“Ambition” might be my least favorite word in the English language at the moment.
It’s been an even hotter topic of discussion surrounding the Seattle Sounders’ offseason than usual. The problem I have is that it’s entirely subjective. For the amount it gets talked about, no set definition or criteria inform the discussion.
To address that issue, I have created the official Lobbing Scorchers Ambition Ratings in an attempt to decrease that subjectivity.
Super-advanced scientific mathematical formula
To create these ratings, I looked at a selection of seven MLS clubs that are typically talked about as the most ambitious and assigned them a score out of 50 based on my outlined criteria.
- LA Galaxy
- LAFC
- Seattle Sounders
- Inter Miami
- Atlanta United
- FC Cincinnati
- Columbus Crew
As I was creating this mathematically advanced, scientific formula, I realized that the concept of ambition in MLS clubs can be thought of in two different ways: All-time vs. Current.
Simply put, how ambitious you were years ago when you first joined the league might not still be how ambitious you are now. You’ll see this reflected in Seattle’s ratings. They scored very high on the all-time ratings, but received a lower score for their current rating.
The explanation of the criteria and final results can be found in the video below (please watch and subscribe to Lobbing Scorchers).
Conclusion
This turned out to be an interesting little thought exercise that I tried to go into without bias as much as I could. It’s not meant to be taken that seriously, but I actually think the scores, while certainly debatable, came out as a fairly accurate reflection of the league’s all-time and current hierarchy.
Ultimately, I believe that the discussions of ambition far too often don’t take into account the reason we do all this: Winning games and trophies. Clubs like the Chicago Fire have undeniably shown great ambition in terms of their transfer spending – which seems to be the only criteria a lot of people use to define ambition – and they’ve been one of the worst teams in the league for years. Plenty of Sounders supporters would swap owners with Atlanta United to capitalize on Arthur Blank’s deep pockets. But would anyone want to swap trophy cases with them?
What about Seattle?
As it pertains to Seattle, I thought it was interesting how much lower they scored under the current criteria than the all-time criteria. I think that indicates two things in this situation:
- Seattle Sounders are unquestionably one of the league’s most ambitious all-time clubs, as demonstrated by their electric MLS beginnings, their performance and victory in Concacaf Champions Cup and their overall trophy haul.
- The shine has worn off a bit, both in terms of attendance and on-field performance (particularly on offense), and there’s work to be done to re-assert themselves that should not be minimized or discounted.
I also believe that not every roster move the club makes needs to be a referendum on a club’s ambition. If re-signing Albert Rusnák and trading for Jesús Ferreira helps the team win games and trophies, why do we care how ambitious those moves are perceived to be?
Needless to say, it’s a big year for the club to put up the results on the field that can hopefully free us of this discourse next offseason. At the end of the day, I see it as a simple calculation: Get back to putting trophies in the trophy case, and where you fall in the Ambition Ratings becomes entirely irrelevant.
