North American Pro Soccer 2017

[Gothamite]

4 hours ago, Still MIGHTY said:

I know you've been fully behind this from the start, because that's your wont. But personally, I think this thing will end up being an embarrassment for the Chargers. 

 

I understood that to be the point.  Who doesn't want to see the Chargers thoroughly embarrassed?

[FiddySicks]

Sac Republic FC is hosting Seattle Sounders FC 2 tonight during the California State Fair right smack in the middle of the fairgrounds at Cal Expo (we hosted Pachuca last week, but I didn't work). I don't care how fancy the new stadium Sacramento Republic is trying to build is. There's no way it comes close to matching this atmosphere. 

 

I'm genuinely going to miss this place when it's folded up and moved. 

[MJWalker45]

18 minutes ago, Bucfan56 said:

Sac Republic FC is hosting Seattle Sounders FC 2 tonight during the California State Fair right smack in the middle of the fairgrounds at Cal Expo (we hosted Pachuca last week, but I didn't work). I don't care how fancy the new stadium Sacramento Republic is trying to build is. There's no way it comes close to matching this atmosphere. 

 

I'm genuinely going to miss this place when it's folded up and moved. 

Can they do the San Jose thing and play one league game here during the State Fair?

[FiddySicks]

I hope they find a way to keep a few matches there during fair time in the future. It's a really unique atmosphere that I haven't seen at any other sporting facility. It almost feels like a throwback to older times, in a sense. It was chaotic, but man was it fun.

 

 

[Gothamite]

That does look cool.   There are tradeoffs with moving up, and I totally understand those who would ultimately prefer to stay where they are.  

[bosrs1]

On 7/22/2017 at 5:41 PM, dfwabel said:

There's gonna be a newness factor at play, but the team still must field a competent squad from the jump.

 

It'll help those far north of Carson, on the 405, but there's now a basic "dividing line" which could be muddled up more for the Galaxy if San Diego receives a franchise themselves.

 

Don't see how a team in San Diego would have any impact on the Galaxy/LAFC thing. The Galaxy aren't really relevant in San Diego right now (as with all LA teams). I don't see LAFC changing that. Only thing that will make MLS relevant to San Diego will be if/when San Diego gets a team in that league. Until then, San Diegans will watch the USMNT, Int'l Soccer leagues and the Club Tijuana Xolos as they've been doing since the latter was founded. With a few maybe giving the new NASL team a gander locally when they start play in 2018.

[Digby]

That Sacramento look reminds me of how much I prefer Revs games during the US Open Cup at the rickety little Harvard soccer stadium that holds 4000. (Well, that and I can actually go to them at all, what with the trains and buses.) I get wanting soccer to, in fact, be major league, but sometimes the quirks and intimacy of the growing pains years are pretty cool.

[wences]

I guess Miami MLS Club will show its identity the day that Madrid and Barça will play in the city.

[UnclearInitial]

So..uhm... I'll just leave this here

http://www.espnfc.com/major-league-soccer/story/3164144/mls-rejected-$4-billion-media-rights-deal-that-hinged-on-promotion-and-relegation

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Did you read it? The proposal was from the owner of the NASL Miami FC and would be for a brokerage deal. It's not like ESPN and Fox are offering $4B directly.

 

In any event, if he has that kind of money, he can certainly pay for a stadium in Cincinnati, Charlotte, San Diego or any other hopeful MLS market and have some money left over.

[Digby]

57 minutes ago, anythinglogos said:

So..uhm... I'll just leave this here

http://www.espnfc.com/major-league-soccer/story/3164144/mls-rejected-$4-billion-media-rights-deal-that-hinged-on-promotion-and-relegation

Pretty clearly a publicity stunt and I'm surprised it's getting so much credulous coverage.

[Gothamite]

Well, I think we've learned that Americans aren't exactly detail-oriented these days.  The headline sounds good, and you need to read an actual article(!) to learn what a farce the "offer" was.

[raysox]

On 6/19/2017 at 1:05 PM, raysox said:

This year, I've seen myself turned off soccer more and more just from how militant lower level soccer fans are on twitter. I have a bunch of friends in the 4th tier, but like, dang their outlook on how things should work is skewed.

 

I saw someone propose the top level of US Soccer be 16 regional leagues last week. 

Bumping this because this proposed $4b deal really rustled their feathers.

Oh and Ted Westervelt compared the MLS to the Apartheid so

 

[Gothamite]

Why does anyone give that  hole attention?  He's obviously a troll, interested only in hits and clicks and mentions.

[crashcarson15]

6 minutes ago, Gothamite said:

Why does anyone give that  hole attention?  He's obviously a troll, interested only in hits and clicks and mentions.

My favorite thing ever was when Ted argued with the actual Indy Eleven club account about how they weren't acting in their own interests and got this back:

 

Meanwhile, since the Eleven have now been brought up, how do you go about supporting a club owned by a guy you think it a :censored:bag trying to rob the city of money?

[Gothamite]

2 minutes ago, crashcarson15 said:

Meanwhile, since the Eleven have now been brought up, how do you go about supporting a club owned by a guy you think it a :censored:bag trying to rob the city of money?

 

Eh, lots of people have this problem.  The vast majority of sports owners are scumbags in one realm or another; we can't all be Green Bay Packers fans.   

 

I focus on the generational aspect of the sport; my kids will still be cheering for this team long after the current owners have sold or died.

[TBGKon]

15 hours ago, wences said:

I guess Miami MLS Club will show its identity the day that Madrid and Barça will play in the city.

Wait, can they really have an identity when technically they don't even really have a team?

[dfwabel]

1 hour ago, AstroBull21 said:

Wait, can they really have an identity when technically they don't even really have a team?

And another lawsuit about how the land was acquired was filed as there were no other bids allowed by Miami-Dade.

 

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article162945508.html

[UnclearInitial]

3 hours ago, Gothamite said:

Well, I think we've learned that Americans aren't exactly detail-oriented these days.  The headline sounds good, and you need to read an actual article(!) to learn what a farce the "offer" was.

 

3 hours ago, Digby said:

Pretty clearly a publicity stunt and I'm surprised it's getting so much credulous coverage.

 

3 hours ago, DG_Now said:

Did you read it? The proposal was from the owner of the NASL Miami FC and would be for a brokerage deal. It's not like ESPN and Fox are offering $4B directly.

 

In any event, if he has that kind of money, he can certainly pay for a stadium in Cincinnati, Charlotte, San Diego or any other hopeful MLS market and have some money left over.

Well that's what MP&Silva does. They're certainly shady scumbags, but they already broker the international  rights for pretty much all the major European soccer leagues and broker the European rights for the NFL. They have an unhealthy need for meddling in league politics and we've already seen them doing it here. If MP&Silva think they can get 4 billions to the MLS over 10 years and turn a profit for themselves than that's their problem to find operators who will keep that investment manageable, MLS gets its money. Will MLS ever turn in that kind of money by selling their rights themselves? Wouldn't  selling their media right for at least double their actual value make pro/rel worth it considering that MLS won't continue expanding indefinitely?

 

 

 

[Gothamite]

17 minutes ago, anythinglogos said:

If MP&Silva think they can get 4 billions to the MLS over 10 years and turn a profit for themselves than that's their problem to find operators who will keep that investment manageable, MLS gets its money. Will MLS ever turn in that kind of money by selling their rights themselves? Wouldn't  selling their media right for at least double their actual value make pro/rel worth it considering that MLS won't continue expanding indefinitely?

 

There are a couple problems with Silva's offer.

 

1.  As good as the money looks now, we don't know what MLS will be able to get for its television rights in 2023.  Silva was asking them to lock in a price now that would last until 2033, sixteen years from now.  And he would then have the ability to turn around and sell those rights across the world.  Maybe his offer will be better than they eventually get in 2023, but do we think it's automatically better than they'll get for the deal after that?  If the league keeps growing at its current pace, by the end of his contract Silva could be paying pennies on the dollar.   MLS knows this better than most, having agreed to lock in David Beckham's expansion fee for what is now less than 20% of what they could get from anyone else.

 

2.  Even if the offer was a clear financial winner, which it isn't, MLS can't even consider this offer now under the terms of their current broadcasting contract.  The league is prohibited from negotiating with anyone else until much closer to the final years of the contract.

 

3.  Finally, the money just isn't good enough to blow up the entire economic structure, the structure that has built the only successful soccer league in American history.  

 

So why exactly do we think MLS should have taken this deal, exactly?  And why do we even think Silva is serious in making it at all?