Is there a financially responsive salary structure that allow MLS to catch up to FMF in 2-3 yrs?

Well I think the salary CAP in the NCAA is technically 0, even when in reality the only cap is what they can get away with.

 

Yep, and IMO that's the smart move to make for the short/medium-term. I won't pretend to project what the smart move will be 20 years from now. And yes, I would still feel that way if Colorado were one of the teams that could spend gobs of cash and were being restricted by the league. The interest in the domestic competition is going to be a hundred times more important than interest in international competition for the short/medium future, so keeping as many teams, and as such as many markets, in the competition through the parity of the salary cap is the key.

 

The number of scholaships perhaps?

 

Everyone gets the same number of scholarships. Its an NCAA mandate.

 

I think that's correct -- and let's be honest, it may be the only realistic choice. Even if Liga MX payrolls are $15m, there's no way to push all MLS payrolls to that level quickly. Which means MLS would either have to relax the cap significantly and let the big spenders have their way, or accept that base salaries aren't going to jump to the level of the Mexican clubs anytime soon and, therefore, standing "toe to toe" with the Mexican clubs in the CCL really isn't the biggest priority for the league right now.

My only beef is that for a guy who has done so much so well for MLS, Garber is off message on this one IMO. He continues to highlight the importance of the CCL and suggests, either directly or by implication, that MLS should be more competitive than it is. To me, while there is some variation from year to year, MLS has performed about how you would expect it to in the CCL given the investment in players it has made, no better, but certainly no worse either. It isn't the end of the world to simply acknowledge what everyone already knows -- MLS isn't ready to financially compete with the bigger Mexican clubs.

But until and unless the league is ready to spend what it takes, don't say:

"Was I disappointed that an MLS team didn’t get further [in the CCL], whether that was the Galaxy or (Toronto) FC? Absolutely disappointed. At the end of the day, we’ve got to stand toe-to-toe with our neighbors in Mexico. We’ve got to try to win that tournament. We’ve got to try to get to the world club championship. That’s got to be a priority."

http://aol.sportingnews.com/soccer/...r-mls-commissioner-sporting-news-conversation

It's not a priority.

 

I don't advocate having a 4th Designated Player, but I would like it if the salary cap can be adjusted so that the floor of MLS salaries are raised.

In addition to that, I'd also like if salaries are raised enough so that players won't leave MLS unless they are sold to or are signed to free agent contract with teams in the Bundesliga, EPL, Ligue 1, Serie A, La Liga or the Mexican 1st division. My belief is that MLS would be so much stronger if those players returned home. It would mean that PT opportunities for younger players or draftees would be lower, but then MLS would have to buy one of the lower divisions here and treat it as their Triple AAA level or something.

Interesting topic folks.

 

In each division, yes. There are exceptions though that allow some "bendage" if you will.

 

Not to mention those schools who are under sanctions and get less scholarships.

 

I get the desire to catch up to Liga MX and that's a fun goal but in all honesty I think the most important league for the MLS to catch up to is the MLB. If we get Americans caring the higher salaries and better talent will come.

 

This is just silly. Look at MLB TV/sponsorships/salaries, MLS will never catch them and there is no reason to even think we should. We don't have to. Our goals in truth need to be about ourselves and we need to loose our own inferiority complex. We don't need to think about Liga MX in 3 years we need to think of MLS in 3 years.
In 3 years will MLS be better than it is today? Will quality of teams be better, will development be better, will TV ratings be better, will sponsorships be bigger? We need to do everything we can to keep taking small steps every few years, and we've been doing that. We can't be caught up in trying to be any other league than this one. Just keep getting better and reach our potential.

 

Yes but that should be the goal. I don't know if MLS will ever catch the major leagues here but we should atleast try to reach the same tier as them. I fully agree with the second paragraph, I know the MLS has made major growth but the only way it's gonna appeal to your Average Joe sports fan is if gets coverage on networks like ESPN and being way behind the other major American Leagues wont help it do that.

 

Its an unfair comparison on every level. You have MLB teams spending 200M a year on salaries, look at the size of the stadiums, look at the number of games, look at the TV deals, look at the history and connection to American culture. Its just not fair and undermines our progress. We can't think that way. You don't start an internet company and only compare yourself with Google. Its actually counter productive. Your only goal needs to be to grow and improve.

Liga MX is a better comparison because we play the same sport and actually compete against each other. Their spending is maybe 2-3X that of ours so it is easy to compare or think about how we can bridge the gap. The MLB gap is so large and difficult to even calculate because the sport is different I don't see any value in comparing the two.

 

Liga MX also has to deal with the duopoly of 2 TV networks that keep their TV contracts low (collusion to not bid against each other for team rights).

Club Leon does not want to sign for what TV Azteca is offering, so their games are not televised, if clubs could break that TV structure, we could see an explosion on Mexican Teams TV revenue specially if they can fully control International USA rights.

That could also mean an widening of the gap between the popular MX teams and the not so popular MX teams.

For what I have read recently, Mexican teams only get a fraction of what Televisa and TV Azteca get when they sell the rights overseas, if what I the articles I seen are correct, the Mexican clubs sell their rights to one of the networks for a fee and then the 2 TV networks can turn around and recover the money and more by leasing those rights to TV stations in the USA.

Sounds to much of a scam for it to be right, not sure why the Mexican teams could not just sell their rights directly to Univision of ESPN Deportes. Maybe the top clubs can do it (Say Chivas) but not the lesser teams like Atlas.

That could get interesting down there, Monterrey had the same issue with Televisa a few years back, I think at the end Televisa ended up paying more money but the duopoly remained at least in Mexico.

 

Fair enough. I've never denied the MLS's fantastic growth and I think it's being managed in an excellent way to avoid going the way of the NASL. I'm just saying that even though catching Liga MX might help the image of the league and maybe get a few fans eventually the MLS will need to start gaining ground on the other American big leagues. NFL, NBA, NCAA Football, NCAA Basketball, MLB and NHL are all ahead of MLS. It's hard to reach your full potential if you're the 7th priority of the Average American sports fan. My original point wasn't to ignore the growth and say we need to catch MLB right away, I'm just saying that in the longrun goal for the MLS should be to be one of Americas biggest sports leagues like the MLB or NBA and that will lead to being one of the biggest Soccer leagues in the world.

 

Based on what?

Revenue?
Attendance?
Average Attendance?
TV coverage on sports center?
TV ratings?
Player Salaries?
Water cooler talk?

It is not easy to measure.

 

A mix of all them really

 

Except for the part where MLB has the "enforced parity" measures that other US leagues have.

A league better than another will get a much bigger TV deal than one that isn't, no ?

Genius analysis.

Er, if you think that 1 - Mexican fans (en masse, or to the degree of moving the needle significantly) are going to jump ship to the MLS (when they already ignore the top 5 leagues in the world) OR 2 - That a Spanish station will shit significant monies towards MLS regardless of any perception change VS Liga MX ....

... then you are more of a buffoon than we overly exaggerate you to be.

They aren't ... they're being cultured in order to continue to learn to fly rather than get to close to the sun ...

 

Quality of facilities and coaches. Bigger schools can afford to spend more on these things.

Edit: also TV deals. See the Longhorn Network and the effects it has had on the Big 12 in the last year, before an event was ever televised on it.

 

Well, that's only half true. The other half of the truth ?

Longhorn Alumni are pissed at the school and the network is an immediate laughing stock. Quick, name a carrier ... without Google.

 

You listed the salaries of each team. Big deal.

My wording was "enforced parity measures" .... care to actually address that, or just be ignorant and pretend you didn't understand it ?

PARITY MEASURES:

Divisions, Wild Card qualifiers, playoffs, the draft, revenue sharing .... etc etc etc

Still want to play stupid ?

 

But that is not enforced, those are processes made by the league to try to make the league have more parity.

Enforced would be a salary CAP.

So MLS is not trying to enforce parity, they a re trying to create a more level field,

In terms of degree of enforcement I would say from more enforced to less.

NFL
NHL
NBA
MLB

MLS is probably somewhere around the NBA because of the DP rule.

 

How many years now has MLB had a team with 100+ losses over the past decade? How about 100+ wins?

How about the equivalent with MLS (in pts)?