If Fred Wilpon(Mets owner)were to purchase the rights to the second NY team.

[southpaw817]

1. There would be no end to the money that could be spent on players.

2.Pull many fans from the existing Mets fanbase(like myself)

3.There would be a pre-existing tv network to play and advertise one(SNY-the Mets network).

4.You know how the Yank/Met thing is the Yanks might wanna get into the biz and purchase a team in 5-10 yrs(I know thats getting way ahead)

I have a very strong feeling that Wilpon will jump into this.He knows the passion of the NY fan and he knows of the amount of foreign born Americans in Queens as well as the existing passion for soccer in Long Island.He is a very intelligent business man and will see that soccer is the future.

[metros11]

1. There would be no end to the money that could be spent on players.


How many players do you have in mind?

[southpaw817]

6 or 7 thousand lol, you know what I mean.

[metros11]

6 or 7 thousand lol, you know what I mean.

no actually I don't. if you mean 1 or 2 players, then I could see your point. if you're talking about the whole team, then you have lots to learn about MLS.

[southpaw817]

Obviously my sarcasm didnt translate over the computer. Im saying that the owner of the Mets is extremely rich and that he will have money to spend(players,marketing,whatever). I know there is a cap but in the next few years I am sure that cap will be increased. Clear?

[SoccerPrime]

But the cap is only a little of $2 million now. Lets get crazy and say it doubles in the next 2 years, thats still only $4 million.

And at this point, you can only have 2 "unlimited pay" Designated Players (ala Becks or Blanco) per team.

I think this is why metros11 is giving you crap. He is making some correct comments.

[southpaw817]

Gotcha :), im just giving a liberal estimate. And also stating the business prowess and boatload of money that Wilpon has.

[Devil500]

You'll lose the title on the last day of the year to a big rival :D

[southpaw817]

Lol,hey man if it brings up the level of the NY soccer scene it would be great for your team as well.

[jamison]

Obviously my sarcasm didnt translate over the computer. Im saying that the owner of the Mets is extremely rich and that he will have money to spend(players,marketing,whatever). I know there is a cap but in the next few years I am sure that cap will be increased. Clear?

He owns a successful (last week of the season excepted) franchise in a major league that makes a lot of money and doesn't spend unlimited amounts on baseball players now.

Doing so for a money losing franchise with a small fanbase makes little sense.

Could he pony up and own a team? Sure. Will he? Debate-able. But, let's not get loopy on potential salary projections until he actually, you know, spends a dollar in that direction.

[southpaw817]

Sure I understand,well maybe I should have said he is a seasoned franchise owner. One that would be a great addition to the MLS.

[Vllaznia]

He owns a successful (last week of the season excepted) franchise in a major league that makes a lot of money and doesn't spend unlimited amounts on baseball players now.

Actually the Mets have the third highest payroll in MLB behind the Yankees and Red Sox.

[jamison]

Actually the Mets have the third highest payroll in MLB behind the Yankees and Red Sox.

Right. So, what you're saying is that 3rd most is less than Unlimited.

Which was the point of what I said...

The Mets aren't cheap, they do spend money. Just, not unlimited amounts of it. And, that's in a much bigger sport. If they came into MLS I would expect that they would spend money, just not necessarily as much as AEG or potentially the soda people, who throw hundreds of millions at Formula 1 for no real reason.

They could still be better owners, "better for the team", without being the top spender. Being smart is better than being rich, I just hope they don't end up like the Wizards or Crew, on the budget end of the payscale.

[SoccerPrime]

Of course the Wizards and the Crew have achieved a lot more than say the MetroRedBulls...

[shonuff85]

well one good thing would be a stadium. Has anyone seen how far they've gotten with Citi Field already? If Wilpon has the forsight to put the people in place to make building a new baseball stadium fly by, then imagine if he got those same people build a 20k-25k soccer stadium.


and of course the other variables, (more money into the league, own network, etc..)

[BallackUSA13]

All I can say is I cant wait for the day there is 2 NY teams and as a Mets fan I could lean towards rooting for Wilpons teams depending on how things turn out.

I could also see fans of the Mets being fans up Wilpons team and the Yankee fans being fans of the Red Bulls.

If that where to happen the rivalry would grow fast and be verry exciting.

[NYC_COSMOS]

There are plenty of ways to pay a player. Buy them a house, a car, get them commercial contracts which pay in the millions. This is NYC, America all those things are possible. If they arent happening now they probably will be. The Beckham rule will start opening that up. Let's give it time. This will start attract the attention of bigger known players.

[southpaw817]

There are plenty of ways to pay a player. Buy them a house, a car, get them commercial contracts which pay in the millions. This is NYC, America all those things are possible. If they arent happening now they probably will be. The Beckham rule will start opening that up. Let's give it time. This will start attract the attention of bigger known players.

This is true,we all know that Thierry Henry loves NY and wants to come play here in a few years. How great would it be if he was on the team in the first year? Of course he wouldnt be at his peak but he would still be good enough and would attract alot of attention. Also imagine all the celebs that would show up at games in NYC if the atmosphere was pumping. It would be insane.

[NYC_COSMOS]

This is true,we all know that Thierry Henry loves NY and wants to come play here in a few years. How great would it be if he was on the team in the first year? Of course he wouldnt be at his peak but he would still be good enough and would attract alot of attention. Also imagine all the celebs that would show up at games in NYC if the atmosphere was pumping. It would be insane.

Henry would be nice to have on the team. It all depends on how old he is going to be when he gets here.

[jamison]

There are plenty of ways to pay a player. Buy them a house, a car, get them commercial contracts which pay in the millions. This is NYC, America all those things are possible. If they arent happening now they probably will be. The Beckham rule will start opening that up. Let's give it time. This will start attract the attention of bigger known players.

Having Henry playing on a team in NYC proper with their own stadium would be great, no one could doubt that. Even better would be a player (oddly, like Angel) who appeals to the massive latin fan base along the 7 train. Imagine Henry and someone like Tevez, Aimar, etc? Yikes.

But, just so that you know the facts of the case, MLS would not allow Red Bull to supplement a player's league salary with a beverage endorsement contract, something that is actually pretty straight forward, as it would come from 2 different companies. Claudio could have come to NY as regular player instead of a DP with an $800k endorsement contract and a league max salary, but the league said no. So, if Pepsi buys DC United, the Sierra Mist deal for Adu would have been nixed too, in theory.

So, sure, there are always exceptions in MLS land, but don't plan on being able to slip an extra million under the pillow and have the league HQ look the other way.

Ideally, you'd like to have MLS increase the salary cap, and NYFC would spend to the max (as NYRB & LA have done) to have stars on the team. You just want to make sure that Wilpon (or whomever) is committed to losing money short term and not going cheap. There are teams (like the Wizards and Crew) who try to hold down the league salary cap, keep their own budgets low and don't blow the bank on foreign players. I don't think NY fans would be too enamored with a team full of Wolyniecs just because the team plays in Queens; it has to have stars and has to be competitive.

(and, to the "they've won a lot more than Metro" remark...one USOC for the Crew hardly qualifies as "a lot"; I'll give you that the Wiz were more successful pre-2001, but since then all 3 franchises have been underwhelming, and even for all of it's own suckitude, NY finished ahead of both in table for much of the last 5 years).