MLS business articles

Sports Business Journal profiled "Forty Under 40" -- the top 40 sports executives under the age of 40. The list included David Wright, VP of Global Sponsorship for MLS / SUM.

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2012/03/12/Forty-Under-40/David-Wright.aspx

But before you follow the link above, the more interesting article is the following interview by bigleaguesports, where he shares interesting insights into MLS progress.

http://thebiglead.com/index.php/201...soccer-vp-of-global-sponsorship-david-wright/

 

The John Spencer firing made me aware of Portland Timbers owner/president Merritt Paulson, (Henry Merritt Paulson III), son of Hank Paulson (US Treasury Secretary from 2006-2009 and former CEO of Goldman Sachs). Watched the video of the press conference and found a couple of biz articles that reveal his bend toward marketing and his interest in finding a sports franchise he could grow to success. Early this year, he talked to the NYTimes about the cash-flow positive situation for the Timbers. Even though he has a Harvard MBA, he seems to have had little work experience that would have groomed him to run any organization. Given that he got all teary-eyed talking about Spencer and was all slumped over by the end of the press conference, I suspect he's not really running the show in Portland.

NY Times interview mar-2012
http://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/14/qa-with-portland-timbers-owner-merritt-paulson/

40 under 40 article mar-2012
http://m.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2012/03/12/Forty-Under-40/Merritt-Paulson.aspx

Press conference article and video on John Spencer termination jul-2012
http://www.oregonlive.com/timbers/index.ssf/2012/07/portland_timbers_festering_iss.html

 

Here's an interesting take on yesterday's firing of Chris Heck, the NY Red Bull's president of business operations. He really raised Thierry Henry's hackles by scheduling a couple of afternoon games during a heat wave. But apparently he was also an a-hole, a basketball guy ignorant of soccer (maybe he thought it was played indoors), and he alienated the fans and staffers. But I'll bet it was really Henry's refusal to play that was the tipping point.

http://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/02/red-bulls-ax-top-executive/

 

The more I read about Merritt Paulson, the more I think he must be an incompetent "business executive" fueling his sports fetish via his father's deep pockets.

http://www.socceramerica.com/article/48520/paulson-tirade-lands-portland-owner-25000-fine.html

 

This is not strictly business related, but I thought it was significant that the Wall Street Journal had a lengthy article about MLS supporters fans and their TIFOs. (published in sep-2012)

The link below might only be good for 7-10 days.

WSJ.com - To Show Their Support, Soccer Fans in the U.S. Need to Master 'Tifo'

 

http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/artic...-spencer-and-what-went-wrong-portland-timbers

The article above is the 2nd of a 3-parter on Merritt Paulson's firing of John Spencer. It describes how Paulson and Gavin Wilkinson tried to micromanage the team from the backseat and force what I would call a Moneyball approach down John Spencer's throat. They apparently tried to get Spencer to utilize their player statistics to decide who would play.

From this account, I would assume that Caleb Porter will not last long as head coach either, because what self-respecting successful individual in any line of business would put up with this kind of interference? I haven't read part 3 yet, but these first 2 installments are great reporting.

The Portland Timbers situation is very similar to the situation at QPR. Watch the 2011 movie "The Four Year Plan" on netflix. After watching that movie, I swore I would never watch another QPR game. It's disgusting how some team owners feed their egos while fans foot the bill.

 

In WSJ Jul-17-2014, Ben Cohen wrote an article entitled, "Solving the Attendance Riddle. To fix its mysterious attendance woes, college football looks far ahead -- to MLS".

http://online.wsj.com/articles/why-college-football-is-studying-major-league-soccer-1405556573​

He says that Sportking KC spun off a group called "Sporting Innovations" which focuses on fan engagement and technology. They are now consulting to college football teams (Florida Gators & Oklahoma State) whose attendance has been falling off in large numbers. SKC has a demographic (avg 29.7 years old) close to college-age, so they provide superfast wifi in the stadium, have the most interactive sports events, pay for fans to attend road games, and organize social events for young professionals. They track attendees (250,000 profiles) and know when/where/how they bought tickets, what time they arrived at the game, and who they sat near (I think Seattle tracks that stuff too). SKC wants fans to come early and stay late.

 

Matthew Futterman writes for WSJ on Aug-6-2014 about the many European clubs increasing their brand presence in the USA this summer.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/european-soccer-makes-a-u-s-pitch-1407279392
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NBC saw its EPL viewership rise from 13.3M to 31.5M last year. Bayern Munich estimates the US soccer market to be 60 million, with 15M interested in their club. Bayern opened an office/shop in New York and closed its summer tour with the MLS All-Star game. Besides the 8 teams in the International Champions Cup (Real Madrid, Man City, AC Milan, AS Roma, Liverpool, Inter, Olympiacos, and won by ManU), there were American club friendlies with Swansea, West Bromwich-Albion, Crystal Palace, and Scotland's Rangers. The Quakes hosted the only friendly that did poorly - a supposed 15K+ turnout to watch them play Atletico Madrid.

Don Garber says the international games raise soccer's profile in the US. Seems to be working!

 

Great article on how Sacramento Republic FC got its rapid injection into the MLS expansion buzz.

http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/artic...ramento-republic-fc-joined-mls-expansion-conv​

 

Article has some numbers on salaries and MLS income

 

This NY Times article on Southampton could have some lessons for MLS teams. Southampton recovered from bankruptcy, relegation, and is now performing well in the EPL. To maintain their small-money budget, they plan for half the first team to be homegrown players. Their youth products include Gareth Bale.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/29/sports/soccer/a-rebuilt-southampton-excels-with-a-10th-place-budget.html​

 

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This long piece from Howler Magazine analyzes the real guy behind the Beckham Miami team, and some thoughts as to why the team has no traction (for one thing, none of the 3 principals spend any time in Miami). But the author spent a little time in a suite at an SKC game and came away with these quotes:

"One aspect of MLS that both Kansas City owners really liked was the centralized structure. All the players are owned by the league, which helps keep payroll—and the players—in check.

“If labor ever tells us they’re going to strike, we’d be like, ‘Fine, we’ll replace each and every one of you,’” said Heineman.

Claure nodded approvingly. He’s reportedly sunk at least $12 million of his own money into Bolívar. ... When we went outside to watch the second half, Claure told me he likes MLS specifically because, in his words, “it’s communist.” Look at La Liga, he said. A couple hemorrhaging teams at the top and a bunch of hopelessly broke teams below. In England, a club can’t win without the backing of a Russian oligarch or a Saudi prince. MLS is more balanced, Claure asserted. ​

 

Brian Straus of Sports illustrated partially reveals Sporting Director Ali Curtis' Plan for revamping NYRB. He interviewed Curtis a few weeks following that cacophonous fan meeting after he fired Petke. The article has some interesting insights into how Curtis works the system to get in players that Jesse Marsch wants, I.e., Klejstan and Leo Stolz. The Plan is to rely on developing young players rather than get DPs.

http://www.si.com/planet-futbol/2015/04/13/new-york-red-bulls-ali-curtis-mike-petke-jesse-marsch-mls
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I haven't followed how NYRB fans currently feel about their FO, but this article sorta explains why Petke was let go...

 

Here's an NBC write up that pinpoints 30-year old Portuguese central defender Jose Fonte as paramount to Southampton's success this season. This article also gives some insight into the management and facilities and how those have contributed to the club's rise.

http://sportsworld.nbcsports.com/jose-fonte-early-days-stardom/​

 

ESPN FC ran an anonymous survey of MLS players. Only 61 responded out of what, ~550 players, which means that results are not terribly valid, but still interesting.

http://www.espnfc.com/major-league-...us-player-poll-on-diving-relegation-promotion​