The US National Team represents the United States of America. Throughout it's history, a short one in terms of international relevance, it has been comprised of players either born in the US or with dual citizenship. For the players, it's about pride, representing their homeland, or the opportunity to play international soccer. One country, one FIFA recognized national team.
Except that the United States actually has two national teams; the other just happens to wear green and represent large country directly to the south.
No other comparable situation exists anywhere else in the world. The United States, when hosting it's own national team, provides middling home field advantage at best, and even then only when the opponent is not the country of origin for a large American immigrant community. Mexico, however, is the monster in the American room. When El Tri crosses the border to play, be it against their northern rivals or anyone else, their expatriate fans show up in droves; given the opportunity, Mexican fans will fill the largest American venues, as they did 80,000-seat Giants Stadium for the 2009 Gold Cup final. USMNT fan representation at that match was a fraction of the total crowd.
The Mexican National Team makes money when it appears in the United States. So much money, in fact, that the FMF has scheduled a tour of the country during El Tri's World Cup warmup season, with matches in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Charlotte, New Jersey (the first sporting event in the new Meadowlands Stadium), Chicago, and Houston. Leveraging their massive US-dwelling constituency and the greater spending power of those fans, Mexico is forsaking their homeland for the richer pastures of the United States, with all of it orchestrated by the marketing arm of MLS, Soccer United Marketing.
SUM is an American company, owned by Americans. It's also a money-making enterprise, and as such, is smartly using the Mexican National Team's massive popularity here to its advantage; if beholden only to its shareholders, the nothing SUM is doing should be open to question. Unfortunately, however, the company is seen as the marketing arm of American soccer, meaning that there's a sense they should be looking out for the good of the game in the United States. Fairly or not, SUM's actions reflect back upon the leaders of American soccer's first division, and by association, most of the biggest names involved in the development of the sport here.
Because of that, it must be asked if SUM is actually doing the game a disservice by promoting a national tour of the Mexican team; the company has effectively prostituted the United States to El Tri, giving the Mexicans free reign to use the country as their ATM. In addition to making money for the FMF and SUM, the appearances of El Tri here stunt the growth of the USMNT fan base. The more the Mexicans play here, the longer it will before second, third, etc., generations of Mexican-Americans consider rooting for the national team of their homeland rather than national team of their ancestral origin. Even a greater amount of Mexican-American talent being brought into the USMNT fold will only dent the solidified passion being passed down from parent to child.
Like it or not, it will take a massively supported USMNT for soccer to reach the top of the sports mountain in America.
SUM's distribution of the money earned from a Mexican National Team tour of the United States is unknown. The company is private, and is not required to disclose what it makes or how its profits are dispersed. MLS would appear to be the beneficiary, with SUM's ownership mirroring that of the league; but without confirmation, it's impossible to know if an El Tri tour of the country simply funnels cash back to the investors of MLS, or if it genuinely goes to the betterment of soccer in the United States. We're told that only a handful of MLS clubs are profitable, but do their bottom lines include the money made through SUM?
Tangible proof of a return on SUM dealings with the Mexican National Team doesn't appear to be forthcoming. For now, we guess. If SUM's commitment is to grow the game by reinvesting money made from the more popular of America's two national teams, then all of this is moot, and concerns can be allayed; but if SUM is promoting El Tri, arguably to the detriment of the USMNT, without a direct connection to a better future for American soccer, then there's something wrong with this picture.
There are millions of Mexican-Americans, both those born and raised here as citizens, and those who made their way here for a better life. They show up for their beloved national team, wherever they appear. The market dictates that trading on that passion to make money is a very smart thing indeed, and the Mexican community in the United States must be ecstatic with the opportunities they have to see their team play on American soil.
Americans, on the other hand, have a long way to go. Attendance for National Team games played here is often underwhelming. Fans that do travel and support the Yanks are too often the minority in American stadiums. Tickets go on sale and are immediately snatched up by resident populations from Latin neighbors or re-sold to them by Americans. Rarely have USMNT fans shown that they will go to the same lengths as Mexicans, Hondurans, Salvadorians, etc., to follow their team domestically. If SUM only cares about making money, which seems to be the case, then catering to an American audience is simply bad for business.
But does that necessarily mean that American soccer should come second in its own country? Will this path ever change, or has it already turned into a inescapable rut?
The United States is home to two national teams. But between SUM and all-too-apathetic American population, the one that wears "USA" on their shirts is forced to play second fiddle. Make way for the headliner, Mexico.
