I just can’t forget the quote by the Univision announcer for the Atlanta game, “It’s like watching an amateur team.”
That means a lot coming from Lalas. If anyone knows what a shitty FO looks like, it would be Lalas. See SJ, NY and LA on his resume!
The biggest thing we need to do to improve our defense is to improve our possession and attacking play so the other team has to actually defend. Yes, there were too many mistakes that cost goals last season, but we were out-possessed and out-shot so badly so often that the defense was bound to leak goals.
The Rapids were part of the 2018 MLS Awards! ... in that we had the shot that led to Save of the Year. https://www.mlssoccer.com/save-of-the-year/2018
A poorly placed shot at that. Weak Save of the Year. (Is this one of those fan vote awards? That would explain it)
Hey! The Rapids did win the Wooden Spoon this season (just not in the way we were originally expecting: https://www.forbes.com/sites/chriss...ource=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter#106e71ff2ee9 DEAD Last in Forbes Valuation of clubs... I also find it interesting that Forbes values the Rapids at 155 mil, and the fee to join the MLS as an expansion team is 150mil...so, there's that
Though, as we've discussed multiple times, the Forbes list is extremely inaccurate and doesn't take into account corporate structure of many of these teams.
An economic 'test' of that value would be -- Will Stan sell the franchise for that amount (?) if so can we find a buyer ... any buyer ... soon?
Well, yeah, it would be much tougher to include the corporate structure of the teams. The article itself states they don't mention property, etc, in their valuations. I'm not trying to be contradictory, I just think it's tough to include those things when looking at teams. I think not including the corporate structure, ownership, etc is alright though. With the Rapids being a part of KSE, then you'd have to throw Arsenal and the LA Rams in the valuation, which I don't think would be fair lol... Its definitely a tough thing to come up with a valuation of non publicly traded teams, but based on the criteria Forbes uses, I think it's the most fair "team" vs "team" valuation. I mean, they gave ATL United a 7x revenue valuation, DC United and Minnesota United a 10x revenue valuation, and the Rapids an 8.6x revenue valuation, so there's that for you. Hey, I'm just a numbers guy though lol
My point is KSE intentionallly sets the Rapids up to have low value in order to shuttle value to their other pieces. Ticketing, stadium ops, merchandise, etc are all run by separate corporate entities in KSE but would normally factor into the value of a team. For example, Altitude gets the TV rights essentially for free but a team not part of an entity with its own network would see value in those rights.
Padraig would have fallen over himself to sign him if this were true, not buying it: Some late-night non-#Quakes74 related news: I was told Ranieri was offered to #Rapids96 and #NERevs a few weeks ago, respectively. Both teams declined immediately. https://t.co/UKnz1oftvp— Joel Soria (@soriajoelfutbol) November 16, 2018
Keep your eye on @WakeMSoccer senior centerback Sam Raben. The #Rapids96 homegrown is in the NCAA tourney right now. He may be the first player the Rapids sign this offseason. https://t.co/7RFwTiXhl4— Soccer Rabbi (@soccer_rabbi) November 16, 2018
Is he better than Quentin Pearson who actually got some Youth USNT call ups? https://gohuskies.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=7035
The 2019 #MLS Cup final could be played in early November, reports @turneresq. That and other changes to the schedule detailed in his report.https://t.co/W30nVm6SsI— The Athletic Soccer (@TheAthleticSCCR) November 19, 2018
I just can't see a shorter regular season. League payrolls have increased significantly, and TV/ESPN+/trinket sales/sponsorship revenues can't carry the increases alone. Teams need the gate, concessions, and in some cases parking revenue from a longer season to whittle away at the salaries. For large attendance teams such as Atlanta, the lost revenue from a couple games would be massive. Keeping the same number of matches and significantly condensing the season wouldn't pass muster by the MLS Players Association. What I do see as a logical alternative would be returning to the 2000-2001 three-division play and restructuring the playoffs accordingly. This would make the season more competitive, avoid the embarrassment of 12th place finishes (8th place for the Rapids artificially sounds so much more competitive), and would let the MLS condense the playoffs from 12 to 9 teams. That seems logical, so I expect Garber to do exactly the opposite.
One of the things I don't like about the current scheduling system is the unbalanced schedule. With each team playing conference foes three times a season and those from the other once. I understand that this cuts down on travel and the associated expense. But I just don't like it. I'm old school. Play all opponents twice a season, once at home and once away.
They're talking more midweek games but the same length of season. They also want to expand, not contract, the playoffs. We're never going to a 46 game season (what you would need to play everyone twice).
I get that it's hard to play everyone twice with an ever expanding MLS. I wonder if we will see the day when there are enough teams in each division - east and west - where they will only play within the division? As for midweek games, that's not going to help attendance at all.
I always hate those "only play within the division ideas"- I want to see at home or get the chance to go to SKC. Also, I want a chance to see other Eastern Division opponents, especially when they sign big stars. I want to see Wayne Rooney, for example, in Colorado. I think you should play everyone at least one. I'm OK with three divisions - especially if it creates one bracket play-offs. I want the possibility of two teams from the same region meeting in the finals again. And if the two best regular season teams are from the same division, I want them kept apart until the final. It'd be cool this year for example, for the RedBulls and Atalanta to meet in the final if they both won out.