CARSON, Calif. – On Thursday Major League Soccer announced the creation of Los Angeles Football Club, a team that will enter the league in the 2017 season.
The nearly two-hour long announcement of the team that will replace the now-defunct Chivas USA centered primarily on the group’s ownership which includes such dignitaries entrepreneur Henry Nguyen, sports industrialist Peter Guber, Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Mia Hamm Garciaparra, Tony Robbins, and 17 others.
While the move drew plenty of attention from MLS circles, for the Galaxy, who are currently on the drive for a record fifth MLS Cup, the addition of a new expansion club in 2017 changes little.
In fact, according to club president Chris Klein, it’s just “business as usual” at StubHub Center.
“From a league level, this is a very positive move. It’s no secret that there were a lot of reasons that the Chivas USA experiment did not work,” he told LA Galaxy Insider on Thursday. “I’ve met with the ownership group when they attended a few of our games and they seem very committed. I’m excited for them to come into MLS and while I think that the project is certainly not going to be easy by any means, I think it’s a real positive from a league level.
“But this doesn’t change what we do at all. We’ve been around since the beginning and we’ve always been very aggressive with our approach. We didn’t look at it that way when Chivas came into the league [in 2005] and we’re certainly not going to look at it that way when a new club comes into the league in two years. For us, we need to continue to do the things that we do.”
Perhaps no talking point was more discussed during Thursday’s announcement than the team’s intention to play somewhere within Greater Los Angeles—and preferably in Downtown.
But with the success of teams like the Portland Timbers, Seattle Sounders FC and Vancouver Whitecaps FC, downtown stadiums have become a major component of MLS’ new marketing strategy.
However, Klein believes that the challenges of the second largest market in the U.S. are considerably different than the cities of the Pacific Northwest and make Carson an ideal home for the Galaxy
“Los Angeles is a city that is very different than most. We love the location that we have and we feel like from a fan perspective, it offers a lot of advantages that you can’t get anywhere else,” Klein said. “If you look at our location, we’re close to Downtown L.A., close to the South Bay and close to major freeways.”
“Also from a club perspective, we feel like we have the best facility in our league,” he added. “Those are extremely difficult to build in any market let alone Los Angeles, but once they get their stadium plan then that’s going to be their challenge to get that done. We’ll see where it goes, but we’re very confident about what we have at StubHub Center and the atmosphere that we provide.”
That being said, Klein was quick to mention that the club is already working to alleviate the burden of transportation and hopes to announce concrete plans in the near future.
“Transportation is always a challenge in Los Angeles but we’re working diligently with government agencies to improve that,” Klein noted. “We have a lot of exciting things coming up and we hope to announce them shortly.”
But Improvements of StubHub Center are already in the works as the club recently announced a $15 million dollar investment in the facility. In addition to installing the largest video board in MLS, the team will also upgrade locker room amenities for the first team, Galaxy II and the Galaxy Academy.
“When we came into StubHub Center, we were just one team and now we’re a club,” said Klein. “When you look at the additions of the video board, the reduction of season ticket prices, this is part of a long-term investment in our club. We are L.A. and we’ve always thought about where we come from and how to build on what we want to achieve.”
With further additions to StubHub Center already planned, Klein is confident that no matter what occurs with LAFC, the Galaxy will continue to build upon their sterling legacy.
“We’ve been a fabric of the Los Angeles community for 20 years. From our time at the Rose Bowl, we’ve been a part of the rich soccer history in L.A.,” said Klein. “But it goes beyond the success of our first team, it’s about how we’ve always reached out to the community and that starts with the work of Mr. Anschutz, Dan Beckerman at AEG and it filters into each thing that we do.
“We’re going to continue to innovate and to lead the sport of soccer in this country. We have to be a leader and we always have been when you look at the signing of David Beckham, the advent of Galaxy II and the unprecedented enhancements to our stadium, I don’t think that there will ever be an end to innovation because we will continue to evolve.”
Adam Serrano is the LA Galaxy Insider. Read his blog at LAGalaxy.com/Insider and contact him at LAGalaxyInsider@Gmail.com.
