The Odd Couple?

The origins of the Grumpy Old Men

In 1965, The Odd Couple opened on Broadway.  The film version, starring Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon, came out in 1968 and the television series, with the less stellar duo of Tony Randall and Jack Klugman, debuted in 1970.  The script and screenplay were written by the prolific American playwright, Neil Simon, and were his seminal works.  The hilariously funny plot revolves around the conflict which arises when Felix, a neurotic control freak, is kicked out by his wife and moves in with his friend and fellow divorcee, Oscar, a fun loving slob.  The two are such fundamentally different characters that you have to wonder how their friendship developed, before it was ever tested by co-habitation.

A similar relationship seemingly exists between two rivals in Major League Soccer, the Los Angeles Galaxy and CD Chivas USA. The Galaxy are famous for their free spending ways, their payroll amounting to more than any other two MLS franchises combined and over three times the salary cap limit imposed by the league, not including the exception known as the Designated Player Rule.  Chivas, on the other hand, are not making use of the DPR and have easily the lowest wage bill of any MLS side, their players receiving almost twenty percent less in salary, on average, than the next lowest paid team in the league.  That’s quite a disparity when it comes to business models.  The difference is reflected in the standings, as well, with the Galaxy sitting comfortably atop the table, while the Goats find themselves tethered to one of the legs propping it up.

The clubs’rivalry on the pitch is perhaps the one true derby in MLS.  As the duo share a stadium, it’s easiest to link their animosity for each other to the San Siro Derby, between AC Milan and Inter, but, as the Angelino version has been dubbed the Super-Clasico, there are also parallels to be drawn with the Real/Barca feud in La Liga.  No matter to whom you compare them, the fans on either side of the line, like any true supporters, revel in their hatred for the other and are each proud of the image of their team.

Becks and Donovan were happy to follow the yellow brick road..

The Galaxy followers identify with the cinematic glamour and star power espoused by their team’s chosen moniker, as well as the extravagant $250m signing of David Beckham, who brought with him his celebrity wife and personal army of paparazzi.  With the fallout from the former England captain’s misadventures on loan at Milan still leaving a bitter taste in their mouths, the Galactic Armada is very happy that Landon Donovan has been locked into a long term deal to stay at the club, paying him over $2.5m per annum and that league commissioner, Don Garber, has steadfastly refused overtures from Europe for their talismanic leader.  A payroll over $10m is not a concern; throwing more money at problems is how you deal with them in Hollywood.  There are even rumours that the club may be shelling out a further  €10m to AC Milan for their out of favour, high flying and high living Brazilian party animal, Ronaldhino.

...While the Ultras believe Beckham should have taken a more humble path.

Chivas fans, meanwhile, remain unimpressed by their wealthy neighbours.  The club has earned a reputation for exceeding low expectations.  They are proud of their working class Latino roots and believe that this season’s struggles are just a transition period after losing their very successful manager, Preki, to Toronto FC.

One has to wonder, though, whether these fans are aware that, just under the surface, there lays a thorny reef of connections between the ownership of the two franchises that suggests the ‘rivalry’between them is only a charade manufactured in the interests of profit.

The Galaxy are owned by the Anschutz Entertainment Group, an entity that should be passingly familiar to concert goers in Manchester, London and Berlin.   AEG owns the MEN Arena in Manchester, and the O2 Arenas in London and Berlin.  The company is the second largest concert promoter in the world, purchasing professional sports teams to fill dates in the various venues it owns around the globe.  They were also purported to be the new sponsor for Manchester United in 2010-11, replacing AIG, before AON emerged as the new anagram to be emblazoned across the famous red and black strip.

Think of Anschutz as the Hollywood version of Roman Abramovich.

Anschutz’company has been known for conducting its business in an ubiquitous and, sometimes, insensitive manner.  A portion of the Berlin Wall, serving as a WWII memorial and symbol of peace was removed to afford a better view of Anschutz’new venue in that city.  When Michael Jackson passed away just before doing a series of shows at the London O2, AEG sent out letters to holders of prepurchased tickets, offering to sell them a ‘commemorative souvenir ticket’in place of a refund for their£64-84 tickets.  Randy Phillips, the AEG Live CEO, responding to media inquiries as to the questionable taste of this marketing venture said that, “Since he (Jackson) loved his fans in life, it is incumbent upon us to treat them with the same reverence and respect after his death.”

In the US, Anschutz has used the influx of the MLS, a league with a mandate for use specific (soccer only) stadia, to further his fortune.  Most American sports leagues frown on one owner holding a major stake in multiple teams.  MLS, however, operates as a single entity, and is less concerned with the integrity of the financial competition between its member clubs than it is with that of the athletic variety.  That makes the partnership with MLS a perfect marriage for AEG, which is looking for tenants for its main business interest, stadia.  At 20-30,000 seats, the typical soccer venue in America is the perfect size to stage and sell out concerts.  In a country supposedly indifferent to the beautiful game, Phillip Anschutz’investment in MLS (AEG owns the Galaxy outright and has a fifty percent interest in the Houston Dynamo) has helped make him a billionaire and the 123rd richest person in the world.

The Home Depot Center, an AEG concert venue and MLS' Los Angeles bachelor pad for the odd couple that is the Galaxy and Chivas USA.

Chivas USA are owned by Jorge Vergara Madrigal and Antonio Cue Sanchez-Navarro.  Madrigal is also the owner of parent club, Chivas de Guadalajara, the largest club in Mexico, and Deportivo Saprissa of Costa Rica, the biggest in that rapidly modernising Central American nation.  Sanchez-Navarro and Shawn Hunter, the president and CEO, handle the day to day operations for the American version of Chivas.

A former timeshare salesman, Madrigal also has some interestingly coincidental, if not solidly established ties to the Galaxy ownership.  Not only is he a tenant in the Home Depot Center, he made his fortune by smuggling a brand of health care products, sold through multi-level marketing, into Mexico with the help of an American partner.  When the product took off, Madrigal was instrumental in negotiating marketing rights for the line in Mexico, with the federal government.  In so doing, he positioned himself to become the president of the newly legalised company, OmniLife, thus sitting prettily at the top of the Mexican pyramid.

For those of you who haven't been south of the border, our intrepid 'goat' herder is not a chauvinist. The Guadalajaran Chivas, whose strip is proudly worn by Senora Madrigal, is sponsored by the Mexican equivalent of Wonder Bread.

The millions he made from this revenue stream enabled him to buy the original Chivas and expand the brand, establishing the MLS franchise as well as Chivas Hefei, in the Chinese first division.  Chivas Hefei, it should be noted, plays its matches in a brand new 60,000 seat, soccer specific stadium.

As Anschutz did with AEG, Madrigal has invested in the entertainment industry, producing such films as Y, Tu Mama Tambien.

Oh, I almost forgot.  That American health product marketer?  You know, the parent company to OmniLife, of which Chivas is a subsidiary?  It should be familiar to LA Galaxy followers, as it’s name is emblazoned across their strip.  Chivas USA’s owner, Madrigal, is the president of the Mexican arm of the Galaxy’s main sponsor, HerbaLife.

To be fair, Don Garber and the executive board of MLS have not allowed any possible financial friendships to develop into anything more than the appearance of a possible conflict of interest.  No significant or untoward player transactions have occurred between the two clubs.  Although, the formation of Chivas USA provided a new foil for the Galaxy, so that Anschutz’other MLS holding, Houston Dynamo, who were doing very well, not coincidentally with a younger Landon Donovan on their roster, as the San Jose Earthquake, would not be deserting the Galaxy when they moved into their new AEG built digs in Texas.  Still, all in all, the business of football between the Home Depot Center roomies has stayed that of competitive rivals, whatever has gone on beyond that confined sphere.

MLS is growing, though.  The surge in American viewership for this year’s World Cup is an opportunity upon which the league can build, securing for itself a stronger foothold in the US sporting market.  It must remember, however, that Americans are, by nature, suspicious of soccer.  As more begin to pay attention to the game, so too will the media.  Even the appearance of a conflict of interest could do serious damage to the credibility of the fledgling league.