You can believe what you want to believe, at some point expansion will end. Even the "Don" has stated it. Not everyone who wants a team is going to get a team. So, at sometime your going to have to face reality.
That time isn't now though...It will stop everyone knows that, but IMO by 2030 it will be a 32 team league...two conferences that will set itself up similar to MLB with 30 games within the conference and some interleague games. MLS will not stop accepting $100 million checks for an arbitrary number.
Sure they will. It's not just about $100 million checks. It's about much more than that. It's about quality of marketing and ownership. It's about risk assessment. They want to increase the value of the existing clubs by what is call supply , demand and quality of product. This is not baseball, American football, hockey or basketball. The "Don" has already gone on record that 30 clubs would be way too many. There's a 90% chance they stop at 24 and other 10% gets them to 26 someday; but no more. Dream all you want too, but this is harsh reality.
Harsh reality? No it isn't...If they stopped right now it wouldn't affect me at all. That being said, the owners/investors of the league, Garber's bosses, will not stop accepting money. It is about supply and demand...As long as the demand is there they will continue expanding. The owners/investors will not say Minneapolis got 24 so that is it. If Charlotte wants to be in and has the money and package to do it they will get in the league. I think the harsh reality that people need to accept is that this is a business.
You obviously don't work in the business world. What you are suggesting is over expansion. When you over expanse at some point you contract. When you contract it hurts the position of your product. When you hurt your product you lose your business. So stop thinking so simple. These investors are very smart businessman, this is not the NASL.
No I am suggesting expansion to the level of every other professional sports league in the US. And in that I am saying that at some time in the future, say 2030-205. It is not over expansion and it definitely isn't the NASL You may want to study up on that some more. I did not say add 6 teams in one year. I did not say expand by 12 teams over a short time frame. I said they would not stop expanding as long as people were willing to pay $100 million for a team and I also said by 2030, I see it being over 30 teams just like every major sport in the USA. You will not hurt your product because just like each proceeding generation of development, more Americans will be developed through the system, and will have the ability to suplement with players from around the world. Many, Many people have said that the US could have two first divisions due to its size and scale, and MLS to me is well on the way to essentially doing that IMO. A 32 team MLS with two conferences of 16 teams with limited interleague play. Playoffs with MLS Cup. Now what I think is your worry is that YOU want MLS to stop at 24 for the reasons you have stated above and you are either dead set on 24 being the last hope of morphing a EURO type setup or you don't see what is happening in the league. MLS isn't going to get more EURO, it will continue to get less EURO and eventually be set up more like the NFL.
Sorry Steve, but you have it pretty wrong. MLS, in regards to expansion, is very much like the NBA, NFL, and NHL. MLS will continue to expand at a methodical and responsible pace (which about the only thing Garber has really said), until continued expansion doesn't make them money. This will closely coincide with the growth of the national media contract, and when the contract $$ plateaus, so will expansion. This will most likely occur in the 28-32 team range based on how the other major league sport leagues in the US have expanded. Regarding your statement, "The "Don" has already gone on record that 30 clubs would be way too many" that's not what he said. During a Q & A interview, he answered a twitter question about whether the league could reach 30 teams. He himmed and hawed and finally said "30 teams seems like too many", but later said that was too far down the road to really discuss. Garber has been anything but committal when asked how big the league will get. He has been very tactful saying only that he is focused on getting to 24 by 2020. You are really stuck on the league stopping at 24. You have that right, but stop justifying your position by twisting information
No you don't get it. It's not just about the money and it's not like the other U.S. Sports league. The other leagues don't have a governing body over them like FIFA. Billionaires say no to other billionaires all the time. As an example two years ago AEG offered the NFL 750 million for an expansion team in Los Angeles. They promised to a 1.2 billion dollar Farmers Field in downtown LA. This almost 7x the amount the MLS gets and they where turned down. The NFL if it wanted they could easily have 40 clubs. The owners would have 32 strong teams valued at a Billion+ than the expansion fee. Expansion fees don't drive value it's helps with growth. The MLS investors are want to drive value of their investment. So stop thinking like a Tennessee hick.
You really don't have a good enough grasp of the topic to have an intelligent conversation about it. You don't understand how MLS makes its money. Hint: its not expansion fees. BTW, the AEG-NFL project died because the financing for the 1.2 billion dollar stadium couldn't be worked out. The NFL would love to get back into LA. But don't let the facts get in the way of your story. entertaining
Was that last line really necessary? How is that any different than saying stop thinking like a n____. Just because people don't jump in uproar, doesn't mean that the intent of using that statement isn't as equally intended to degrade and to dehumanize as calling someone the "n word." I'm not wanting to derail the thread nor get in a political debate, but I am asking you to be mindful of the words you use.
I'mma just leave this here: Austin or Bust: America's Biggest Cities Lose People to the Urban B-List http://mobile.businessweek.com/arti...iggest-cities-lose-people-to-the-urban-b-list
Garber also stated the league was going to pause at 20, which didn't happen. I don't recall any statement of his where he said "when we get to 24, that's it." He merely has said that the goal of the league is to get to 24 by 2020. I get that you would prefer the league not to get larger than that, and that you don't think it's going to happen. Alright. You've made your point. But you shouldn't just keep citing non-existent quotes to support your argument, or calling other posters hicks.
Garber understands he needs a national foot print to help his bosses make money. If tMLS needs to be at 30 teams to meet the demand then 30 teams it will be. IMO, the futures so bright they don't know what going to happen in ten years. Let's enjoy the ride and see where it goes.
I could see MLS going up to 27 teams several years after it reaches the 24 team plateau. A 27 team league seems to make sense in that MLS could organize into 3 conferences of 9 teams each and have a relatively balanced schedule of 34 games. Each team could play a home and away series with conference rivals and a single game against all other teams. Maybe, in fifteen or twenty years MLS might go up to 30 or 32 teams. Maybe not. In my opinion, both the NBA and the NHL would be much stronger leagues if they contracted two to six teams. The same should hold true for MLS, which is a third or fourth tier sport in terms of popularity in North America. MLS which has not and may never reach the overall popularity of the NFL, MLB, college football or college basketball. In the end, it's simply a matter of market conditions. I've become convinced that FIFA will never intervene to limit the size of the league as long as MLS limits the season to 34 games by playing an unbalanced schedule followed by a maximum of four or five playoff games for the league champion & runner-up. The real issue is how expansion will financially benefit the league - and in North America that means T.V. and cablecast money. In modern pro sports, once you've covered the major markets, there's simply no financial imperative to keep on adding teams to a top tier sports league. What that means is some small market cities that aspire to get into MLS (i.e., Indianapolis, Oklahoma City, San Antonio & Sacramento) may well never get in while some remaining major markets that are not now in the radar scope (i.e., New York City No. 3, Detroit, St. Louis, & Phoenix) may have a decent shot at getting in. I wouldn't discount fast growing cities that are not top contenders now (i.e., Austin & North Carolina) but may well be over the next ten years. My guess is that, over the next ten years, MLS will add two major markets and one fast growing city to get up to at least 27 teams. After that, who knows?
Nice post... although, since soccer is a global game their will never be a shortage for international talent, and the home grown talent pool is growing bigger and faster then it ever has before. The NBA and the NHL have a limited talent pool which dilutes the league quality. MLS will not have this same problem, because if there isn't enough homegrown talent MLS can always pick up international quality players.
I think the only league that has a limited talent pool is the NFL. Baseball is played all over Latin America, Holland, and Japan. Basketball is played all over the world. Just look at the number of foreign players in the league now! Hockey is played all over the northern hemisphere, as well.
I think the "diluted" talent pool with regards to the NBA is overplayed personally (without even considering the abundance of foreign talent). Its more about perception of the Superstars vs the rest of the league. If you contracted the two least talented teams (which the NBA never will), the superstars are still clustered around a few teams. The NBA's new salary cap structure, and corresponding luxury tax hit will bring the have-nots closer to the haves.
But, the reason the league was founded and exists today is for the development of American and Canadian players. Has this directive been abandoned? Sure it's nice to see foreign players in the league on a limited basis. But the goal still needs to be the development of American and Canadians into international quality players. This is what is going make MLS one of the top leagues in the world by 2022. Not expanding into 32 to 40 markets and creating mediocre talent pool playing at the first division level. It's holding the line at 24 clubs and building North American players.
More teams means a more extensive academy system which means fewer kids slip through the cracks which means a stronger national team.
They're all limited, it's just a matter of how limited they can be while still giving you a good product. My favorite sport to watch is probably college football, so it's hard for me to see limited football talent as a problem, even a potential one.
Both. I don't know the exact numbers, but if you're going to blow big wads of cash on Beckham, Henry and Kaka, you've got to make sure your grunts are doing at least OK. Some guy on the reserves should at least be hauling in $30K so he's thinking of this as a career and not also waiting tables. I also don't want the league to pull an old NASL and every women's league ever by getting into an arms race that bankrupts the league. Maybe this is my isolationist view from Atlanta, but I worry about all the DPs not being financially sound. Cost control kept salaries in check while the league slowly grew. We also really need to avoid corporate owners like I have seen in other big sports. Does anybody anywhere think the Atlanta Spirit group has ever been a good owner for the Hawks or Thrashers? How about every corporate bean counter owning the Braves? Meanwhile Blank owns the Falcons and you get the sense that he wants them to win, not just to produce a quality investment product on the quarterly TPS reports for athletic properties in the southeast region.
NBCSports - Ranking the candidates for MLS's next two expansion teams (after Don Garber's Tuesday Q-&-A) Basically as I see it now. Atlanta is 23. Minneapolis is lined up to be 24, with San Antonio on the bench and Sacramento after that. I continue to get the impression MLS is not stopping at 24 from everything Garber has been saying and hinting, and the confidence of suitors lining up. My money is on 27 in the next decade.