News: MLS Suspends season due to Coronavirus

Discussion in 'MLS: News & Analysis' started by Mike Marshall, Mar 12, 2020.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. tomásbernal

    tomásbernal Member+

    Sep 4, 2007
    Club:
    Portland Timbers
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Well, there has to be a buyer to sell to. If there is no season, and the future is in doubt, the value of the club will drop a shitload, one would think. Any owner wanting to sell will have to wait until shit is back up and running full bore, or take a massively lower price for their club than they would have gotten if they sold in January, 2020.
     
  2. KCbus

    KCbus Moderator
    Staff Member

    United States
    Nov 26, 2000
    Reynoldsburg, OH
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    #1052 KCbus, Apr 8, 2020
    Last edited: Apr 9, 2020
    Neither of those things have anything to do with the other. MLS is not the Bundesliga, and America is not Germany. Different countries, different customs and cultures, different stages of the virus, different calendars in which they play their seasons and different stages of progress in their current seasons.

    The decision for MLS to cancel its season now may be premature, but if it is, it has nothing to do with what they’re doing in Germany.
     
    CMeszt repped this.
  3. crookeddy

    crookeddy Member+

    Apr 27, 2004
    Washington State closing a field hospital, which is a good sign that they no longer expect to hit their worst case scenarios.
     
    AlbertCamus and JasonMa repped this.
  4. JasonMa

    JasonMa Member+

    Mar 20, 2000
    Arvada, CO
    Club:
    Colorado Rapids
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Which ones?
     
  5. FoxBoro 143

    FoxBoro 143 Member+

    Jan 18, 2004
    MA
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    In reality, no. The value of a franchise will always be dependent on future income. Current owners will take a major cash flow hit now but, assuming we get back to a point where we can fill stadiums again, the values should be unchanged.
    It's possible we may have some liabilities after we return, such as owing the network another season at the current rate, but I dont see that as likely.
     
  6. JayRockers!

    JayRockers! Member+

    Aug 4, 2001
    DC United, for starters.
    I don’t think Arthur Blank owns anything other than majority sports stuff these days. Of course $5B is with a lot more than whatever the DCU owners have.

    Thx,

    Jay!
     
    JasonMa repped this.
  7. Yoshou

    Yoshou Fan of the CCL Champ

    May 12, 2009
    Seattle
    Club:
    Seattle Sounders
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Isn’t most of Kraft’s networth related to the Patriots?

    And even tho he’s married to a Walton, I’d be curious how much of Kroenke’s wealth is in the multitude of teams he owns..

    With the departure of Joe Roth and death of Paul Allen, I’m not sure how much money is actually available to the Sounders now that they’ve been cut-off from their game day revenue.
     
  8. Paul Berry

    Paul Berry Member+

    Notts County and NYCFC
    United States
    Apr 18, 2015
    Nr Kingston NY
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    If I were Kaplan and Levien I'd be more worried about Swansea's $30 million payroll.

    MLS can cancel the season and implement a shorter one to stay at a later date.
     
  9. JasonMa

    JasonMa Member+

    Mar 20, 2000
    Arvada, CO
    Club:
    Colorado Rapids
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    He made a ton of money pre-sports teams (and pre-marriage) by essentially being the realtor to sell all the building pads in Wal-Mart parking lots.
     
    sitruc and JayRockers! repped this.
  10. Yoshou

    Yoshou Fan of the CCL Champ

    May 12, 2009
    Seattle
    Club:
    Seattle Sounders
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Made a lot, but also spent a lot acquiring his sports assets.
     
    JasonMa repped this.
  11. mbar

    mbar Member+

    Apr 30, 1999
    Los Angeles, CA
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Yes! Cancel that horrible 1-0 home opener loss to Vancouver. Never happened! Fresh start, short season.
     
  12. ThreeApples

    ThreeApples Member+

    Jul 28, 1999
    Smurf Village
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Kraft still owns one of the largest manufacturers of cardboard and paper packaging. He'll be fine.
     
  13. MLSinCleveland

    MLSinCleveland Member+

    Oct 12, 2006
    Cleveland, Ohio
    Club:
    Cleveland C. S.
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    No more sports in front of fans this season or ever?
     
  14. JasonMa

    JasonMa Member+

    Mar 20, 2000
    Arvada, CO
    Club:
    Colorado Rapids
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    True, but a quick Google seems to suggest that TBF Reality (his reality company) is still worth $2B.
     
    sitruc and Yoshou repped this.
  15. JayRockers!

    JayRockers! Member+

    Aug 4, 2001
    Exactly. When do they fish or cut bait? They’ve already started furloughs.

    Thx,

    Jay!
     
  16. JasonMa

    JasonMa Member+

    Mar 20, 2000
    Arvada, CO
    Club:
    Colorado Rapids
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
     
    Yoshou repped this.
  17. italiancbr

    italiancbr Member

    Apr 15, 2007
    If MLS does cancel the season, it won't be because they can't complete an abbreviated season, but rather the league taking a calculated risk to protect itself. First, any sports that do come back this year will most likely have to play in empty arenas. Since MLS relies on ticket sales as a percentage of revenue much more than other leagues, postponing the league just to play in empty stadiums might not be financially feasible.
    Secondly, when sports do come back, it could mean MLS competing against the NBA and NHL playoffs, football, and other soccer leagues possibly all at the same time. That would obviously negatively affect viewership at a time when MLS can't afford to show weakness in TV ratings with a new TV deal still to be negotiated. MLS needs strong TV numbers more than ever because ESPN as the front runner for that deal probably won't be in any mood for generosity considering it was losing subscribers faster than ever in February, and that was before all the postponements.
    Lastly, MLS would be affected by the international windows that were already planned for the remainder of the year, which would further cause disruptions that other sports leagues wouldn't have to worry about.
     
    AlbertCamus and Burr repped this.
  18. crookeddy

    crookeddy Member+

    Apr 27, 2004
    So looks like it's really happening - sports (in the form of MMA) are returning to the United States on April 18. It seems Dana White has secured a hotel in central California on a Native American reservation that does not have to follow California gathering restrictions. He says he has control of the venue for two months and has a deal with a trauma hospital in Fresno to treat fighters if needed. Presumably, after these two months, either some place in the United States will have eased restrictions allowing him to hold events, or he will hold events on the much talked about private island, though I don't know how he will be able to guarantee a hospital on a private island...

    I am guessing the island thing is bullshit, but the reservation events really will happen.
     
    AlbertCamus repped this.
  19. Kingston

    Kingston Member+

    Oct 6, 2005
    Of course, the American teams would have to cross the border, too.
     
    russ and AndyMead repped this.
  20. Kingston

    Kingston Member+

    Oct 6, 2005
    Some of them are paid by the league. I haven't done the exact math but my favourite team probably spends as much or more of its own money (DPs, optional TAM) as the league does.
     
  21. CMeszt

    CMeszt Member+

    Farewell Sweet Prince
    Jan 9, 2004
    Gentrification's Apex.
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Not sure if it was posted here or not, but on the good news front, Seattle has deconstructed the field hospital at CenturyLink.

    (we still think we're a week away from our surge here in Chicago. Hospital capacity seems to be doing ok, but anxiety is high).
     
  22. AndyMead

    AndyMead Homo Sapien

    Nov 2, 1999
    Seat 12A
    Club:
    Sporting Kansas City
    Lamar Hunt or Lamar Hunt and Family never appeared on the Forbes list of billionaires. This was true even when HSG owned 100% of the Kansas City Chiefs (Forbes value at the time $800million), 3/10ths of Major League Soccer, a chunk of the Chicago Bulls, and various sports and non-sports real estate holdings.

    The Hunt that did appear on the Forbes list was from the other side of the family and did not include any of Lamar's holdings.
     
    sitruc and JasonMa repped this.
  23. AndyMead

    AndyMead Homo Sapien

    Nov 2, 1999
    Seat 12A
    Club:
    Sporting Kansas City
    Wealth does not mean cash, otherwise the Jeff Cooper AC Saint Louis MLS team would probably be celebrating it's tenth season.

    I worked for a soccer company in the mid-90s that was highly profitable, but ended up having to sell itself to another mail order retailer because its negative cash flow meant that it couldn't meet its then current financial obligations.

    There are plenty of obscenely wealthy people that are basically living "paycheck to paycheck". It's why people that earn a quarter million a year consider themselves to be "middle class" despite being more than two standard deviations from mean.

    Owning a company worth $2B is great, but it doesn't mean you have cash. Kraft probably doesn't want to sell a portion of it to pay the Patriots/Revs payroll, and he may not want to use it as collateral to take out a loan, either.
     
    sitruc, Ismitje and JasonMa repped this.
  24. JasonMa

    JasonMa Member+

    Mar 20, 2000
    Arvada, CO
    Club:
    Colorado Rapids
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Kroenke, and no doubt. But it does show that he's not solely reliant/invested in his sports teams and his wife's money.
     
  25. Paul Berry

    Paul Berry Member+

    Notts County and NYCFC
    United States
    Apr 18, 2015
    Nr Kingston NY
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    It's projected peak day here in New York!
     

Share This Page