MLS Gets Good News at Crucial Time

Even though we've had a first division league for nearly 14 years and a national team that's on the verge of qualifying for its sixth straight World Cup, soccer still occupies a pretty peripheral spot on the American sports landscape.

For that reason, every bit of good news matters. Even if they're not headline worthy and don't 't get the mainstream sports media and fanbase talking, small steps forward are a sign of bigger steps to come. And this week has included several, giving US soccer supporters reason to be optimistic as crucial qualifiers approach and as the MLS regular season reaches its climax.

CONCACAF Champions League: Major League Soccer's performance in this part of the world's first legitimate continental championship tournament was pathetic. Famously, epically pathetic. Four guaranteed berths in the competition imply that MLS is equal to the Mexican first division as the strongest league in CONCACAF.

But last term, the Houston Dynamo, D.C. United, New England Revolution and Chivas USA combined to go 2-10-6 against opposition from powerhouse countries like Trinidad & Tobago and Panama, among others. Houston saved MLS from total embarrassment, defeating San Francisco of Panama and L.A. Firpo of El Salvador and advancing to the quarterfinals. Meanwhile, USL1's entrants from Montreal and Puerto Rico went a combined 11-5-6, with the Islanders falling in the semifinals on penalties. MLS was lucky that FIFA didn't force it to remove the word "Major" from its name.

This season has been a different story and a breath of fresh air. The awful New York Red Bulls were a predictable preliminary round casualty, but Houston, D.C. and the Columbus Crew now are each in the driver's seat for a quarterfinal berth. Houston (2-1-1 in Group A), crushed Panama's Arabe Unido, 5-1, this week and now holds the tiebreaker. Its game against Mexican powerhouse Pachuca is at Robertson stadium, leaving a trip to winless and goalless Isidro Metapan (El Salvador) as the last hurdle before the knockout stages.

Columbus lost to visiting Cruz Azul this week, but is 2-2-0 and two points above Costa Rica's Saprissa in the chase for the second quarterfinal berth from Group C. Columbus hosts El Monstruo Morado next Tuesday. And D.C. United, who laid a 0-5-1 egg in the 2008-09 group stage, rediscovered its offensive form and rolled to a 3-0 triumph over Honduras' Marathon on Thursday night. D.C. (2-2-0) now holds the tiebreaker over the Hondurans for second place in Group B.

Overall, a noteworthy improvement for MLS, which is a far less humiliating 6-6-4 in the tournament so far.

New Stadiums: Soccer specific stadiums, or at least facilities where the MLS tenant has some say over revenue and scheduling, are the lifeblood of American pro soccer, and there was progress made this week on several fronts.

On Saturday, San Jose Earthquakes owner Lew Wolff unveiled the design for a "European-style stadium" to be built next to the city's airport. And it is indeed "European." Moving away from the cookie-cutter architecture seen in so many other MLS venues (the concrete concourse sitting above shallow stands, the ornamental roof, etc.), the Quakes new home will feature steeper seating, fans right on the field and a wrap-around roof that is actually low enough to hold in the noise. Pictures and more information can be found here.

The Red Bulls announced the opening date for what promises to be a palace: March 27 against Chicago. And although the Philadelphia Union will play their first home match at the Eagles' Lincoln Financial Field, the expansion club promised it will "play the vast majority of our games in our own stadium" in 2010.

Grass in Toronto?: Players hate artificial turf. That's not going to change, no matter how much spin the soccer suits try to muster, and no matter how hard they try to suppress the players' and fans' complaints. The only reason it exists is financial. It obviously does not improve the game.

Two years ago, David Beckham made a few waves after criticizing the fields at Giants Stadium and BMO Field. "I didn't realize FieldTurf was acctually a company," he said in Washington, admitting that he had purchased several of the fields for his youth academy. "At that level and other sports around the world, I think it's a great service. At this level...I love playing on grass and I think soccer should always be played on it."

Turns out Toronto may now be feeling the same way. Buried in Thursday's unveiling of MLS's 2010 home openers was an admission that TFC's first game "will be determined pending the outcome of the club's proposal to install a grass surface at BMO Field." To prove that the preference for grass is nearly unanimous, even the mayor of Toronto is getting involved.

It's only one stadium, but it's a step in the right direction.

MLS Cup in primetime: Sadly, MLS Cup 2010 may be played on the artificial stuff in Seattle. But at least the game won't be buried in an unappetizing and anonymous mid-day time slot.

This year, ESPN has agreed to broadcast the game at 8:30 p.m. ET, exposing the match to a prime-time audience. Sure it's on cable instead of ABC, but it's 2009 -- that distinction barely matters at this point. It also will be up against the national Sunday night NFL game, but that's just one event. Most people have remote controls. This is a great move.

According to the Sports Business Journal, the number of viewers per game for ESPN2's telecasts has risen 7% from last year. It's but another small step, but again, one that is cause for cautious optimism for a league and a sport still trying to find its place.