Rich People Lacking MLS Interest

[Blackbox]

Soccer's Spaghettie Western
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/soccer/soccers-spaghetti-western/article1282965/

Breaking Old News: Tim Barton, rich Texan businessman, buys Seria A club Bari for $35.8 million. However this new article has some interesting bits. In addition to some Barton quotes, it also mentions the price of his low-tier Italian club was the same as the MLS expansion fees for Portland and Vancouver.

It makes you wonder where are all the potential owners are, and how MLS might convince those interested in soccer to not go abroad and invest in their American league.

What if MLS could have paired Barton with a cooperating city? What could MLS do to convince someone like him that this league is worth it?

[carnifex2005]

Soccer's Spaghettie Western
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/soccer/soccers-spaghetti-western/article1282965/

Breaking Old News: Tim Barton, rich Texan businessman, buys Seria A club Bari for $35.8 million. However this new article has some interesting bits. In addition to some Barton quotes, it also mentions the price of his low-tier Italian club was the same as the MLS expansion fees for Portland and Vancouver.

It makes you wonder where are all the potential owners are, and how MLS might convince those interested in soccer to not go abroad and invest in their American league.

What if MLS could have paired Barton with a cooperating city? What could MLS do to convince someone like him that this league is worth it?

The only way to convince them is for MLS to show much more growth than what is currently happening. Revenues for teams aren't at a point where throwing down $35 million for a team plus having to spend even more to create a proper soccer infrastructure makes sense for the grand majority of cities. Besides, Euro clubs have much more of an upside if it is done right.

[Sport Billy]

The only way to convince them is for MLS to show much more growth than what is currently happening. Revenues for teams aren't at a point where throwing down $35 million for a team plus having to spend even more to create a proper soccer infrastructure makes sense for the grand majority of cities. Besides, Euro clubs have much more of an upside if it is done right.

Agreed - while I definitely hope someone pulls it of for St. Louis, it definitely isn't "worth it" form an investment standpoint.

I've been saying this for a long time. QPR was purchased in 2007 for just under $30 mil and a total commitment of $40 mil (to buy debt and protect wages).

Would you rather have QPR or a start up MLS team? I'd certainly take the history and marketing potential of QPR.

[metros11]

Agreed - while I definitely hope someone pulls it of for St. Louis, it definitely isn't "worth it" form an investment standpoint.

I've been saying this for a long time. QPR was purchased in 2007 for just under $30 mil and a total commitment of $40 mil (to buy debt and protect wages).

Would you rather have QPR or a start up MLS team? I'd certainly take the history and marketing potential of QPR.

What most people fail to understand is that $35M doesn't buy you a team, it buys you a piece of MLS, SUM and everything else that goes with it. And when you put it in those terms, it makes a much better investment then buying QPR.

[carnifex2005]

What most people fail to understand is that $35M doesn't buy you a team, it buys you a piece of MLS, SUM and everything else that goes with it. And when you put it in those terms, it makes a much better investment then buying QPR.

http://i377.photobucket.com/albums/oo216/03redTuscani/lol_wut.jpg

[Sport Billy]

What most people fail to understand is that $35M doesn't buy you a team, it buys you a piece of MLS, SUM and everything else that goes with it. And when you put it in those terms, it makes a much better investment then buying QPR.

And when you buy QPR, you get a chuck of the English League Championship broadcast rights (£264m over 3 yrs), and a chance to get promoted to the most lucrative league in the world.

I'll stick with QPR.

[chapka]

And when you buy QPR, you get a chuck of the English League Championship broadcast rights (£264m over 3 yrs), and a chance to get promoted to the most lucrative league in the world.

I'll stick with QPR.

$264 million over 3 years divided by 24 teams equals $3.5 million per team per year. The $23 million a year MLS television deal divided by 16 teams is around $1.5 million per team per year. Not a big enough consideration for me...especially when you look at the big picture.

Total revenues from all sources for the average Championship club are around $24 million, about twice those of an average MLS club (at $12 million).

On the other hand...MLS payroll is capped at $2.3 million. The average Championship wage bill last year was around $20 million. And over the last few years, wages have been growing at three times the rate revenues have been. The average Championship team now spends almost 90% of their revenue on wages. And that's before taking into account the service on the $20 million in debt that the average Championship team carries.

And the big carrot you're dangling is promotion to the Premier League...where last year, despite huge revenues, only 11 of the 20 teams (up from 8 the year before) made anything that could reasonably be called anything like a profit. Not to mention that in their five years at the second level of English soccer, QPR have never finished higher than eleventh--but they have finished 21st, one spot away from relegation. They've gotten a lot closer to the stick than they ever have to the carrot.

So...$2 million fixed payroll on $12 million of revenue, where you and the other owners get a vote on whether payroll goes up? Or $20 million payroll on $24 million of revenue, with payroll growing faster than revenue, massive long-term debt, and no way of controlling costs without risking a fall to League One and an enormous drop in revenue?

Is it really such a no-brainer from a business perspective?

[SYoshonis]

$264 million over 3 years divided by 24 teams equals $3.5 million per team per year. The $23 million a year MLS television deal divided by 16 teams is around $1.5 million per team per year. Not a big enough consideration for me...especially when you look at the big picture.Actually, QPR's share of the TV money is $5.76 million, since the 3.5M figure quoted was Pounds Sterling, not dollars.

But you do have a point, although part of the "big picture" is the cachet of owning an English club, as opposed to an American one. Maybe the guy just wants an excuse to go to London "on business" a lot. Maybe, like so many other Americans, he got hooked on soccer by going to a game there and wanted to be part of the game-day atmosphere that has been responsible for so many such heathen conversions over the decades. Like it or not, that's something that MLS can't touch (no, not even you, Seattle).

Hey, I'd use any sufficient wealth that came my way to buy into MLS too, but that doesn't mean that I have any better grasp of "The Big Picture" than someone who wouldn't.

[metros11]

$264 million over 3 years divided by 24 teams equals $3.5 million per team per year. The $23 million a year MLS television deal divided by 16 teams is around $1.5 million per team per year. Not a big enough consideration for me...especially when you look at the big picture.


To add, every MLS ownership group has a piece of SUM, which sold World Cup television rights from 2007 to 2014 for $425M, or $53M a year. So that right there is another $3M per team. Then you have the Adidas deal, the shared league sponsor money, the big club friendlies (Barca, Milan, Chelsea, Madrid), the Mexico NT friendlies, TV rights for Superliga.... It all adds up.

It's close. But honestly, I had no idea that the Championship received so much money for TV rights.

[760Epicenter]

Actually, QPR's share of the TV money is $5.76 million, since the 3.5M figure quoted was Pounds Sterling, not dollars.

But you do have a point, although part of the "big picture" is the cachet of owning an English club, as opposed to an American one. Maybe the guy just wants an excuse to go to London "on business" a lot. Maybe, like so many other Americans, he got hooked on soccer by going to a game there and wanted to be part of the game-day atmosphere that has been responsible for so many such heathen conversions over the decades. Like it or not, that's something that MLS can't touch (no, not even you, Seattle).

Hey, I'd use any sufficient wealth that came my way to buy into MLS too, but that doesn't mean that I have any better grasp of "The Big Picture" than someone who wouldn't.

or maybe he has a italian mistress. ;)

[NYC_COSMOS]

or maybe he has a italian mistress. ;)

His Italian mistress is called the Euro, which gains ground on the dollar, on a regular basis. So his investment today will be generating considerable change in the future when the dollar is worth much less versus the Euro. Basically he hedging his investments with a purchase in a more valuable currency. ;):D

[SYoshonis]

His Italian mistress is called the Euro, which gains ground on the dollar, on a regular basis. So his investment today will be generating considerable change in the future when the dollar is worth much less versus the Euro. Basically he hedging his investments with a purchase in a more valuable currency. ;):D
Yeah, because they use Euros in the UK and everything.

[NYC_COSMOS]

Yeah, because they use Euros in the UK and everything.

Because Tim Barton is an American and purchased an Italian team. Who said anything about the UK.

[SYoshonis]

Because Tim Barton is an American and purchased an Italian team. Who said anything about the UK.
My bad. I got confused with all of the QPR talk.