7 reasons the International Champions Cup should be thrown down a well and left there
By Dan Voicescu
The International Champions Cup hurts local soccer
It may be very tempting to fall into the trap laid out by the organizers, buy the hype and break the piggy bank to witness a “once in a lifetime” event. However, if you truly care about the game, realize that the organizers only care about maximizing their profit. Yes, seeing Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and the like may feel like a once in a lifetime unique opportunity. However, choosing to spend your hard earned cash when the ICC circus comes to town means you’re probably foregoing the chance to spend time and money on the local soccer franchise.
Relevent Sports, the ICC organizers, have no issue swooping in during the middle of the MLS season, and disrupting the local competition in order to parade around some of soccer’s bigger names, who would probably prefer gearing up for the new season in a more tranquil setting anyway. This makes a mockery of MLS, essentially extending a middle finger and sending the message that a friendly game takes precedence over the local league. It’s hard enough for MLS to gain respectability as it is. Putting the season on hold in order to allow a bunch of exhibition games to take place doesn’t bode well for the league’s reputation. To make matters worse, local MLS teams are ineligible to advance to the ICC latter stages. In other words, the local teams are the Washington Generals of soccer.
Why support such a blatant charade?