MLS chief wary of World Cup over-reach

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Major League Soccer has received a World Cup bounce and wants to create a second team in New York but will not get carried away by the boost in interest in the game, commissioner Don Garber told Reuters.

French striker Thierry Henry recently signed for MLS team New York Red Bulls, joining David Beckham as one of the North American league's front men and Garber believes MLS will gain from a new club in the Big Apple.

New York headquartered-MLS, which began play in 1996, will have 19 teams by 2012.

"We are very focused on trying to have that 20th team in New York - a second team in New York, a rival for the Red Bulls," he said in an interview Tuesday.

"We have got a lot of work to do to achieve that. We may or may not achieve that but that is our goal and our main focus for the 20th team. That would be pretty cool," he said, confirming any new team would be in New York City proper.

The Red Bulls are based in Harrison, New Jersey, about 12 miles west of Manhattan.

The MLS have already held talks in the past with the Wilpon family who own Major League Baseball's New York Mets.

Garber said the recent World Cup finals, with record television audiences across the United States, was good news for the league but added that it was vital to accept that many fans of the game were not yet supporters of MLS.

"The World Cup was a momentous event for the sport in America," he said. "It far exceeded our expectations, not just television ratings but the overall buzz and interest surprised even the most cynical people.

"We hope to be able to capture some of that excitement but we recognize that soccer continues to grow in America and MLS is growing as well. But there is still such a huge gap between club interest and the broad interest in the game.

"Our challenge, our task, will continue to be to translate the overall interest in the game into being a passionate supporter of your local team. Clearly we hope ratings and attendance will grow but it will be very modest, if it all. As the market grows it gives us more opportunity," he said.

"The sport is beginning to break through more into the cultural mainstream and that is because of ESPN, who have made soccer relevant and brought it into our living rooms.

"It's also about the continued expansion of MLS - we will be in 19 cities in 2012. It is David Beckham, it is Landon Donovan, becoming a great American soccer hero, it was the officiating controversy at the World Cup (when) and all of a sudden Americans had their hair stood up saying we've got to really support our boys.

"So there are so many things at work and for the league. We have just got to grab on to part of that but recognize that is not transformational, that it is an evolutionary process," he said.

BIG-TIME AMBITIONS

A deal signed earlier this year with the players' union ruled out radical changes to the league's structure and budgets but Garber said the league retained big-time ambitions.

He said MLS was wary of making major mistakes.

"This is a long-term plan, we hope to be able to be competitive with the great soccer leagues in the world," he said.

"All businesses should have a grand vision and that is ours. It is going to take a long time and it will be generational not immediate.

"But with all the things happening in our country -- the broad interest in soccer overall, the emergence of the Spanish market as important socially, culturally and from a business perspective, the young American kids who played the game who are now mums and dads and businesspeople -- I do believe that we will be able to achieve our goals. We just can't shoot ourselves in the foot.

"As long as we don't try to go after it too quickly, as long as we don't think that because there is a great World Cup that all of a sudden MLS is going to be attracting those kinds of audiences, as long as we keep our heads down, we are going to be fine," he said.

(Editing by Steve Ginsburg)