MLS 2013 TV Ratings

Discussion in 'MLS: News & Analysis' started by MLSFan123, Jan 2, 2013.

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  1. trip76

    trip76 Member

    Jul 17, 2007
    North East USA
    i think if we tied the flex schedule to some sort of imporved compensation for the teams deemed more attractive for tv, it might provide some needed motivation for some franchises to improve their atmosphere.
     
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  2. AndyMead

    AndyMead Homo Sapien

    Nov 2, 1999
    Seat 12A
    Club:
    Sporting Kansas City
    What makes you think that most franchises aren't motived to improve their atmosphere - or given the millions and tens of millions of dollars of investment already made that a few doubloons will somehow make a difference?
     
  3. trip76

    trip76 Member

    Jul 17, 2007
    North East USA
    i was specifically thinking of the revs when i posted that. i don't see the same level of motivation coming from them to create a vibrant game day experience as say seattle. i think dallas has been doing absolutely fantastic work, and doesn't get enough credit for the strides they've taken.
     
  4. holiday

    holiday Member+

    Oct 16, 2007
    what you say about income inequality and purchasing power is true, and i mentioned it. but that's not the key point.
    in order to survive its lean years, mls needed capital. and there were quantities of capital available to it, that the nasl couldn't dream about. the growth in capital markets outpaced inflation by a great deal. in the nasl days you had to cover expenses with revenue, or you went belly up. that's why the nasl didn't make it over the crucial survival period. mls had a lifeline.
     
  5. ceezmad

    ceezmad Member+

    Mar 4, 2010
    Chicago
    Club:
    Chicago Red Stars
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Well MLS perhaps had a business model that allowed them to attract Capital (Capital from 2/3 guys that kept 10 teams alive), NASL did not have that business model (or those 2/3 guys to keep all NASL teams running).
     
  6. holiday

    holiday Member+

    Oct 16, 2007
    look at the net worth of those 2/3 guys that took mls over the hump. compare it to the net worth of nasl owners, in real dollars. there's your answer, imo.
    people talk about the increasing disparity in wealth as if it might be an impediment to mls. on the contrary, that's what allowed mls to survive (and not only mls. also pbl several nba/nhl franchises). the result of wealth disparity is that the super rich take on 'social projects' for the rest of us. mls hasn't paid its own way, any more than for example the wnba. you could think of mls as a social entertainment provided to the middle class by the super rich. that formula didn't really exist in the nasl days. now it's becoming more and more common.
     
  7. Stan Collins

    Stan Collins Member+

    Feb 26, 1999
    Silver Spring, MD
    Lamar Hunt may have looked at it that way, or close to that, but Lamar Hunt is also dead (and not for nothing, but he was there in the NASL days, doing the same thing). None of the current owners of MLS teams, even Hunt's own children, look at MLS as a loss-leading social project. Not that it's the most conventional of businesses--a) it really doesn't matter if there's a year-on-year return, if you can sell for more than you've bought in for, and b) the profit can be earned by a side business rather than the one most people assume is the core--but it is still in some sense a business to everyone who's looking at it.

    On the other hand, 'income inequality' can be taken to mean much more than it does. The fact that income inequality is greater than in 1976 does not mean that there isn't more cumulative disposable income sloshing around amongst the plausible consumer base. There certainly is more.

    First, greater income inequality does not necessarily mean the poor are getting poorer. For instance, here's the US median household income since that era:

    [​IMG]

    The top 5% have gotten quite a bit wealthier, which changes the gini coefficient. Meanwhile the middle haven't had a whole lot of change, and despite a drop in recent years, they are a bit better off than they were in 1979 (and that's using the CPI).

    Secondly, adding to total disposable income is population growth. The US population in 1980 was approximately 227 million. Today, it is approximately 316 million. Even if the people in the middle were slightly worse off, there are so many more of them that there's still considerably more total disposable income to go after now.

    In fact, a lot of that population growth is concentrated in cities, some of them being the cities MLS plays in. In 1980, the population of Metro Seattle, for instance, was 2.09 million in 1980, versus 3.55 million today. Portland: 1.34m vs 2.29m. And these aren't the fastest--Dallas and Houston have roughly doubled in size since then. Philadelphia has actually fallen in relative market size from 4th to 5th, even though it has picked up another million plus people. Etc etc etc.
     
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  8. holiday

    holiday Member+

    Oct 16, 2007
    compare lamar hunt's net worth in nasl days, to his net worth in mls days. (and he wasn't really doing 'the same thing' for the nasl.)

    i agree there's tons more disposable income overall. but iirc there is data to show purchasing power for something like 'the middle class' isn't looking good. tix prices have outpaced inflation (best seat for cosmos was something like $8).

    i didn't say the i/o's look at it as 'social project.' i said you could look at it that way, and in effect it wouldn't be outrageous (just don't omit the quotation marks). it's a sociological description, not a literal label.

    yes, mls is most definitely a business. it's the sort of business that doesn't cover its costs, relies on fresh capital to keep going, and in the old days would have folded. today it's possible for that sort of thing to be 'solid.' and that's why franchise values go up and the point about making the money back is viable.

    population growth is a good point.
     
  9. MLSFan123

    MLSFan123 Member+

    Mar 21, 2011
    Boston Area
    Club:
    New England Revolution
    Nat'l Team:
    United States

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