But they really aren't. they are in the top five in player acquisition money and have spent a lot on the academy. Payroll is middle of the road now. They do make some poor decision with their player acquisitions at times especially forwards. No, they're not Atlanta but no one else is at that level either at least yet.
please. for the love of accuracy, let's stop assuming this is factual. I'm guessing you're referring to a recently released spreadsheet by a Twitter handle "Tutul". Please know, the sheet is self admittedly incomplete - there are several missing entries that would dramatically change the rankings - and more importantly the data that is in there is wholly crowd sourced and not fact checked for accuracy. He literally is asking just random fans to tell him what they heard the fee were or he pulls from any number of completely unverified online sources. additionally, there is no definition of where any of the funds for transfer fees comes from. The owner's own pocket, or thru the use of TAM/GAM dollars given to them from the league. I'm 99% sure FCD is NOT in the top five of dollars spent, via a check written by the owner, in transfer fees. But because the league is so mysterious about this some guy on Twitter starts a crowd sourced spread sheet and even media outlets refer to it as if its factual and complete. It is neither. /rant
Well, I was surprised they weren't in the bottom five. Even if it's as wrong as you believe their miserly ways are a bit exaggerated. We just compare them against the Atlantas but no team is stacking up to them.
I wouldn't stake my life to that transfer fee listing, but it's amusing reading. And in combination with the much better data on player salaries from the MLSPU, you're sort of left with the impression that while the Hunts are not making it rain like Arthur Blank or LAFC's owners, they're also not the Krafts, either. Where FCD has really fallen down the past two years has been on the value for the money. Just look at how much money they spent on salaries for Urruti, Colmán, Lamah, and yes, Chalá. It's no wonder that two of them are no longer with the team. It's one thing to spend big money on players, but they also have to deliver in the big moments and those guys didn't.
I have no idea what this has to do with anything, but 3 of the 4 NFL playoff finalists are owned by 3 of the lower budget owners of MLS teams: Hunts of KC, Kraft of NE, and Kroenke of LA Rams who also owns CRapids. I remember a year or two ago, 60 Minutes had a fawning interview with Kraft about what a business and sports genius he is. No mention of his MLS team.