Maybe Don Garber opened his mouth without thinking. It happens. And not only in Presidential campaigns.
So as the commissioner of Major League Soccer was speaking to a rather large group of soccer junkies at last weekend's Blazer-Con in Brooklyn, N.Y., Garber rather stupidly used Chattanooga for his argument against promotion and relegation as it pertains to soccer leagues.
"Nobody looks at the NFL and says it's not working because there's no promotion and relegation," he said. "If you're investing billions and billions of dollars, which we are now at about $3.5 billion invested (in MLS) in twenty years, to build something in Kansas City and they have a (expletive deleted) season, to think they might be playing in Chattanooga in a stadium of 4,000 people on a crappy field with no fans, makes no sense."
Garber reportedly made these remarks at 9 a.m. on Nov. 14. Perhaps a quadruple-espresso latte with a shot of truth serum would have saved him.
Instead, he missed the size of the stadium by 500 percent, could have field manufacturers AstroTurf sue him for libel and slander, and might even need to invest in some really strong eyeglasses, since the final two crowds of the year at the Chattanooga Football Club's playoff games exceeded a combined 30,000.
But why let the facts get in the way of a smear job?
To be fair, after understandably strong social media backlash over his remarks, as well as a well-penned letter from CFC co-founder Tim Kelly, Garber did issue an apology of sorts.
"While recently discussing promotion and relegation, I made some inappropriate comments about Chattanooga," he said. "I commend all of the soccer fans in Tennessee and the Southeast for their record-breaking support of Chattanooga FC, and apologize to the passionate supporters of the club."
Beyond that, Garber's belief system is right. A major league team shouldn't be dropped down a level just because it's struggled for a time. At least that's the premise of promotion and relegation as I understand it. Then again, I pretty much understand the fine print of soccer the way I do nuclear fusion.
But theoretically, if Major League Baseball practiced promotion and relegation, the Atlanta Braves might be moving to the Southern League any day now, their performances no longer believed worthy of major league status. Conversely, were the CFC a low-level professional team rather than a high-level amateur one, its success might forcibly push it up the food chain beyond its current financial structure.
To somewhat embrace Garber's goal to keep an American sports model as much as possible regarding professional soccer in this country makes sense on every level unless Europe's top soccer league - the English Premier League - wished to expand into the U.S. Given the time and travel issues, such a move would seem a long shot at the moment, but nothing's impossible when television money is thrown into the mix.
Still, this wasn't about that. This was about a cheap shot at a small U.S. city that's probably become the model for minor league soccer success. Or as Kelly artfully responded to Garber in an open letter:
"I'm sure you can understand why people in Chattanooga were upset about your statement. In fact, it seems, people all over the U.S. were upset by it, perhaps because they see Chattanooga as a stand-in for all the markets in the US without an MLS team. The good news for soccer is that the enthusiasm of fans outside the largest markets in the US is very real, Mr. Garber. The bad news for MLS is that this enthusiasm seems to be very much attached to the places where these people actually live. A strong sense of place is essential to what makes Chattanooga FC special."
And that wasn't all that Kelly pointed out to The Soccer Don.
He mentioned that the Chattanooga metropolitan area is bigger than the following English Premier cities: Manchester, Stoke, Newcastle, Southampton, Bournemouth, Norwich, Swansea, Sunderland, Watford and West Bromwich. He also noted the Scenic City's overwhelming success in hosting the U.S. Women's World Cup champs for their exhibition match. He could also have pointed out that the Women's World Cuppers were so impressed with Chattanooga and touched by its July terrorist tragedy that they auctioned off jerseys that raised more than $66,000 for the Chattanooga Heroes Fund.
And in one of those insights that cuts to the core of America's competitive spirit, Kelly offered this:
"The United States is the most hopeful nation in the world; it is a nation built on hope itself. So to organize the world's greatest game in America in a way that deprives smaller markets the hope of glory is both ironic and unsustainable. The fan bases places like Chattanooga (and Tulsa, and Wichita, and Madison, and Sacramento, and Rochester) are too organized and too dedicated to their cities and their sense of place to just sing along to a contrived tune from distant, larger markets. The American soccer pyramid, if it is going to achieve its full potential, has to find a way to incorporate and integrate."
It could be that both sides are right. The Chattanooga Football Club may have found a perfect niche. Since Garber took over in 1999, MLS has achieved steady growth and worldwide respect, including much-increased television revenue. If neither is broke, why change?
But there's also nothing like a little controversy in CFC's long offseason to boost interest and ticket sales and conversation. Which is why one final observation Kelly made to Garber is worth repeating.
Wrote Kelly: "If Kansas City ever does come to Chattanooga to play, I can assure you that the Chattahooligans will make sure it's a memorable experience."
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.