What DP signinig would create buzz for the casual & hard core fan

Honestly, none. Beckham was the "perfect storm" candidate for gringos and Blanco for Mexican-Americans. Henry was supposed to be the next DP to move the interest level, but I don't think he has the same name recognition as the first two.

PS - don't you have to change your account name?

 

a Zidane comeback in Montreal?

 

this

what will excite fans is to have MLS full of young American players who can begin their careers domestically before going to Europe.

 

Or, fans could be excited by having the league continue to grow and improve in quality to the point where the best Americans don't have to go overseas. I don't want the league to be a feeder league. I'd much rather see the league continue to expand and grow to the point where we keep our best players.

 

well the good news is that the United States in general pay a crap ton of money to their athletes. I mean right now the highest paid player in the MLS (not counting endorsements and all) i believe is thierry henry at like 5.6 million a year, which is about the equivalent of a mid-level exception in the NBA (which is the equivalent to the average NBA salary).

So in other words if MLS gets up to NBA level popularity (in terms of television revenue, jersey sales, etc etc) they'd be in pretty good shape to be at least competitive in the global market.

granted we could just have both, kind of like poorer MLB clubs. I mean the Tampa Bay Rays are essentially a feeder club for the yankees and red sox and they still manage to be competitive year in and year out with a far smaller budget

 

it would be interesting to see someone add up all the American salaries in Europe.
MLS total payroll is in the 90 mil range right now including DPs.
I wonder how those figures compare.

That said, it's not likely to happen in our lifetimes.
It's not just about being able to pay what the players currently deserve.
Many players will always want to play in the best leagues because of prestige, competitive nature of athletes, and future career/pay raise possibilities.
As long as Europe is better, it will have the pull.

Which is also why MLS is bound to keep looking at Euro stars. Ronaldo is the obvious next super target, but that's at least 5 years from now.

 

For the record, NBA players, on average, make the most money of any athlete ever. There's also like, 9 of them on a team. The comparison, I'm afraid, falls flat

 

NHL would be better, I think there are about 25-26 players per NHL team, I could be wrong.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ycn-10423863

NHL average 2.4 mil. That is about a bunch of Fulham level teams in MLS.

Translate that (NHL ave.) to MLS (30 players) = 72 Million USD.

UEFA standard 65% = 110 Million revenue per team (average)
American standard 50% = 144 million revenue per team (average)

 

There are several different roster limits in the NHL.

The active roster is 23 players - 20 of whom will dress for any given game (two must be goaltenders). Up to 50 players can be under contract per season, including those on the NHL rosters and those in the minors with two-way contracts (contracts that pay a lower wage for minor league games and a higher wage for NHL games). Each team can have up to 90 players 'reserved,' that is they hold the rights to a player even if that player might not be under an active contract.

So, any given NHL team will have perhaps 25+ players getting paid at the NHL level (accounting for some players being sent down to the minors, some on injured reserve, etc) and perhaps a dozen more under contract for both the minor leagues and the NHL, allowing them to shift between leagues during the season. The remainder of the spots left under the cap of 50 are used for flexibility with trades and other transactions.

 

yeah good point, though as a correction an NBA roster requires a minimum of 12 players on the active roster (though i think they are changing that to 13) i believe

 

Yeah he might be on his way out but who knows where he's going to go. I don't think Everton or any mid table club in the EPL will pay the transfer fee that MLS will be seeking for him and he will struggle to fit into a top tier EPL team as well.

As for the original question of who would excite the casual fans it would be Ronaldinho for sure. (But there's too much baggage that comes along with him) But for the casual fans I would've loved to see an MLS team have a go at Drogba instead of letting him go to China. Another player who I would like to see somebody take a stab at, even though he's a risk, is Michael Owens. Even though he's an injury risk, this league is a poacher's best friend and that's what he does best.

 

what you guys don't get is this: Bringing aging euro stars to MLS does not get MLS respect around the soccer world, it does not excite the fan base domestically, and it does not improve the product on the field.

what will do all three is if we start spending those millions not on aging euro stars but on player development so we can start seeing MLS full of great young American players.

 

So we write off the next 15 years and wait for the Academies to actually produce stars?

I mean, it's not like we're signing DPs and ignoring the Academies. We're doing both (though it wouldn't shock me to learn that you didn't know that)

 

what you don't get, is every single thing you've pointed out to be "wrong" with how soccer and the business of sport work here in the US.

Really ? Because Beckham, Henry, and Keane just laughed you out of the room.

The fact that Beckham's jersey sales alone pay for his salary means I don't even need to find another example to prove your statement ignorant, and wrong.

Too bad you're way off on the "where" and the "who" is needed to create those great young American players you're referring too.

It isn't on the MLS to create great young American players. Should the league have a set up that helps it ? Absolutely, and they're doing that in incremental (read: sustainable) steps. The GA was a great initiative. Teams are popping up academies left and right (some are already very extensive and have been around for a while). The DP rules were changed to gear towards younger players (regardless of what flag they full under).

However, it is not here in the US (or anywhere else in the soccer playing world) the responsibility of the domestic league to produce the domestic player.

 

Oh really?

 

In order of impact, people who have a least a small chance of coming over:

1. C. Ronaldo

2. C. Dempsy

3. D. Drogba

4. F. Lampard

5. T. Howard

In my humble opinion...

Keep in mind, these aren't the odds I think these guys will come over. Just the order of impact they would have. If NY starts in 2015 Ronaldo will be available and would be a HUGE coup. Lampard may be here by the end of the week...

There are some other guys who could have huge local impact. H. Gomez to Houston would be super interesting.

 

Torres would be interesting(I'm sure his contract is for many more years, but if not...).

 

Well look at NY Red Bull. They spend 10.2 mil a year on just 2 players. When you're spending that much on salaries you're not going to be able to put the money into youth development.

if we want respect as a league we need to start developing our own stars.

 

Yeah, because Red Bull is so hard up for cash.

 

Reason #3409q245 that you're beyond ignorant and a simpleton ... you think 10.2M is strapping Red Bull.

Also, the league is developing it's own stars. Prove it isn't if that's your claim.

 

Every league develops stars, be it the Philippines league, NASL or Bundesliga, not sure what Jfalse star means with no stars. (Maybe he means no global stars, but those are a few and many countries do not develop them).