according to swedish media, marta might go back to damallsvenskan. swedish club malmo has offered marta a contract. I hope she does after the failure that is the US league. http://www.aftonbladet.se/sportbladet/fotbollsbladet/sverige/damallsvenskan/article6516460.ab
If she is currently under contract to the league, I wonder if this can be considered "tapping up" or tampering. If Marta is under contract, they have to talk to the owners of the contract first. And I'd think a transfer fee would be significant.
Just because ONE team folds it does NOT mean WPS is a failure. MLS has had MORE than one team fold but they are going strong and I'm sure European leagues have had teams fold. The NHL has had teams fold and they are going strong. Marta can't go back to Sweden since she's under contract with WPS. She'll just go to another team in WPS unless WPS agrees to break the contract and I don't see why they do something so stupid like that.
My understanding is that Blue Star group and AEG, the former owners of SOL, are responsible for Marta's salary...I don't see why WPS is responsible for her salary at all...After all, Blue Star group and AEG offered Marta a guaranteed contract in the first place... If Marta doesn't play at all in WPS this year, she will still get paid by...Blue Star group and AEG...They no longer own SOL...But, that doesn't mean that they are no longer have to pay Marta...I am sure that Marta will hire some attorney to go after AEG if it refuses to honor the contract... If some WPS team agrees to take over Marta's contract, it would be doing Blue Star group and AEG a favor... Maybe some WPS team could negotiate with AEG...That team will pay the 60% of Marta's salary while AEG pays the 40%... Take a look at Major League Baseball...A team wants to get rid of a player with an expensive contract...It trades the player to the other team after agreeing to pay the part of his salary... I am just giving my opinion...I don't know anyone in the WPS office who's familiar with Marta's contract... Transfer fee...I don't think so...AEG would be glad to hand over Marta's contract for free...
who wants to play in a crappy league which can fold at anytime? Marta was in sweden for 5 years without any economical problems. Pathetic. The US league isnt stable enough.
Apparently, quite a few players from the Swedish league have deemed our "crappy league" worthy of their services. So sorry!
The structure of pro sports in Europe and the structure of pro sports in the US are totally different. In the US we have the franchise system where a persn(s) puts up money and ownes at team and excepts costs for that team. Leagues are ususlly owned or run by the owners of the teams. In Europe you have local town sports clubs that have been around for a while and many financed by industries, the government, etc. That's why you will never see relegation in America in any sport. The owners will never allow it. It's not a crappy league. Just run different from other leagues around the world. I guarantee you the WPS outdraws other leagues around the world on a game to game basis in attendance. It's just that oners take more financial risk.
you are kidding right? Several Swedish teams have had financial difficulty and the overwhelming amount of talent that has left Sweden's league should be a clear enough signal that WPS is winning the battle for talent. If someone in Sweden would be willing to pay the equivalent of what she is getting in WPS then good luck to them, she can score six goals a game there and not be ready for the world cup. A bad choice all around. and i think extremely unlikely.
Look Eurosnob it's obvious you're trying to pick a fight. It's YOUR league that's a joke. In Sweden the players MAY earn a few hundred bucks a game or maybe only around a hundred bucks a game plus lunch money! As others have said that's why so many leave for greener pastures, better talent, and better salary.
The Swedish leage did get devastated by the recession, that's true, so now it's not an option for top talent in the world. The Anschutz long term strategy of f**king up the world's economies through subprime mortgaging and CDO trading:s in order to create a credit crunch to free all of the best players globally was a stroke of genius. Sad that the current AEG management didn't get the memo.
According the Yahoo Sports.. Without Marta the league will not survive. They need her for TV viewship http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/news?slug=ro-wpsmarta012910&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
The author of the article states that WPS holds Marta's contract... What? I thought the contract was between Marta and two owners of Sol...Two owners being Blue Star and AEG...
That's what I've been saying although I wouldn't go so far as to say the league would die without her but she is the mega star in the league no doubt and losing her would be devestating. You guys saw how much attendance increased for most if not all of the Sol road games last year that Marta was in. When she came to St.Louis many girls were wearing Marta jerseys. She's very important to the league no doubt.
You seem to be thinking of AIG. AEG (Anschutz Entertainment Group) is a sports and entertainment company.
Yeah that is the big question as to what the language of the contract states as to who is responsible should the Sol fold. WPS might have some ownership of guaranteed contracts league-wide for different purposes. Not sure, not a lawyer. But I have a feeling if Marta wants out of WPS it will require some serious compensation coming back to the league.
Exactly. AIG's long term strategy of f**king up the world involves fraudulently manipulating financial markets and screwing over investors in the name of corporate greed. AEG's long term strategy of f**king up the world involves working against civil rights and screwing over women and gays in the name of authoritarian fundamentalist Christianism. It's important to remember which is which.
I know what AIG do and did and what AEG occupy themselves with, my mistake was thinking that Anschutz had something to do with AIG. My bad. My brand new conspiracy theory would have been much better.
Where in that article does it say that? From the quotes I've read, the ratings weren't high enough to count anyone as the KEY for the league. And no offense to Mr. Rogers, because I do enjoy reading his article, but he is coming from a very different perspective than the average WPS fan. He is an International men's soccer writer primarily. I've only seen him do maybe 2 or 3 previous articles on the WPS. Now he's an expert? Comparing MLS and WPS is highly suspect, because yes there are overlapping fan bases, but the strategies are very different, understandably from both sides. If WPS, as he states, owns her contract then from my understanding, if they complete their side of the agreement, then she will have to complete hers. The thing is... We don't have a copy of her contract! So this is all pure speculation until someone hears something from a WPS employee themselves. (which to be honest, I'd rather not be the one to keep that secret. Glad I'm far away in Europe!) PS. Regardless of whether Marta is actually getting offers from European teams, wouldn't it make sense from a marketing standpoint to claim you are going to give her a contract? A little international publicity for a league that is quickly being overshadowed in Europe by Germany, perhaps. Or am I too diabolical? ;-)
FIFA and/or the the CAS would probably only consider a pro player contract with a team for the express purpose of playing for that team protection against tapping up. otherwise abily and bompastor would still be in lyon. but a once in a lifetime shot to live in the states and play before 20,000 (or even 5,000) fans, even if for only one or two years, is very enticing compared to the semi-pro conditions that are general in europe. yes it's called trolling... and this is called feeding the trolls, which is not much better. as MRAD12 pointed out the structure of sports is very different on the other side of the atlantic. servette geneva and mouscron did indeed fold. borussia dortmund came close. but it's very rare... whereas if you count every sportns venture from the AA (turn of century baseball) to the USFL, i'd venture 95% or more of all US sports franchises ended up folding. if they're counting on marta and TV money to make the league work they're being overambitious imo. i don't think there's that much money or interest in the whole shebang for a big TV package, marta or no marta. that said, WPS can survive, but only if they hold true to the modest model they proclaimed at the outset, and that precisely means... no marta. at least not at the price she wants. but if that's the case, she's not going back to sweden either. if she heads back to europe she's going to arsenal, lyon, PSG, or some other team sugardaddied by a men's club.