Latin invasion!

Not since Ricky Martin have guys in suits drooled over the potential economic impact of a Latin “explosion” in a U.S. market. But with Ricky (William) Hung out to dry and Shakira’s shake no longer accompanying fries, people lost interest quickly and the “explosion” amounted to nothing more than the backfire of a 1976 Chevy, with fuzzy dice on the rearview and leopard-skin seat covers. Leopard, man, illegal leopard.

So will MLS’s Latin infusion draw fans or turn them away? Will foreign imports like Juan Pablo Angel, Cuauhtémoc Blanco and Guillermo Barros Schelotto attract the still largely untapped Latino and Hispanic fan base or will these fans continue to stay home and watch satellite matches? And, more importantly will Latin stars like Christian Gomez and Juan Toja improve enough to be given middle names?

Just like the Latin music invasion, the answer to market success will depend on the endurance of quality, not quick fixes. MLS used to try to place the south-of-the-border imports in cities with large percentages of a particular player’s ethnicity. The jury-rigging of Mexican striker Luiz Hernandez in Los Angeles is a prime example. DC United’s former forward Raul Diaz Arce, a Salvadoran import, is another. But despite the relative successes and failures of these attempts, the effects of ethnic market manipulation eventually dissipate.

The only real way to attract and to keep fans is to play quality soccer consistently. Now more GMs are identifying the stars first, and then relying on their respective team’s success to drive ticket sales. It is, I believe, a better long-term strategy, but only if you are going after the right players.

As I said in an earlier blog, I believe Juan Pablo Angel will have the most immediate impact in MLS, and Blanco could still have some drawing power among Mexican fans. But neither player is a spring chicken, and each player’s impact, at least on the field, will likely be for a season or two. Ready-made stars are necessary, but to truly attract a larger fan base, among Latin America and America proper, the quality needs to be sustained and world-class talent should be developed as well as bought. MLS is already busy creating homegrown American stars. Who is to say that we couldn’t develop talent from Brazil or Colombia?

Few MLS teams are really using their Youth International designation to tap into the potential treasure troves of soccer talent to our south. Only three teams – DC, Toronto and Chivas – are using all three of the YI slots available to them, while seven teams have only one Youth International listed on their first-team rosters. Kansas City is the only team with no YIs on its roster.

And of those teams with YIs, only a few teams seem to be eyeing young South and Central American talent. In total, the league boasts about 20 YIs on current first-team rosters, and only six of these players are from Latin America: Ricardo Virtuoso (CLB) and Paulo Nagamura from Brazil, Facundo Erpen (DC) from Argentina, Roberto Mina (DAL) from Ecuador, Francisco Mendoza from Mexico and Juan Toja from Colombia.

With the economic woes many Latin American leagues (and countries) are experiencing and the difficulties England and other European nations are having with over-the-pond transfers (see Tevez), MLS appears to be in prime position to snap up some of these future stars before they become household names (nombres de casas?).

It’s like that movie with Kevin Bacon, “The Air Up There.” Mr. Bacon, a college basketball scout, goes to a remote village in Africa and finds a super-tall African tribesman who, it just so happens, can dunk like a motherfucker. Ok, it’s nothing like that movie, but I thought I’d bring it up because it still makes me laugh to think someone had to pitch that movie and then someone else besides the writer’s mom thought it sounded like a good idea.

But, seriously, MLS teams should be scouting the villages and towns in South and Central America looking for that future international star. MLS might just discover the next Maradona or Pele.