Every time a team wins the Champions League, they should write apology letters to their fans since they won’t be able to use their favorite team in the next installment of FIFA without looking like pricks.

I’m getting really tired of seeing mlssoccer.com saying things like the NYRB-NYCFC “rivalry” is “heating up”. There is no rivalry to be heated, because there’s no team to hate; at least not yet. There’s only an organization, a club that was let into the league on the basis of money alone.

Any animosity towards NYCFC seems to stem from two issues; the first being that Garber is zealously labeling this new team as the arrival of MLS in New York in a way he never did for NYRB; a team that has existed in the Metro area for about 17 years now (formerly as the MetroStars). The second being the more nationwide sentiment that, apparently, it doesn’t matter if your team has a good amount of support, a developing youth program, and dedicated ownership; Garber will give expansion spots to the richest investors he can find and tell you he did it because you don’t have a stadium, even though they won’t have one either for two or three years.

There is no rivalry. There is only objection to the idea that MLS should simply be sold to the highest bidder, as opposed to welcoming in clubs with established support and infrastructure: something that has helped make the Northwestern clubs (teams the league’s marketing department loves to use when it comes to giving the league a “genuine”, “hardcore” image) so stable and vibrant. There’s a phrase the league has been using lately in their advertising: “This is soccer.” But at least to me, that doesn’t seem to be the case right now.

Right now, “This is business.” Nothing more.