Long-Range Goals: The Success Story of Major League Soccer

by Beau Dure

All over the world, soccer is known as “the Beautiful Game” and is the most popular sport. But in the United States, professional soccer still has a hard time catching on. It has had some successes here. The American Soccer League of the 1920s, Pélé and other international stars in the North American Soccer League’s glamorous 1970s, the indoor soccer phenomenon of the 1980s, and the U.S. women’s win in the Women’s World Cup of 1999 all hinted that the American public is ready to embrace pro soccer. In its short history, Major League Soccer (MLS) has survived and even started to thrive, drawing steady crowds and loyal fans. In Long-Range Goals, Beau Dure profiles teams and players, including D.C. United, the Los Angeles Galaxy, Landon Donovan, Freddy Adu, and Coach Bruce Arena, who are all vital to MLS. Some of the triumphs include an expansion of the league and its ownership group, the contribution of MLS players to a strong U.S. World Cup showing in 2002, and the construction of soccer stadiums nationwide. At the same time, MLS has occasionally stumbled, during costly legal battles with players and seeing two teams fold, but its investors have remained strong, figured out how to make money, and support the league. From the league’s formation in 1993 to the David Beckham era, this book reveals all the action on and off the pitch: the politics, the lawsuits, the management of its teams, and the savvy business deals that helped MLS rebound. It also revels in the big personalities of its stars, the grace of its utility players, and the obstacles the league faces in meeting its long-range goals.

Genres: Soccer, Sports, Nonfiction

322 pages, Hardcover

First published May 31, 2010

About the author

Fitting neither the mold of a traditional sports journalist nor that of a modern-day snark merchant, I spent a couple of decades with newspapers, the second one with USA TODAY. While there, I covered a lot of soccer, went to four Olympic Games, became the paper's first MMA writer, and wrote the book Long-Range Goals: The Success Story of Major League Soccer.

More books are in the works.

Reviews

[Boyd McCamish · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was clearly a cut and paste job by the author. It read like the author was the ghost writer for Don Garber. I was unimpressed for this reason mainly, this is a great story that was squandered. It is highly superfical and if you'll pardon the expression quite lazy. I would say the authors description and analysis of the players early lawsuit and the subsequent road to unionization is the best example of this. It is written from a management perspective which is the give away, you can tell he is writing what he was told to write.. Had the author fleshed out these and other topics it might have been a stirring narrative.
The author is right-MLS is on the way up. MLS is my league, I care about it and see it as a vehicle for US soccer domination. The time has come for a thoughtful, detailed book about this wonderful creation.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of really interesting stuff in here. But as someone that's followed the league pretty closely from the beginning, things like the summaries of each season caused it to drag a bit for me.

Nevertheless, I appreciated it and it's a little sad that (as far as I know) this is still the only 'history of MLS' book out there. And those that haven't been following it all as the league grew (like I have) would probably enjoy it a lot more than I did.

Maybe, now that the league is solidly established with no doubt of it going away, there will be a little more interest and some other books will get published.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid history of the first dozen or so years of MLS.

The book is evenly split between season recaps (including descriptions of game highlights) and info on the business side of MLS and how it has progressed. If that sounds appealing to you, you'll enjoy the book.

It doesn't go into much depth about contraction; I'd've liked to get more on that story. I most enjoyed the details about the competition between the parties trying to get D1 certification in the US after the World Cup. Interesting stuff.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good time-capsule of MLS' creation and first 16 years. Though some of it was less than gripping – all those seasons' results and performances recapped can only be so exciting – there were good stories and a lot more history that I didn't know than I expected.

[Timm Higgins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read on the history of the MLS. I'd recommend it for those who've been MLS fans and those who are just coming into being fans for the first time of a MLS club.

[Oscar · Rating 5 out of 5]

This books provides an excellent summary of the league's earliest years. Fans new to the league should read it to get a sense of the challenges faced launching MLS.

[Alexander · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ultimate account of the history of the league. Exceeded my expectations.

[Jimmy Laroue · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great look at the early history of Major League Soccer. Hope to see more books like this in the future.