Major League Soccer

Chivas expansion bid has yet to find a home.

By Robert Wagman
SoccerTimes

(Thursday, May 13, 2004) -- Mexican food supplement and media billionaire Jorge Vergara is one of the most aggressive soccer entrepreneurs in this hemisphere. He owns the controlling interest in Chivas de Guadalajara, a legendary club in Mexico, CD Saprissa, the most popular club in Costa Rica, is finalizing the purchase of a team in Spain and makes no secret he would love to own teams in England and Italy.

For a number of years, the market he has coveted is the United States, with its millions of Mexican-Americans and Mexican transplants. At one point, he wanted to put an actual Mexican League team here. But the U.S. Soccer Federation, with its mission to protect Major League Soccer, and which would need to grant permission for a foreign club to play here, quickly put an end to that plan.

So, Vergara regrouped and looking at MLS's desire to find investors willing to put up $10 million for an expansion team, called league commissioner Don Garber. A deal was struck for Chivas USA to begin play in MLS in the 2005 season, Garber announced.

"Chivas is a world-class soccer organization with a passionate, competitive and immensely successful owner in Jorge Vergara," Garber said at the media briefing preceding MLS Cup 2003 last November. "MLS is the 'league for a new America' and, by adding the storied Chivas brand to our league, it strengthens and reinforces our commitment to be reflective of the fans we serve. We welcome them to MLS and look forward to shortly finalizing plans for their new home in the United States."

So Chivas was in. There were a few problems about getting Vergara to agree to abide by all of MLS's rules, such as those governing foreign-player limits and salary caps, and there may still be a few loopholes to be closed, but Garber said the club and the league were "finalizing" plans for its new home. Finding that home is where the fun began, and continues.

Obviously, Chivas needs to play in an area with a substantial Mexican and Mexican-American population. MLS would like that to be a new major market where the league is not represented. The obvious choice seemed to be Houston.

Putting the new Chivas USA team in Houston would fulfill MLS's need to expand into major television markets, while allowing Vergara access to a sizable Mexican population. But Bob McNair, owner of the new Reliant Stadium, quickly threw a monkey wrench into the seemingly perfect plan.

Reliant seems an ideal place to play. Air conditioned with a retractable roof, soccer could be played there in the blazing heat of Houston's summers. While a huge stadium, it upper decks can be closed off giving a capacity near to what MLS wants. With the roof closed, the stadium can be very loud, providing the atmospherics that MLS says are vital.

McNair said no. Though he said that he, himself, might be interested in an MLS franchise someday, he was not interested in becoming a landlord and potentially going into competition with himself should he opt for a team in the future.

Next, MLS tried to steer Vergara to San Diego. Vergara and the city entered into an eight-month courtship. Just when the city thought it had landed the team to play in Qualcomm Park until a soccer-specific stadium could be completed, Vergara pulled out.

The best explanation is that studies showed that the bulk of the Mexican population south of Los Angeles is closer to Los Angeles and not San Diego County, and likely would not regularily make the trip south to see games. Chivas USA's fan base in San Diego would likely be the one which would travel north to attend games.

Vergara seemed to confirm this when he talked to the San Diego Union. "It's because of the concentration of the population in San Diego," Vergara said. "If we wanted to bring a team there, we would bring it to Tijuana, not San Diego. And we don't want to put a team in Tijuana."

Next, Vergara began to court Los Angeles. Studies show that with the huge Mexican population in the Los Angeles area, Chivas is the area's second most popular sports team after the Major League Baseball's Dodgers, ahead of even the National Basketball Association's Lakers.

It was assumed that Chivas USA could fill the 27,000-seat Home Depot Center in the suburb of Carson without cutting much into the fan base of the stadium's existing tenant, MLS's Galaxy. In fact, such an arrangement might actually help the Galaxy because an instant riverly would be born, driving thousands of Chivas-hating Mexican fans into the Galaxy camp, establishing the team as the anti-Chivas.

Talks began where Vergara would pay Anschutz Sports Group, the Galaxy owner and operator, an indeminifitation of perhaps $1 million, and Chivas would becomen a tenant of the Anschutz-owned Home Depot Center. At the same time, Chivas president Ivar Sisniega began negotiating with the city-owned Coliseum. Reportedly, Chivas and the Coliseum remain far apart in negotiations for a lease.

So, the assumption has been that Chivas would play at Home Depot Center next season. Then, Sisniega clouded the picture even more, telling the Hispanic media in Los Angeles his club might play in Los Angeles, but was also considering Chicago and Houston.

The Chicago area is home to more than one million Mexicans and Mexican-Americans, more than any other U.S. city besides Los Angeles, according to the 2000 census. Many Mexican immigrants in Chicago are from the state of Jalisco, where Guadalajara is located. Talks began, but there is a long way to go to complete a deal that would bring Chivas USA to Chicago.

If Chivas did locate in Chicago, it would share Soldier Field with the Fire until MLS's Chicago franchise, owned and operated by Anschutz, moved to a new home in the suburb of Bridgeview. Chivas then might move to the Fire facility or stay at Soldier Field.

"We would love to have them," Tim LeFevour, the manager of Soldier Field told SoccerTimes.

The Fire estimates that 20 percent of its fans are Hispanic, but general manager Peter Wilt believes, as is the case in Los Angeles, Chivas would bring in a new fan base and an instant rivalry could be created to benefit both teams. "I think it would be fabulous," Wilt told the Chicago Tribune.

Some think Vergara and Sisniega are trying play Chicago against Los Angeles to get the best terms. However, this is made difficult because Anschutz owns the operating rights to MLS clubs in both cities and will own both stadiums when the Fire moves. But if Chivas can cut a deal with the Park District, which runs Soldier Field, then it might have some leverage to cut a better deal with Anschutz.

As far as Houston is concerned, Sisniega said that a temporary place might be found to play, perhaps at the University of Houston, and then a soccer specific stadium could be built later if the city would participate in its financing.

One of the problems with all of this is that a Chivas USA club in Los Angeles or Chicago would do nothing to solve MLS's problem of needing to expand into new markets. Thus the whole subject of expansion remains clouded.

The third and final part of this series, appearing Sunday, examines other cities who might be in line for an MLS expansion franchise.

Robert Wagman is a SoccerTimes senior correspondent. E-mail Robert Wagman.