[Andy_B]

Also states that no team in the league is making money

http://www.cybersoccernews.com/mls/r...0802Revs.shtml

Andy

[BrianCappellieri]

The "Good News Fairy" has arrived.

Thanks for the link.

[monster]

CSN: Are you guys on a break-even budget for this year?

Todd Smith: No. I don't think any team is, certainly not within the structure of the league.

[tcmahoney]

Thanks for the link, Andy.

"...certainly not within the structure of the league" is an interesting phrase. I'll let others parse that every which way they want.

[nadpolice9]

dont listen to this guy. he is a complete moron.

[GPK]

Talk about misrepresenting an interview Andy. Ges.

[Viking64]

Originally posted by Andy_B
Also states that no team in the league is making money

http://www.cybersoccernews.com/mls/r...0802Revs.shtml

Andy

That's out of context. What he said was "under the structure of the league" no team is making money. Duh. With Metro losing money by the bucketload, they lose enough to wipe out the profits of all the other teams combined. And how a team that cost 5 million to buy and 5 million a year to operate cannot be making money in a stadium he owns is beyond me.

15,000 fans times 14 games times 15 bucks equals 3.1 million dollars on ticket revenue alone. Does not include signage, concessions, parking, souvenirs, and local sponsors. Add in just 5 dollars a game per person extra on whatever else, and you add a million. 10 dollars to park 5,000 cars adds 700,000 in parking revenue.

And for Kraft, I don't care. They have more money that we'll ever see.

[superdave]

No. I don't think any team is {on a breakeven budget}, certainly not within the structure of the league.

We've been over the idea that there's 4 ways of looking at profitable. Let's take the Crew as an example.

1. Does Lamar make money on soccer in Columbus?
2. Does Lamar make money on the Crew? (The difference between this and #1 is that #1 would include money from concerts, internationals, high school football, etc. This and #3 and #4 ONLY count MLS stuff.)
3. Do the Crew make money if you DON'T count their share of league losses?
4. Do the Crew make money if you DO count their share of league losses?

To me, the phrase "within the structure of the league" isn't in there by accident. It precludes the Crew making money by the toughest definition, #4.

I think we all knew that already.

The fact that he had to throw that phrase in there indicates, to me, that the Crew make money for Hunt by one of the other 3 definitions.

And I think we all knew that already, as well.

If anything, that phrase indicates that the loosest definition, #1, isn't necessary. To me, this is a sign that the Crew helps Hunt by definition #2 or #3.

The bottom line is, and this is all hypothetical, if the stadium makes a dollar and the soccer team loses two dollars, they're still net one-dollar loss, so it's not just about having a tenant. It's about having a tenant that makes financial sense in and of itself. To say they don't care about the wins and losses is absolutely ridiculous.

I had a hard time following this. The way the answer touches on both competitive issues and financial issues, I found confusing. I can't figure out whether he's saying the Krafts make money on the Revs (which is possible, I guess, esp. if you throw in that the USSF wouldn't give CMGI games without the Revs), but STILL aren't happy, because the team stinks. OR, is he saying the team is losing money for the Krafts (maybe including their share of league losses, and maybe not), period, and then threw in the wins and losses comment as an afterthought.

[GreatZar]

Well...let's take some fake data and run with it...

Revenues:
NE: +1M
Metro: -3M
DC: 0M
Clb: +1M
Chi: -3M
LA: -3M
SJ: -5M
Col: +2M
KC: -2M
Dal: -2M
----------
League: -14M/yr
49% of local expenses stay local and 51% go to league in Single Entity (and Dallas is 100% league) so...
League shared expenses: -8M/yr
Team SEM costs: -0.67M each

Bottom Line:
NE: -0.2M
Metro: -1.7M
DC: -0.7M
Clb: -0.2M
Chi: -2.2M
LA: -2.2M
SJ: -3.2M
Col: +0.3M
KC: -1.7M
Dal: -1.7M

Just hypothetical, but I'd agree that no team is in the black (maybe Colorado this year with 22K attendance and MUCH better stadium deal) when you factor in 51% of a team's bottom line is also the league's bottom line.

[Andy_B]

Talk about misrepresenting an interview Andy. Ges.

First, bite me

Second, how did I misrepresent the following statement in my subject title?

The one thing that has been constant through this is that they have lost, on any scale, a tremendous amount of money to support soccer in this area.

Third, really bite me.

Fourth, ************ off.

Andy