A-League

Impasse leaves Montreal Impact on sidelines.

MONTREAL (Sunday, January 10, 1999) -- October 17, 1994 was a special day for soccer in the Province of Quebec. The Montreal Impact captured the American Professional Soccer League crown in front of an overflow crowd of 8,169 at Stade Claude Robillard.

Headlines in the Montreal Gazette announced: "Sudden Impact" while Le Journal proclaimed: "Des Champions d'une autre planète." Even popular Quebec journalist Bertrand Raymond suggested that Montreal now has a new breed of sports heroes isolated from the world of egos, strikes and lockouts.

After four years the Impact is again making headlines, this time for all the wrong reasons. It appears that the arranged marriage between the Impact and the USISL (umbrella organization of the A-League) has soured resulting in a separation that may leave the Montreal team without an outdoor league.

Suspended

On November 10, Impact president Joey Saputo gathered the masses for an impromptu press conference at a Laval hotel. Saputo and his associates responded to the allegations made by A-League commissioner Francisco Marcos about the Impact's rocky relationship within the American-based league. Pat Harrington, managing director for the Impact stated quite adamantly that the Impact are not suspended from the league given their legal status as a franchise but he conceded that the team has been suspended from league meetings. A contradiction of perception given Marcos' insinuation during the A-League championship weekend.

Despite Montreal's high grade during the A-League peer evaluation, Marcos is angered at the Impact's stance: "Montreal would like to be in a Division One league without paying Division One prices. They are not in MLS and don't want to pay the MLS freight."

The controversy stems from the fact that Montreal has yet to pay the necessary $100,000 letter of credit that was due in October. Saputo is of the belief that withholding his letter of credit is his only bargaining tool to force the league to revise its present structure that he describes as lacking. "Once you lose a team like the Montreal Impact who has had success on and off the field than what happens to the Rochesters; what happens to the Vancouvers; the Hersheys ,who lose a really good partner." Saputo said.

Enforced standards

Even though Saputo believes there is merit in the A-League formula, he cites many shortcomings in the structure of the young league. He is of the strong opinion that the league has not enforced standards; there is a substantial difference in the professionalism of each A-League franchise and that Canadian teams are not given an equal opportunity. During the press conference Saputo identified a team like Connecticut, which is yet to meet any of the minimum standards and has breached their probationary status. "Yet the Wolves are allowed to continue in the league," Saputo said.

Saputo is concerned that his supporters are forced to endure teams like Connecticut and Staten Island, who often bring only 11 players to road games. The A-League minimum standard is 16. He also expressed concern that his players are forced to play in some substandard facilities that could possibly lead to injuries and unnecessary insurance claims.

Bruno Hartrell, co-owner and chief operating of the Toronto Lynx, while having sympathy with Saputo's point of view, was quick to jump to the defense of the Wolves, "Some of the teams did (come into the league ) with less than Montreal's standards," he said "(Montreal’s) organization is an objective for all of us to reach. Connecticut had been in the league (USISL D3) with a lower standard for a long time. Having said that, Connecticut has found a new partner. They've got the city of New Britain involved. The city now owns part of the team and is obligated to improve the stadium and there are a lot of exciting things happening there. They are probably going to be the most improved franchises in 1999."

Vancouver 86'ers general manager Bob Lenarduzzi agreed in general with Hartrell, "I can sympathize where Joey is coming from but on the other hand there are going to be weak links. It's a question of how they're dealt with. To think that you're going to get every team in the league of 28 all to the same standard . . . well that's never going to happen. I think that what the league is trying to do is weed those particular franchises out."

Saputo has identified several existing A-League teams that should join Montreal in a higher echelon professional league -- a pro loop that he believes will fill a void between Major League Soccer and the existing A-League. Rochester, Hershey, Milwaukee, Long Island, San Diego, Vancouver, Seattle and Toronto are some of the teams who the Impact has approached to assist in their grievances, all of whom have already submitted their letters of credit for the 1999 season.

Hartrell has doubts about the concept. "We are opposed to it, he said. "We don't think it was a good idea. We feel that within the A-League we have a very viable vehicle to present our product. It's important that we stick together and address the weaknesses".

Kevan Pipe, Canadian Soccer Association chief operating officer, threw another possibility into the mix. "It is our belief that it is time for professional soccer in Canada to be reorganized," he said. "Like virtually every other country in the world, we need a national professional league. As a result, it is certainly our intent to achieve just that by the year 2000 and to re-organize the clubs we do have, along with groups we know to have been formed in Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg and so on, to try and have at least six professional clubs in Canada organized into a Canadian Professional League. We would hope that the Impact would be part of those plans".

Despite paying dues to both the United States Soccer Federation and the Canadian Soccer Association, Saputo resents the fact that his team is not allowed to participate in the U.S. Open Cup and that his players are not allowed to move to Major League Soccer with the same freedom as their American counterparts . The outspoken Impact boss does not fully support a Canadian league, but he will entertain the concept of a Canadian league with some strong American partners. A complete role reversal of the current USISL.

Again, Saputo has the sympathies of his two Canadian brethren but that seems to be all. Lenarduzzi said, "Just accept it. Yes we'd like to play in the US Open Cup but they're holding all the cards right now. It's nothing to do with the A-League, it's the USSF. I've been speaking with Francisco and indicated we'd love to part of it but (the Canadian clubs) don't have much clout there."

Hartrell would prefer the Canadian clubs take another route, "We would like to participate, but you have to appreciate it from (the Americans) point of view," he said. "It's the U.S. Open Cup. If you ask me, we're better off having a Canadian Open Cup with our champion playing their champion. That way we would have automatically have a Canadian team in the cup final."

A model

Saputo holds the National Professional Soccer League’s Milwaukee Wave as a potential model for the Impact. The Wave retains the nucleus of their indoor team throughout the summer when they conduct a series of lucrative soccer schools. He reported that the Wave usually generate $500,000 during its offseason.

With the vast experience of Pat Harrington as well as head coach Paul Kitson the Impact have identified Montreal as having great potential as a center for soccer camps. Harrington is of the belief that in order to survive in the challenging world of professional soccer, teams need to be interactive in their communities, something he claims that the Impact failed to prioritize in past years.

Saputo is of the belief that an international schedule of eight to 10 games may allow the Impact time to establish a network of camps before setting up for the indoor season. He also disclosed that playing teams from Italy, Greece, France and Portugal will expose his players to a higher level of competition, not to mention possible employment overseas. It is no secret that Montreal made a tidy sum of money when former Impact Jason Devos was transferred to Dundee United in Scotland.

The Lynx would like to continue to compete with the Impact, said Hartrell, "We are more than interested. We would encourage it. He's going to maintain his team over the summer and we would like to compete against them to keep the rivalry alive in or out of the league."

While Lenarduzzi is supportive of Saputo's plans for a schedule of international matches, he also has misgivings about their success, "I think exhibition games as a whole are becoming less and less appealing simply because of the technology and availability of satellite feeds every where in the world. If you're a supporter of a particular club, you can probably follow that club as close as you'd like on a week to week basis. As a result of that, the novelty of teams coming in has definitely subsided. There's no doubt about it."

Reaction

Reaction to the Impact's quandary has been swift if not varied. Quebec Soccer Federation headmaster Jean Gandubert is of the opinion that the Saputo group have very high expectations and their standards were compromised by several of the poorer A-League franchises. He indicated that the quality of some A-League franchises is no higher than teams in Quebec's elite Men's League.

Gandubert announced that a move is afoot by the CSA to develop a national professional league -- a concept that he supports wholly. He is of the opinion that rivalries build emotions eventually leading to support. "Rivalries from teams in Quebec City, Montreal and Ottawa may be easier to market than from Hampton Roads" he said.

November 17, 1998 may be recorded as a bitter sweet day for Canadian soccer. On that infamous day it was announced at the USISL's annual general meeting that the Indiana Blast is making the jump to the A-League from the D3 Pro League to fill the void left by Montreal. But there are still differences of opinion regarding whether or not the Impact could still salvage a place in the 1999 A-League season.

Hartrell maintains some hope, "Joe Saputo is a very knowledgeable guy, he still has options, he has a lot of expertise," he said. "If Joe were to call the A-League tomorrow, in my personal opinion, the Montreal Impact would be in".

Lenarduzzi's opinion is very different regarding that possibility, "No, not at all," he said. "The schedule is going to be confirmed within two weeks. At the league meetings, I asked the question regarding the status of Montreal and was told that there had been efforts to communicate but there had been no response and the league had to get on with concluding the schedule".

Saputo has vowed to move forward with or without the A-League. The upcoming summer could be the start of something special or just another black eye for professional soccer in Canada. A volatile situation for a team that has epitomized professionalism throughout the 1990s while immersed in the murky world of the pro game.

Paul S. Hendren and David Bailey are staff writers for Inside Soccer and can be e-mailed at Paul.Hendren@jus.gov.on.ca.