Wheeling and Dealing MLS Style and some RSL news
March 9, 2009 by f4denz.
As a fan of MLS and a season ticket holder with my third team since the league began (Columbus, Dallas, and now Real Salt Lake), I know that the league has struggled to keep its head close to the water line, but more often than not teams have lost money. For a decade the fans have been told that teams would be much more likely to be profitable as teams got their own stadiums, and the TV coverage got better, and as players were developed in MLS, and for most teams now that has happened. But at the end of this season things are going to have to change for MLS, the contract with the players will expire. 12 teams will either be playing in soccer specific stadiums or have them under construction (more if Houston gets their deal done), the league will probably have announced the 17th and 18th franchises to join MLS. Despite a struggling economy in the US and around the world, the league is not only meeting their season ticket goals, but exceeding them. It is clear that the time for the biggest change in the leagues history has come, time for teams to be responsible for their own teams (contracts, payroll, websites, merchandise deals, and every other aspect of operations), yes we still need the league to play a role but I believe it is time for some new leadership. I have a ton of respect for what Don Garber has done, but with the upcoming contract negotiations with the players union, we need to get some fresh blood and some fresh ideas.
More special treatment for LA
Well if you ever had any doubts about how MLS is run, they probably were reinforced this week. One only has to look at the Beckham debacle to understand that AEG truly gets whatever they want from MLS leadership. So Don Garber says that Beckham despite being under contract to the LA Galaxy will only count as $200,000 against their salary cap, instead of the 400,000 that a DP should count against their salary cap, he uses the logic of well he will only be there for half the season. The point is that even if David takes 1/2 of his 6.5 million dollar salary which his contract calls for in 2009, it would still put him well over the salary cap and he should count as the DP and LA should be hit with the full amount against their salary cap. It is clear that AEG and the Don are trying to find a way to get another player into LA, and by only charging LA with $200K for Beckham that it will allow them to add the other $200K to the almost $190K they have remaining in cap room. You know it was just as bad last year when LA was allowed 3 DP’s, with Beckham their claimed DP, Landycakes who continues to be grandfathered with his almost 1 million dollar contract, and Carlos Ruiz who also was over the league cap for a player.
Also consider the following info from Steve Goff’s Soccer Insider
“English superstar David Beckham will remain on loan to AC Milan through the end of the Italian Serie A season. He will return to the Los Angeles Galaxy when the international transfer window reopens on July 15. As part of the multi-million dollar arrangement, which includes funding by Beckham himself, Milan has agreed to play a friendly against the Galaxy on July 19 at Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. The Galaxy league match against New York scheduled for July 18 has been moved to July 16.
Beckham will not count against the Galaxy’s 20-man senior roster or the salary cap until he returns to MLS. “I’m really grateful to the Galaxy and AC Milan for making this dream deal happen,” Beckham said.
With Beckham only available for half of the MLS season, the Galaxy also announced price cuts on ticket prices and will offer refunds to those who have already purchased season or individual-game tickets.
What do you think?”
I think the clear bias is just plain sad and it really speaks to why the league needs to thank Don for the great job he did for so many years and then kindly ask him to leave. If he is going to bend the rules like this for teams that he deems as “critical” to the league. All you have to do is look at the contracts that TFC “another Garber favorite franchise” currently have, 21 players and $3,164,349.17, that in addition to the fact that TFC hasn’t been required to meet the league rules for international players. I understand them getting exceptions for the first year, heck even for the second year, but we are in year 3 and they now have 5 Canadian players and 16 international players(even with the MLS exception allowing them 13 international players), counting the 5 US players with the 5 Canadians the team still has 11 international players which is clearly in violation of the league rules. I know they gained one and a half international slots via trades and other agreements but how long will TFC be allowed to bend the rules as well?
What will come next is clear and that is that Seattle will be allowed to bend the rules, will it be an exception to the salary cap as they look to fill out the rest of their roster? Will it be less obvious, like officials giving them a few more calls? We have never seen that happen when LA plays and their fanboy Kevin Stott, have we?
How to do your season ticket delivery
Well Seattle Sounders FC shipped their season tickets, and once again it is clear that the front office and ownership of SSFC gets professional sports and that they are a step ahead of every other team in MLS despite being an expansion team. To see photos of their ticket package click here to see the mls-rumors.net coverage. It isn’t that they included a scarf, everyone has done that, including a little FSC pin nice but, using the scarf as the ticket for the inaugural game (brilliant- how better to ensure 25,000 people with their scaves), is it their classically designed tickets, or that fact that they have included lyrics for a couple songs, nope it is the whole package from the branded delivery box to the entire ticket experience being designed to deliver a complete experience. Well Done, it is clear that the MLS Kick Off match will be a very special night in the Emerald City.
Growing up on the Kop #5
I urge you to take a couple minutes and head over the mls-daily.com and read Will Johnson’s weekly post. He talks about a friend of his who he played with and talk about a story about a guy who has gone through the wringer to get his chance to play footy, tough kid. Will also breaks a bit of news, it seems that Alex Nimo will be on loan to Portland for at least part of the 2009 season. I think that is a brilliant move by Jason and Garth, knowing that there is no reserve division get the young (will turn 19 later this month) kid some playing time, Alex doesn’t count against our salary cap as he is part of the Generation Adidas program.
NImo to spend time with Portland
As Will wrote this morning Alex Nimo will be on loan to Portland, so RSL will get to use his developmental slot while he is gone, but since Alex is part of Generation Adidas we will not gain any cap room. I expect that Alex will make some huge progress by getting a chance to play on a regular basis. This should let him get back on the US U20 team, and be ready to be a part of the RSL midfield for years to come. Hopefully we will get to play Portland in the US Open Cup.
The US Open Cup journey begins
Despite finishing in 3rd place in the West, despite being the last Western conference team in the playoffs, despite being one goal away from the MLS Cup, the MLS decided that RSL would be part of the 8 teams to have to “play” their way into the US Open Cup. So at least with those facts RSL should get their matches at home, right? Nope MLS broke the 8 teams down by East and West and placed in brackets and then a coin was tossed to see who would get home pitch advantage, that sounds oh so fair. Anyhow somehow we end up making our second trip of the year to Seattle to face the Sounders FC on April 28th meaning two trips in a month to the Pacific Northwest but instead of playing the match a Qwest field or “xbox pitch at Qwest field”, the match will be held at a soccer facility in Tukwila (a south suburb of Seattle). Well at least once we dispatch the Sounders, we will get the winner of the Colorado/LA matchup at home.
OFF MY SOAPBOX