Just what is going on with the Boston Breakers? Got to wonder how the Boston fans are dealing with the ownership situation.
Matt Beard says Lavelle, White, and King are all injured, will miss the start of the #NWSL season— Dan Lauletta (@TheDanLauletta) January 18, 2018
The Equalizer attempted to talk with Duffy yesterday about the situation in Boston, and there really wasn't much new to say about the situation aside from the fact that the continued uncertainty seems to be paralyzing personnel decisions: http://equalizersoccer.com/2018/01/18/duffy-currently-its-business-as-usual-in-boston/ I'm guessing the league does what it can to prop up Boston for the 2018 season and then either folds or relocates the team. Unfortunately, there's no mention here of the potential group we've heard about that was supposedly lined up for 2019...
Well, we sadly now know why: It is my understanding that the group slated to take over the Breakers pulled out of the deal last week. League scrambling to keep franchise afloat for 2018. Decision should come soon #NWSL— Dan Lauletta (@TheDanLauletta) January 23, 2018 Oh dear. =-S
I honestly can't see how a new group comes in at this late date (less than a month til camp) and takes over the operation. Utah took months to get in position to take over KC and they r still only to the point of having a few of the KC players fully on board. I think the best u can hope for at this point is the league (i.e. USSoccer) bails out the Breakers for one season.
This situation shows it is hard to get a business like this to break even and therefore need a big pocket owner to survive.
....or maybe not? I'm told Breakers players had a conference call with Amanda Duffy yesterday morning but did not emerge from it with any sense as to their club's fate #NWSL— Dan Lauletta (@TheDanLauletta) January 25, 2018 This whole confusion is doing no-one any good. This is players she's talked to, though, not the ownership, so maybe they're two (unfortunately?) separate lines of discussion. No, they didn't take months - they took a grand total of 15 days. RSL had previously expressed interest in joining NWSL, yes, but all of those efforts had been put far on the backburner until Paulson strolled in and tried selling the idea to Hansen. RSL had been in the position of "we'll come back to NWSL eventually" before Paulson came in. They were in no position to take on a team two weeks before they actually did. If RSL can go from no interest to full ownership in two weeks, someone can do the same for Boston, especially since most of the legwork to begin the season has already been done. (At least, I assume it has, since Duffy has said several times that Boston has been moving toward 2018 with "business as usual" thus far.)
Utah came into the league Nov 16, 2017. On January 25, 2018 their team consists of Sauerbrunn, O'Hara, Lyle, Jonsdottir, Laddish, Tymrak, Matheson and the rights to a bunch of players. Apparently this is more time consuming than just signing some papers. A new owner in Boston has three weeks till camp.
Yes, but Boston won't have to write new contracts for players they already have. That's a big part of what I meant when I said "most of the legwork to begin the season has already been done". You said it took them months to get in the position for taking over KC's spot, and that's false - they did so in the 15 days leading up to Nov 16. Getting all the organizational ducks in a row is different than signing players. Boston doesn't have to worry about personnel stuff like Utah did, and probably doesn't have to worry about stadium and other similar issues either. From what we've heard so far, the only glaring issue is finances and finances alone. That wouldn't take long for a new owner to deal with - they just sign the check. The only potential complicating factors would be A) if the stadium issue isn't already ironed out, and B) if a new owner was interested in getting their own staff and/or a new location.
We're supposed to hear news today. I wish they would just spill it out instead of having players, fans wondering.
So Hansen said he'll likely be spending around $3 million over the next three years on the Royals so let's use that number. U want someone to come in and invest $3 million and just take over the operation as is that currently has put the Breakers out of business? I sure wouldn't. If it were my money and I wasn't just looking to throw it away Id be looking at getting the right people to run the team, the right coaching staff, the right roster and review whether Jordan Field is the best place to play. About the only person who could pull off what ur talking about is Bob Kraft who seems to have less than no interest. He could fold the team into the Revs operation and at least he's know his front office could do the job. Then he could upgrade as he went. Anyone else is either moving the team or just handing his/her money to the same people who caused this mess.
Well, yes of course you need to have proper vetting. And some changes will be necessary to turn an organization around. But of all of these: they're either not part of the off-field problem (roster or coaching staff), can be worked with since people can alter how they work (office staff), or are things aren't necessary to change immediately (stadium) if you just want to make sure you're ready for the year. For the staff and stadium in particular, if I were buying a team I'd rather have some people already versed in the process of running a team than try to completely start from scratch. You can re-train them or replace them over time, but in the short-term I think big staff changes are a bad idea. Simply having a new owner who has good connections and good business sense can fix a lot of things (procuring sponsorships, being more proactive about advertising, etc.) without big changes elsewhere in the office. I guess my main point is that a straight sale of the team doesn't take months, as it looks that the three sets of negotiations we've had in the past two or three years (Baer buying KC, Malik buying WNY, and Hansen buying the spot vacated by KC) all apparently happened in weeks, not months. There are of course other things that will take time, and we want to avoid another Baer situation, but if we're talking the sale itself and not the full organizational overhaul, that *can* be done quickly. It's like buying a fixer-upper house: sure, you can raze it and build something new if you want, and it'll be a long time before you can live in it, but it's also perfectly possible to live in it while you make all the DIY fixes you want.
My point is ur not looking for an owner, ur looking for a philanthropist. What u need is someone with deep pockets and a vested interest in the league to swoop in ala Hunt and Anschutz did to keep MLS running. While that would be super, there isn't anyone like that in NWSL. The only people with a ton of money and a vested interest is USSoccer. If Im Gulati who doesn't want to go out with both no WC and contraction as his last two acts, I go to Boston Women's Soccer and say here is the deal. In exchange for oversight on expenditures which the league mostly has, u run the team for this year and we will cover any debt u incur. That way BWS doesn't lose any more money and the league has another year to find new ownership or move the team. The NWSL already knows what they r losing so they know pretty much what it will cost. No re-entry draft....no redo on the schedule...no embarrassment of contraction which makes new ownership tentative. If Im Gulati I spent the money.
Are you saying "your" in the general sense or in trying to rephrase specifically my argument? Because if the latter, no I'm not saying that at all... I specifically spelled out that the interest has to be long-term and forward-looking with sponsorship, advertising, and eventual office advancement, and I pointed out the examples of the three previous ownership changes as not taking an incredible amount of time to get the business side of things all hashed out. I agree that having someone swoop in with a bunch of money for "just a year" to put the temporary stop gap while continuing to search for a long-term solution might be nice, but my point is that there's no reason you can't have a fully developed ownership group take over late in the offseason - or even during the season, since MLS teams have seen midseason ownership shuffles before (IIRC the Dyanmo - and by extension, the Dash - changed hands midseason not too long ago, with AEG siphoning its majority share off to other owners). Now, it could very easily be that there's just no-one in Boston interested in becoming new owners, and that's its own problem. But if you have a set roster and a set stadium plan for the year (which I think Boston has considering the "business as usual" statements from earlier) then it's perfectly possible and reasonable for an ownership change to happen quickly and at any time.
No I meant "ur" as in the powers that be. I do think tho that more u want out of the next owner the more u have to be willing to wait for it. I think the NWSL was very lucky with Utah and that the better lessen was the new owner who took over KC and pretty much ignored it into oblivion. At this point Im a bit hopeful that there still hasn't been an announcement. Id think pulling the plug could have been done quickly while the wait may indicate other things r happening.
You’ll see the subtweets. Official word coming soon. Breakers will fold ahead of the 2018 season. Players and staff have been notified. https://t.co/qFHUvdX21y— Anthony DiCicco (@DiCiccoMethod) January 25, 2018
http://equalizersoccer.com/2018/01/...e-breakers-details-of-missed-payments-emerge/ A lot to chew on in here... including showing that a couple of the assumption I had from the "business as usual" comment were simply untrue. Also didn't know that the group previously lined up was already versed in soccer, which in theory should have expedited the process... Yeah, a LOT to chew on.
SaveTheBreakers doesn't have to versed in soccer if they have the cash and r willing to stay the course with previous management. Yes if they have been running short staffed then u might not get those people back but when staff is cut its generally lower levels and duplicate services. If they r looking to keep the team in Boston long term they really needed to improve management but they can do that as they go. Generally people who can invest on this scale got that money by being able to run a business. If u can run a business well then all u have to be willing to do is bring in people with soccer expertise to help u.
Looks like the doctor is officially calling it. The Breakers r dead. No news is no longer good news.Multiple efforts unsuccessful.Operational issues as much as financial.Clock ran out.It was always a long shot from where things were middle of last week. https://t.co/Im9rR9jasF— Anthony DiCicco (@DiCiccoMethod) January 27, 2018
To Breaker fans: I will be along side you hoping you get a team again, ASAP. If not this season, in 2019, I offer every best wish to your city to field a team then. I feel your pain - I remember when CRS exited the WPS - I was in shock and so sad we no longer had a team in WPS. I am sure the entire NWSL fan base is united with you, sharing your pain, and are eagerly looking for a Boston team in NWSL, ASAP!
It would be nice if it could happen, but unfortunately the direction the league wishes to move has changed, and unless the Revolution has a change of heart, it probably isn't going to happen. To avoid going through the same kind of problems the independent owners have had to go through, the easy way seems to be is to just go with established MLS club ownerships that own and/or operate their own stadiums and have an infrastructure already in place, As long as there are a number of them available, why not? With the Portland, Houston, Orlando, and now Utah models to follow, all they have to do is take the Portland business plan, scratch out Portland's name an put theirs in. By going in this direction, it allows the league to focus on other pressing issues like roster size, salary cap, marketing the league, increasing the advertising dollars, sponsorships, etc.
I wonder how this effects the Union Point plans. If they r building a 10000 seat stadium they must be looking at more than Lacrosse. Maybe they r planning on a men's div 2 soccer team as well and that could be a road for an eventual return to the NWSL.
Duffy's made some of the rounds with typical WoSo reporting sites like the Equalizer, but local site The Bent Musket got a really good interview out of her they posted earlier this morning: https://www.thebentmusket.com/2018/1/29/16942930/amanda-duffy-boston-breakers-who-knew-what-when Sheds some faint hints as to who the 13th-hour group was, how long the full process was, and all the range of problems the team was facing that made a pure financial takeover (e.g. USSF bailing the team for a year) unworkable.