NEW YORK - Major League Soccer (MLS) insiders stated that the league was concerned that punishing Dante Vanzeir additionally for admitted racist language would alienate racists, as they push to create a big tent for everyone to enjoy soccer.

“We aren’t a political sport,” stated one league insider. “And if racists want to come enjoy soccer we don’t want to make them feel bad for their racist outbursts. Punishing Vanzeir additionally for what happened wouldn’t do anything for our brand other than making it appear that we don’t accept racism, and we need all the fans we can get.”

It was announced today that Vanzeir would receive a six game suspension for his admitted racist outburst categorizing racist language behind PEDs in terms of severity.

“Look you can demean races all you want on the field, that’s a six game suspension,” stated one insider. “But we believe that everyone agrees that drugs are going to get you 10 games just like we did with Roman Torres.”

Sources say that while fans were disappointed with the six game suspension that they needed to look at it from every angle.

“What does it say to the racist soccer fans out there if we give him a larger suspension,” stated one league insider. “What we are saying, if we did that, is that this league doesn’t want racists as fans. Six games hits the sweet spot where we can say we did something but it isn’t enough to attract the attention of Fox News.”

The Nutmeg News will have more on this as Alexi Lalas tries to construct a strawman argument built around whether people can grow and change.