It's an employment and labor lawyer - most conditioned to think companies just go to the back room and print money. It does amaze me how many folks completely ignore or are ignorant of the operating costs and overhead of a business, especially teams with stadium debt.
When the refs went on strike or were locked out a few weeks ago, the lawyer who represents the US national team players wrote a scathing blog post that attempted to criminalize all soccer owners in the US for the last 30 years. These union lawyer thugs love to take down "the man". Is direct the MLSPU to look at the last two NHL work stoppages to see unions who lost 1.5 seasons to get the same deal they could have gotten without striking but they listened to the lawyers and pissed money away. NHL players fought against a salary cap tooth and nail only for it to turn out to be the best thing ever for them collectively!!!
True. MLS still has a ton of debt and 'startup costs' to sift through efore they reach financial stability. Still work needed on the Academies, stadium det, scouting operations (which are laughable), ref training, etc. Sure some of this $ will go to players, but probably more into things like retirement plans, maybe increasing # of charter flights allowed/yr. Stuff like that. Let's hope that NYC, Atlanta, Miami, Orlando and ? can really help grow the TV deal as hoped.
Feel free to put the operating costs and overhead in a spreadsheet for all to see especially the players. Or the stadium debt for that matter. How much stadium debt do you think the Houston Dynamo have? Does the AEG entity that runs BBVA show a profit or have stadium debt on its books? Why when I purchase a ticket to the Dynamo online do I have to pay AXS an AEG entity $5-8.25 per ticket for a service fee to get tickets? How much of that service fee do the Dynamo get? Why do I have to pay a facility fee for each ticket the Dynamo sell? How much of that facility fee goes to the Dynamo? It's a shell game and truthfully only the owners know the truth. The players are left to guess. The league has set itself up with SUM and separate stadium entities to specifically hide whatever financial information one might need to make these judgments about overhead and operating costs from the union. As a result, players and their representatives are left to guess about the financial information of the league. All they can do is try to read the tea leaves. When any person sees $100 million dollar expansion fees coming in, a slew of owners lined up to try to be team #34 in MLS, a TV deal that arguably pays the entire salary cap of the league, and $100 million dollar in transfer fees and salaries paid for Defoe & Bradley & Dempsey - I think the tea leaves read of a league flush with money that has turned the corner on its past struggles. You are welcome to disagree. Truth is neither of us know the truth and neither will the players when it comes time to negotiate. Which is the reason why we will have a work stoppage. As you say, the union lawyers are already pounding the war drum. The league and its lawyers have been taking steps for years in anticipation of this next work stoppage and negotiation.
Dynamo/AEG - or the collective ownership - spent about $60 million on the stadium I believe. There is some profit shifting going on I bet but they didn't build that stadium for all of the other non-existent events that haven't taken place there yet. Remember, I think each team owns shares (or membership interests in) MLS LLC, so I doubt the other owners like to see the teams subsidizing their stadium-only operations thru the team income statement. I think you vastly overrate or misread the expansion fees and transfer fees as financial health for all of the teams. For every Toronto that deficit spends there is a Columbus that probably ekes by in a small market. DC United is renting a crappy old stadium with limited revenue streams and declining attendance. FC Dallas may draw crappy crowds but their stadium costs are low due to a sweet deal with Frisco ISD. Atlanta is already building a stadium, MLS just helps cost recovery on it. Dave Checketts had to sell out of RSL because the stadium debt was crushing. Throw out the top (Seattle, LA Galaxy, Toronto) and the bottom (DC, Columbus, Chivas) and look at the rest and you are going to see teams doing OK to good but no one just printing cash.
I don't disagree at all. Doesn't mean the players or their union will be as reasoned as you and I are right now. Remember, the last CBA was signed a few years following contraction. The Players Union pushed a few small things they wanted to get accomplished, but generally took it on the chin a bit due to the overall economic climate at the time and the state of the league. Economic Climate has improved dramatically and the state of the league is stronger than ever. The players will want theirs now.
So if there is a strike.... how much damage will it do to the league in your opinion...basketball and baseball have been hurt by strikes in the past... the NFL is so popular that the strikes there have had little impact. MLS has some really good things happening right now... I understand players wanting more money.. I'm just not sure how hard it should be pushed.... the health of the league is imperative to having a job for some...
The current CBA was signed in 2010. That was 8 years after contraction in 2002 and 6 years after the first CBA in 2004.
It depends on how long the strike goes. It wouldn't surprise me to see a strike on par with what the NHL suffered a few years back, but I would hope and pray that neither the players union or the league would let it get that far.
A strike will do damage to the league if it impacts the regular season matches. The NFL strike was mostly in the off-season, and nobody cared except the sports reporters covering it.
I found this interesting study: "AEG assembled $85.6 million to fund the stadium development by securing a commercial loan worth $33 million from Amergy Bank as well as a self funded loan worth $20.4 million from Dynamo Stadium Holdings. In addition, AEG secured $22.5 million in New Markets Tax Credit allocation from Waveland Community Development, $10.5 million and Texas Community Development Capital $15 million of which the cumulative net equity to the project was $5.1 million. The stadium project also received $20 million in Tax increment Financing, $5.6 million in owner equity, and $1.5 million in lease prepayment funds from Texas Southern University for use of the stadium for its football team for the next 30 years." I think that BBVA Compass provided the loan advance on the$20 million TIRZ funding. http://www.wavelandventures.com/pdfs/bbva_compass_stadium_impact_report_1375467777.pdf
Hey, I posted this like a year ago!!!! But I generally estimate that AEG/Dynamo have a net $60 million loan after the $20 million TIRZ loan
David Beckham's dream of building a futuristic waterfront stadium in Miami that would house his own professional soccer team has turned into a "not in my backyard" clash, pitting the retired English superstar against one of the world's top cruise lines. Royal Caribbean Cruises is at the forefront of efforts to block Beckham's plans to build a 25,000 seat open-air stadium next to the port of Miami. The cruise line is spearheading a group called the Miami Seaport Alliance, which has paid for full-page newspaper ads and TV and radio spots opposing Beckham's plans. The alliance says a stadium would threaten the 200,000 jobs generated by the port, which is owned and operated by Miami-Dade County. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-usa-soccer-beckham-miami-20140503,0,5379753.story
200,000 jobs generated would be threatened? Wow, exaggerate much Seaport Alliance? Beckham may as well say that 500,000 jobs will be generated and up the ante. I mean if we're going to be "factual" and all.
Exaggerations all around and union mob techniques in play. The job multiplier factor is almost always misused and actually does not exist outside of economic academia. I will say this: given a choice between a good port and a soccer stadium, if you are a working person of any sort (as in not on government assistance) you want the port.