of MLS forever and ever on this side of the world, to which we say "The right gentleman, Mr Warner, is a spanner and rightfully disagree."

Last night's double drubbing of DC and Houston at the hands of Pachuca and Saprissa are certainly disappointments, but they are by no means anything more than a pair of international losses. These things happen, and they should be taken in stride. We have said on countless occasions that MLS is growing up as a league and should no longer be handled with the kid gloves, but this minor setback is not indicative of any kind of future failure: CONCACAF Champions Cup, InterLiga, CONCACAF Champions League, or whatever other falderall our Western hemisphere amigos concoct in this lifetime.

We view last night's eliminations as proper evidence that Major League Soccer needs to put its money where its mouth is in respect to making it the dominant force in the region. There is no doubt that early steps are headed in the right direction with regards to roster regulations and player development. Houston has the cap stretched to its absolute limits, without a DP, and "DC Reloaded" is a brief glimpse at the impact of foreign imports on the league's overall talent level. Obviously, their efforts were not enough to get into the the finals, but we prefer to look at a growing league and call the glass half full.

Time to dig up our favorite chestnut: "Talent to Revenues to Cap Space, repeat." Of course, things are slightly more complicated than that, but that is the formula for MLS until proven otherwise. Msrs. Conde, Toja, Gallardo, and Lopez are already here raising the bar. Double the current efforts of the league's top teams, and payroll figures start to measure up with the top CONCACAF sides, bringing class and depth along with them. Call us eternal optimists, but we have to believe that the current DC United would be decidedly average in the MLS of the near future.

Being the sports egalitarians that we are, we understand the current dynamics of the MLS salary cap and collective bargaining agreement. Without an increase in league revenues or a commitment from the owners, the cap is staying in place. However, we point to Philly and Seattle as two reasons why we think the cap is due to explode by 2010. With Philly, the league enters one of the last major untapped US television markets, and in Seattle, the Sounders naming debacle tips MLS' hand with regards to raising the league's exposure. The revenues will come, and the number of owners willing to open up the check book will soon outnumber those who do not.