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The purpose in creating CONCACAF’s Champions League club competition was to find a second revenue stream that could make money for the confederation and help fund all its other tournaments and activities.
As the CCL works toward closing its 10th season, confederation officials say the original objective is starting to materialize. Yet challenges clearly remain — like getting Major League Soccer fans to accept the importance of the tournament.
“We, as MLS, have to do a better job of sort of making sure our fan base understands the importance of the CCL, and try to get more people . . . If there’s more awareness, then I think you get more fans to come out,” New York Red Bulls sporting director Denis Hamlett said.
Hamlett’s comments came after the Red Bulls drew a paltry announced crowd of 6,393 to its 3-1 second-leg quarterfinal victory over Mexican club Tijuana on March 13. Less than two weeks earlier, the Red Bulls only attracted 11,677 for a 2-0 round-of-16 win over Olimpia of Honduras.
Some U.S. attendance figures for this year’s competition illustrate the historically low priority and interest American audiences have placed in the tournament. Dallas drew 3,318 people (about one-fifth its 2017 MLS average of 15,122) for its 3-2 victory in the Round of 16 against Panama’s Tauro on Feb. 28, and Colorado had only 2,673 (about one-sixth its 15,322 average) for its 2-0 loss in the same round against Toronto on Feb. 20.
Conversely, hopeful signs show in the crowd of 42,885 Seattle had for its 1-0, first-leg quarterfinal win over Mexico’s Chivas, the sixth-largest crowd in tournament history. It also had the 10th-largest crowd (35,549) March 1 for a 4-0 round-of-16 victory over relatively obscure Santa Tecla of El Salvador.
Similarly, Toronto has drawn an announced 23,383 and 25,587 for its round-of-16 and quarterfinal matches against Colorado and Tigres.
And Tigres has seen two home crowds of 30,000-plus.
Those significant crowds could be less of an anomaly and more of a trend. CONCACAF revised the format for this season’s tournament, the second major revamp since it began in 2008.
The CCL began as a 24-team event with 16 involved in a preliminary knockout round, which then left 16 to compete in four-team groups, giving it a “league” structure. That was abandoned after four years when CONCACAF revised the format to a group stage with eight groups comprised of three teams each.
This year, the group stage was eliminated, as were half of Central America’s 12 qualifiers and two of the three Caribbean qualifiers. In last year’s tournament, 53 of the 72 quarterfinalists came from MLS or Mexico.
This season, six Central American teams and the Caribbean club champion joined four United States MLS clubs, Toronto FC from Canada and four Mexican sides in a 16-team knockout event. It essentially reverted the tournament to its previous iteration as the CONCACAF Champions Cup — only bigger.
Moreover, instead of the preliminary or group stages in the fall and the knockout championship rounds following in the new year, the entire tournament was moved to the spring.
“The group stage, in the beginning, was at the end of MLS season,” CONCACAF chief football officer Manolo Zubiria said. “There was a big gap between group and knockout stage, which was too much time in between. It was hard for fans to follow.
“Plus, the group stage was not adding any excitement. A lot of results were lopsided, some groups were determined after one or two games of the group.”
Zubiria initially started with CONCACAF when Champions League began in September 2008. He left after the departure of Chuck Blazer as general secretary and Jack Warner as president amid the corruption scandal and before the arrival of their replacements, Enrique Sanz and Jeffrey Webb. Sanz and Webb later were removed during a similar scandal.
Since Zubiria’s return this past summer, he’s noticed a change in the tournament.
Beside the crowd numbers, two MLS teams have made the semifinals — only the second time in tournament history that’s happened, and first since 2012-13. Toronto will face Club America and the New York Red Bulls are facing Chivas. Moreover, the Red Bulls’ 2-0 victory in Tijuana in the first leg of their March 6 quarterfinal was the first time an MLS team has won a CCL knockout match in Mexico.
It all gives MLS its best chance of ending Mexico’s 12-year run as confederation club champion.
That alone has sparked interest in MLS.
“[Perception] has changed over the last two years,” said Alexi Lalas, former player and MLS club official turned Fox TV analyst. “It has become this incredible Holy Grail, unicorn-esque if you will. If any MLS team wins in its modern form, it wouldn’t be a panacea and change the league’s perception from outside, but the perception of ourselves from inside.
“It’s the thing you want to win to say, ‘We are the best league within the region.’ It’s hard to argue until it happens.”
The CCL always had high priority among Central American teams, according to Hamlett, a native Costa Rican. But those clubs’ relatively low level compared to MLS and Mexico has resulted in only four teams (including Costa Rica’s Alajuelense twice) reaching the semifinals. No Central American team has advanced to the finals. No Caribbean team has made the championship knockout rounds since the Puerto Rico Islanders in the first year.
Mexico’s interest has climbed through the years as the Club World Cup has gained in reputation, and the CCL winner qualifies for the year-end event.
“It’s very attractive. It has a lure to it because it gives you a chance to get into the Club World Cup,” Tijuana coach Diego Cocca said through a translator. “The competition is based on a home and away basis, so it’s more competitive.
“The Club World Cup has grown a lot, so everyone wants to go to the Club World Cup so this competition has become very important.”
CONCACAF also has tried to incentivize clubs, particularly Mexico and MLS, starting last year by awarding $1.2 million in prize money: $500,000 to the winner, $300,000 to the runner-up and $200,000 each to the losing semifinalists.
This was in addition to the $40,000 CONCACAF paid to each team per road game, starting in 2008. Zubiria said that money has increased over the years, but said he didn’t know exactly how much.
Blazer said repeatedly when the CCL was launched that CONCACAF needed a second revenue stream to relieve the confederation’s reliance on the Gold Cup as the sole method of bankrolling its operations.
“Champions League is profitable,” Zubiria said without providing numbers. “With the amount of sponsors we have now, the ratings — they’re excellent. It’s going to jump to the next level. [Blazer’s] vision 10 years ago is coming around.”
Seeing an MLS team win a title would boost the CCL’s market value in the United States. Red Bulls coach Jesse Marsch hopes his team’s success in this year’s tournament moves the needle.
“We’re hopeful as an organization, that as we move forward this is a big deal and that fans start to come out a little bit more,” Marsch said. “And then we can see a bigger crowd.”