18 August 2023
Supporters can pick holes in Minnesota United, but Loons owner Bill McGuire chooses to take a holistic approach.
The Loons (7-8-7) are one point outside the newly expanded, nine-team Western Conference field for the MLS Cup Playoffs, with 35 percent — 12 matches — left in the regular season.
For years, MNUFC has been outside the top 15, sometimes top 20, in MLS salary spending and has needed to outperform that low ranking on the field to clinch four consecutive playoff appearances.
But to McGuire, it’s about more that. He points to things such overall competitiveness and experiences, Allianz Field being tabbed as the best stadium in MLS, per the Philadelphia Inquirer, and the club’s and players’ standing within the community.
“I think what fans want is, one, a great experience,” McGuire said this week. “And two, they want to have a club or a team that they can be oriented with, they can feel part of. It has emotions around. I don’t think that a majority of people expect to go and watch a win every single game. They expect to see good competition. They expect to see good effort. They expect to see good people doing this. They expect to have a great time.”
Here is a condensed version of McGuire’s Q&A with the Pioneer Press:
How do you view the season so far?
Mixed. I think it’s been a challenging season because we’ve had some players (midfielders Robin Lod and Kervin Arriaga) go down that we weren’t expecting. We had a delay in (star playmaker Emanuel Reynoso) getting things sorted out and getting here. … I think we’ve been a little choppy in performance. We’ve shown some good times — and we’ve seen some less than that. And, obviously, we’ve looked a lot better of late. Ups and downs.
Loons manager Adrian Heath often talks about making the MLS Cup Playoffs four years in a row, the only Western Conference team to do so. Do you look at that as the benchmark for success or do you think it needs to go higher?
Everybody that’s involved in teams wants to win the championship and trophies and all of that stuff. That’s always the aspiration. The realities, though, are that sports are difficult, and every other team has those same aspirations. So it’s not short of a few circumstances — very easy to say that’s the only standard. I think getting into the playoffs for four consecutive years is probably a good marker to have achieved certain things — some consistency, some quality play to get there. But we want to be better than just getting in. There’s more for us to do.
How do you look at routine struggles at the striker position since 2019?
I’m not a football guru. We’ve obviously just not found the right person. For whatever reasons, the people we brought in haven’t been able to work in the way it was envisioned. … We haven’t been out there spending vast amounts of money on that position, either. When you’re trying to find somebody that has quality and also added potential, you can get them at a reasonable price that will work within your cap that precludes you from going out and getting an absolute surefire, known commodity. The differences are many millions of dollars and working within a salary cap and also with a certain amount of funds. But I think the real answer is: It’s just we haven’t found the right person. Is that somebody’s fault? Yes and no. They’re just missed. We haven’t scored on it.
New striker Teemu Pukki’s profile is of a goal scorer during his time in England. He will come in at a higher salary than the other strikers. …
You gotta remember that he didn’t have a transfer fee. You have to look at the aggregate money. He’s an experienced player. Some of the thinking across the lineup is you’re bringing in younger players. When you bring in younger players (like Bongi Hlongwane and Sang Bin Jeong) and try to stick with them, you give up some surety in certain areas sometimes, so trying to bring in a guy who can compliment some of the other people. (Pukki) makes a good salary, but he’s a proven, high-profile performer.
How do you look at Minnesota United’s salary spend and how the Loons have out-performed that spot in the table year over year. Is that the recipe of how you want the club to be or do you feel like there is going to need to be bigger investments going forward?
Complicated question. The first thing is that we have to look at our club, the totality and the realities of our market and this organization. We have to try the best we can to provide a great experience with the club, as well as the best team we can possibly put out there, within our own resources and our own situation. First and foremost, that’s what we have to do: stick to our plan in building something, and hopefully we will get there. That could mean having to spend some more money.
But that shouldn’t be driven by saying we’ve got to chase what somebody else wants to do. That’s the important thing. We have to be who we are. I’m not sure people always realize that. Sports is not just about the team that spends the most money, although that oftentimes is paired at least with consistent, higher performance. You look across MLS. Atlanta came out, sky high and huge payroll that first year (2017 and 2018), fumbled afterwards. Look at this year, before the summer window, Toronto. We’d all like to be precise and seeing exactly what we pick result in exactly what we want. And it almost never happens. … Just like the business, you want to set your set your goals and try to fulfill the totality of that and it’s got to be balanced.
Philadelphia Union coach Jim Curtin made headlines after the Leagues Cup semifinal about how MLS rules need to change. What’s your perspective of MLS rules and how it can push forward?
I think they could be modified and changed somewhat. I don’t think an open, free-for-all is certainly what I want to see. There may be some clubs, obviously, that think that’s OK. That’s not OK if you’re a mid- or small-market club. You can’t do that, especially in a league that doesn’t have revenue sharing and other things. There’s no luxury tax for us like there is in the NBA. I think we have to be careful and measured in that kind of stuff.
… I don’t think it’s just everybody do whatever, unlimited. You’ll get a highly imbalanced kind of situation. You have some of that in the European leagues now and you see a lot of negative comments.
Where do you feel there is improvements that can be made in MLS rules?
How you can manage the middle of a lineup or broader across 11 players, for instance, as starters. Traditionally, it’s all being focused mostly on those three (Designated Players) and then it’s been modified now for (Under-22 Initiative). And so that’s one thing. I think there are things relative to inter-league transfers and sales that could be done that would be beneficial.
We’ve seen the buzz in what Lionel Messi has brought to the league with Inter Miami. Has there been anything tangible from an ownership standpoint with that?
There is awareness; nobody can deny that. … With that awareness, it’s not just a given player participating, but it also then starts to highlight the quality of play overall. And you could say the Leagues Cup (with Mexico’s Liga MX) has done that. … Clearly we are all interested in Apple TV and them doing well because they are leading the charge to spread the league’s awareness and joy of watching the clubs. He’s clearly brought upside to subscriptions in Apple TV.