,
30 tweets,
8 min read
Read on Twitter
For those around #ProRelforUSA #AUnitedFront #ReformUSSF
The concerns about MLS owners & USSF, etc. favoring (white supremacist) fascists and European Christian right politics are unfortunately more valid than many had thought it was.
The concerns about MLS owners & USSF, etc. favoring (white supremacist) fascists and European Christian right politics are unfortunately more valid than many had thought it was.
There are reasons why it's the case structurally. Some of it has to do with single entity structure but there are broader things that take from the sports business concentration issue (and monopoly in general).
The first is that with some failures in the last major anti-monopoly push (and the only modern one that worked), pro sports promotions were able to use market power to sting competitors in their own sports (or force mergers).
The trend happened consistently (like the soccer wars of the early part of this decade).
When it was the AFL, the NFL positioned itself to get market power and negotiate to merge w/ AFL. Later competitors to NFL (USFL of 1980s, UFL, etc. all failed due to monopoly power.)
When it was the AFL, the NFL positioned itself to get market power and negotiate to merge w/ AFL. Later competitors to NFL (USFL of 1980s, UFL, etc. all failed due to monopoly power.)
In that case the NFL basically by changing some of the structure of buzz items to keep people watching the NFL brand of American football versus another league's brand. (For instance, the CFL. In fact, the @Ravens exist because the NFL wanted to cut out the CFL's inroads.)
There are other examples.
The creation of the @Capitals was an effort to undercut the WHA franchise in Baltimore (as was a lot of the NHL's expansion efforts). Establishment owners made it impossible for WHA's NY team to get any scheduled games at MSG and extorted them.
The creation of the @Capitals was an effort to undercut the WHA franchise in Baltimore (as was a lot of the NHL's expansion efforts). Establishment owners made it impossible for WHA's NY team to get any scheduled games at MSG and extorted them.
@Capitals MLB, kings of monopoly power in franchise sports, relocation and expansion bonanza of the 1950s-1980s happened explicitly in response to an independent Pacific League being a viable independent competitor.
And people like @CurtisScoon brought up the Negro League. Yes, there was a lot of good it did for that culture of baseball. But racist administrators and finance types were also trying to plunder it (via bad loan arrangements, etc.) bc of the threat to its control.
Some of this also happened by some accidental misjudgment of leftists hoping that getting good African-American players would help accelerate the fight against racism. It did, but it also was hard, if not impossible for Jackie Robinson to be truly authentic.
And these were constant frustrations of Robinson and many of the African-American players (and managers). As in near-death. While things got better in MLB in some ways, eventually it petered out.
While the player ranks have improved (and there is something in the way of a black or Latinx owner or manager), the fundamental culture is still on white Anglo terms in the US--including things about "unwritten rules" and "hat ethos".
With that gets to the major point about the monopoly promotions is that they not just allow the owners to dictate the culture, they can also select the audience, the lessons their audience gathers, and everything about the production, and so on.
And with concentration elsewhere, kick out dissidents, take their banners, and steer the coverage in the way they want, and select who they want in the ownership group, and the way everything is presented.
By the way, Kaepernick and company got played not for the kneeling but on strategy. They didn't attack the NFL's monopoly & elsewhere. And #DeflateGate took focus away from serious issues w/ gridiron & NFL.
And before we get into pro/rel discussions again, the pro sports monopolies outside of soccer have their sport's governing bodies captured (besides NCAA of course). They set the terms of engagement too.
And you get to the single-entity side (which is the only part that may/may not forgive Garber and the SUM side). MLS is single-entity, meaning every owner in the entity has a stake in every other franchise.
While the owners you see are by "name," they are operators with stakes and not full owners. And so, they don't have as much autonomy to do business as they see fit (each one) as even the other closed system teams.
And so, you may not know where to look to point the blame at the creeping fascism even if the owners themselves otherwise don't support it and show otherwise (but they're monopolists....context here)
And the steering of some on Athletes Council to @PragerU looks like a move pulled off by AEG and the Anschutz family that runs AEG and MLS franchise LA Galaxy. Unlike some who may only align w/ Trump for business purposes
Anschutz brothers' philanthropy and political organizing shows they are deeply committed to restructuring to (white) Christian identity terms (and anti-LGBTQ, and anti-minority), as well as counterjihad. And they don't talk in public about it.
And @PragerU is the internet channel, obviously (like MLS), bought its rank in the Google/Youtube rank, trying to incubate younger minds along the Anschutz (and others) defined lines.
@prageru Also mark this. As soon as Don Garber takes a stand w/ the antifascists, he will be sacked as commissioner and SUM won't have access to the MLS things. US people may fear him, but he's much weaker than AEG.
@prageru And Kroenkes. Etc. He wants access into their system for his sports marketing business.
And to give you what being smart in an open system context (and why the anti-monopoly push needs to include wielding power w/Congress & states over USSF and restructuring in this way), Thomas Partey just bought a D3 club and gets to dictate terms!
Mexican owners resurrected UD Salamanca and immediately that team has hired two Mexican coaches, including David Izazola, and has more Mexican players than any foreign club abroad (and outside of USA, Spain & Central America).
That team sits in good position now to get promoted to La Segunda B, which means you may be able at some point to watch them in the USA.
For those wondering, Evangelical does not equal the kind of Christian identity vision we are talking about. But we are talking about restructuring of more than just soccer club audiences.
vox.com/policy-and-pol…
vox.com/policy-and-pol…
And supporters groups provide meaning and community in ways that align with both socialist and fascist understandings of belonging and institutions being beyond about money.)
And in case you are wondering the "European Christian" thing is more within the context of the @zackbeauchamp piece mentioned earlier.
