David Beckham 'confident of securing funding from American billionaire' for Miami MLS franchise Mirror.co.uk Blame new coach Curt Onalfo for Galaxy's slow start The Daily Breeze Omar Gonzalez becomes third American to win CONCACAF Champions League Stars and Stripes FC MLS This Week: Fredy fits in, the Atomic Ant and Chicharito KPUG 1170 Exclusive: Bastian Schweinsteiger Comes in From the Cold at Chicago Fire Alm Newsweek MLS Discipline: Rapids' Ford suspended for one game Soccer America Ranking this week's MLS games Atlanta Journal Constitution MLS - Sky Sports Football skysports the 18dotcom soccer headlines The18 SI planet futbol Headlines Si MLS News, Analysis, Results & Stats foxsports MLS TSN headlines TSN Cbc.cananda soccer Headlines CBC Canada Fourfourtwo MLS Headlines 442 Major League Soccer News and Scores ESPN FC
There is literally no one that is going to "start the talk" about FCD going unbeaten over 34 games just because they went unbeaten in seven to start the season.
You look at the dogpile of high profile investor partners at LAFC - and you wonder why there aren't at least more celebs and international soccer stars on board with Beckham. I wonder if it's because Simon Fuller & co. have to be so careful about sustaining the Beckham brand. Like how they might choose who he sits next to courtside: can't be somebody who's too past it, neither would they want somebody who eclipses Beckham. I wonder if this project is still seen by his team as a Beckham brand extension - rather than cashing in his remaining fame to create something bigger and keep him in "the game." Anyway, this LA Dodgers guy probably heard all about LAFC and sniffed out a potentially great deal in Miami. Saving $100 million right out of the gate? There hasn't been a steal like that since AEG moved the Quakes to Houston.* With that kind of savings, there'd be a big, decades-long soccer party happening in St. Louis. Still sad about St. Louis. *Proportionally. Ok I'm not good at math. I mostly like to remind people how gross that was.
You know, I think we are quickly approaching "Who's David Beckham?" territory. His name has not been out there all that much lately - at least, I've not heard much mention of him other than in very specific soccer circles (aka here).
Yea, I've wondered just how much cachet he really has left. He retired from the Galaxy in 2012. Since then the league has added Montreal, Orlando, NYC, Atlanta, and Minnesota. The year before he left, Portland and Vancouver joined. And there are still a dozen or so cities with varying degrees of interest/readiness to join. I just don't think he enters into anyone's mindset anymore. EDIT: I forgot about LAFC EDIT II: And clearly his name hasn't carried much weight in Miami.
Another ESPN casualty. After 13 wonderful years at ESPN, I’m proud that this feature on @ATLUTD wound up being my final piece: https://t.co/JOpL8Jcvyq— Doug McIntyre (@ByDougMcIntyre) April 27, 2017
Andre-Pierre Gignac planning long stay in Mexico, not interested in MLS ESPN FC Tho he has a knack for scoring goals against MLS teams in CCL action somehow .
MLS' foreign coaches stigma is dying, and it may have never been real FourFourTwo All-Access Atlanta: How United are on track to be the most successful expansion team in MLS history ESPN See you soon, love. 🏠 #NeverHuntAlone https://t.co/ecilSum11Y— Orlando City SC (@OrlandoCitySC) April 27, 2017 The flag looks beautiful !!
I'm kinda surprised by this. I was under the assumption that NHL, MLB, and NFL would take most of the hits because of ESPN's terrible contracts with those brands (i.e., not with the brand themselves but ESPN's piece of the pie).
When an entity has to cut costs all options are taken into account. Doesn't matter where in organization, size,if area profitable, etc. Also better to do it all at once for all involved. Unfortunately for ESPN the bleeding isn't going to stop. We are all predicting another round of blood letting in the next 36 months. Might not be as large....but it will almost certainly happen.
A Running List Of ESPN Layoffs Other sports took it even worse than soccer. The NHL was gutted of its stable of writers in the middle of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. MLB lost a prominent contributor in Jayson Stark, while Baseball Tonight got demoted to being essentially a pregame show for the Sunday game. Tons of notable college football/basketball people were also let go. As overpriced as those MNF and NBA deals are, ESPN has made it clear that the NFL and NBA will be their bread and butter going forward since they drive the most national discussion. Screamin' A Smith is now the face of the network and all he ever blabbers about on First Take is the NFL and LeBron. It's not a matter of if but when the next round cuts at ESPN, FS1, etc. is announced.
To some degree, they're throwing good money after bad with the NFL and NBA. On the other hand, those are the biggest draws already, and anything that drops viewership on their strongest properties will hurt them dearly. Since soccer is generally increasing in prominence and viewership, and relatively small compared to baseball or college football, it was less affected. A lot of studio employees out. I wonder how many off-camera staff were let go? And how many more people will simply see their current contracts expire without renewal? And how many more will only be re-upped at a reduced rate? Random thought: How much did this money crunch affect Big XII non-expansion? A peek at the balance sheets, a small bit of cash, and some reassurance about protecting them from future contract cuts was probably all it took to keep their expenses from rising 20-40% on those rights.
When you are losing 500-750M in revenue, seems like these cuts in personnel are a bit more for a show of "yeah we are on top of it" rather than actually getting to the root of ESPN's issues.