So maybe he doesn't lurk around the soccer discussion boards on the Net. And maybe he doesn't toss and turn at night wondering who would have to replace Claudio Reyna in the U.S. lineup.

But make no mistake, folks, Billionaire Phil Anschutz is one of us. He is a lunatic soccer fan. The only difference between St. Phil (a perennial top-10 name on those Richest Men in America lists) and the rest of us is he's got a little more change jingling around in his pockets.

So instead of going on the BigSoccer.com message boards and ranting about the state of soccer in the United States, he takes out his checkbook and does something about it.

Nothing any of us wouldn't do, if we didn't have to worry about things like groceries.

If you confused by the press releases announcing that "MLS has purchased the English-language television rights in the United States for the next two FIFA World Cups (Japan/Korea 2002 and Germany 2006) from the Kirch Group, and will produce, package and sell the programming". Or that "A new company has been formed by MLS investors to manage sales, service and broadcast production for the World Cup properties" understand that, basically, Anschutz bought the World Cup rights and swapped it to ABC and ESPN for improved MLS television coverage (i.e. a consistent time slot, more promos,etc.).

What else can we say to Phil but "thanks, bro."

A lot of us who don't speak Spanish were worried that we were going to have to watch the bulk of the World Cup on Univision this time around. While that wouldn't have been so bad (hey, when my five year-old son misses the net by an inch he now shouts "muy circa!"), having the games in English is a nice thing. I mean, if I'm going to stay up all night watching games from Japan and South Korea this spring, I'm glad that I'll at least be able to understand more than just the basics. Goal kick. Corner Kick. And, of course ... Gooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaallllllllllllllllllllllllllllll!"

Personally, I wasn't as worried as others about the MLS TV package. First of all, I've got the Dish and get all the games I want or need. Secondly, even though 22 straight Saturday afternoon matches on ESPN2 is far and away the best TV package MLS has ever had, that's still pretty lousy. Remember Baseball's "Game of the Week" on NBC? That was on in a similar time slot. As you know, it's been dead for a decade.

Why? Because no one sits in their house on Saturday afternoons in the summer watching television, that's why. And, as we've seen for six years now, afternoon soccer in the summer is cruel on the players.

But hey, we've got to believe Anschutz did the best he could. And, at this point, we have no choice but to put all our faith in St. Phil. For without him, who knows where we'd be today?

Before this week's TV announcement, the biggest thing Anschutz did to keep soccer moving forward in the U.S. was take over the MetroStars from the vision-less folks at MetroMedia. Really, it's a shame he didn't own them from the beginning, because the NY Metro market was the ripest of all back in '96. A team like the '96 Los Angeles Galaxy, Tampa Bay Mutiny or D.C. United would have averaged 40,000 a game at Giants Stadium. No doubt.

But that is water under the bridge. And Anschutz is not looking back.

No, Anschutz is looking forward and trying to clear up MLS's vision problem. First on the agenda is trying to figure out if the league will continue with 12 teams, or slice Miami and Tampa and go with 10.

A few weeks back, three South Florida newspapers reported definitively that the Miami Fusion and Tampa Bay Mutiny were closing down operations. Since those reports came out, MLS has been scrambling around Florida, sweeping the Tampa area for potential investors ("Mr. Steinbrenner -- Phil Anschutz is on line one."), and trying to make Miami investor Ken Horowitz go away so they can figure out what to do with the Fusion. The only thing the league knows for sure is the Fusion cannot make it with Horowitz at the helm.

Did anyone watch The Sopranos re-run last Saturday? There was this guy who ran a sporting goods store in Jersey who wanted to join the "Executive (poker) Game." Turns out, he only had enough money to get into the game -- not enough to lose his first four bets and stay in the game. Well, in a nutshell, that's Ken Horowitz. He wanted to play with Anschutz in the Executive Game but didn't have the jack to lose a few hands.

Now, Horowitz won't go away. The likely solution will be that MLS will keep him as an "investor" but remove him as an "operator." The Fusion will only survive if another operator (Anschutz) takes over.

A decision has to come down soon. I mean last year, when I reported that the league was considering disbanding the Fusion and San Jose Earthquakes it was right around this time of year and Commissioner Don Garber emphatically stated that it was ridiculous to think a decision like contraction could be made so close to the start of a new season. The difference this year, I suppose, is that Garber has gone on the record as saying that contraction is a possibility (along with a throwaway line about how "it's something we discuss every year" -- yes I feel totally vindicated, thank you.).

This year, with baseball also discussing contraction, MLS felt it wasn't such a bad thing to go a little bit public with this talk. Now, it's time to decide.

Personally, I think MLS should bid farewell to Tampa Bay and Miami. It's laughable that politicians and columnists are suddenly acting like they care about soccer in these two markets. The Mutiny have never been able to draw a decent crowd to a game that didn't include a Goo Goo Dolls concert. The Fusion, even with the best team in the league last season, was giddy whenever they drew more than 10,000 fans. Heaven forbid the Fusion slip to, say, the third-best record in the league this year and drop back to regular 5k crowds.

I wrote it years ago -- putting two MLS teams in Florida was the worst idea since putting two MLB teams in Florida. Fact is, after April, no one down there ever leaves their air-conditioned homes.

Alas, I would indeed hate for the Fusion to completely die, so I propose the following Single-Entity solution. Move the Fusion players to New England and throw the Revolution players, along with the Mutiny players, into a dispersal draft. It would be a pity to break up the league's best team. And it would be nice to see them playing in Foxboro, where the fans actually give a damn.

What do you think, Phil? Could you make that happen, bro?

Jeff Bradley is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at jeff.bradley@espnmag.com.