In the interest of fairness, here is a thread for all of you to express how much you love Kraft. Ok, go...
The Revs games were all on tv at a time when many MLS games were not. He brought a pro soccer team to New England and hasn't moved it. He made blue shirts with white collars fashionable.
His name leads a few to buy season tickets thinking it will give 'em an edge on the processed cheese market.
Only if you accept the notion that no one else would want a professional soccer team in the 10 largest metro area
Hey kept the team from being called the New England Nitro with green and orange jerseys. #NeverForget
Regarding Bob Kraft's greatness, he brought international soccer to the Boston area, including my first international, USA-Ireland, he got us to host some World Cup games, including a quarter final (we'll forget about that Pink Floyd concert right before the event, where the stage damaged the grass at one end, gotta let the guy make his money), he brought MLS to the Boston area, and he kept MLS afloat during it's difficult days. But as they say, in sports, the question is always "what have you done for me lately?", and I would seriously love to know what he's done for us lately. I suppose you could saythose reports saying the Krafts are pushing to keep the salary cap lower would technically them help us Revs fans, since doing so would help the team we root for stay closer to those teams who are willing/wanting to increase spending, trying to make this a viable soccer league on the world stage. We'll no doubt all be so excited if we hear that they were successful in keeping the cap number much lower than it could have become. Go Revs!!!!
When can/would MLS say this to Bob Kraft? If Kraft was a player he would be shown the door. He did a lot a long time ago, but today he does not seem willing or able to do what it takes to keep up with the younger, hungrier players. Some have probably seen this before, but if not check out this article from February when Jonathan Kraft was participating in the "Building a Dynasty" panel session with former Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference at the Hynes Convention Center. Skip down to the "Also of note" section where Kraft comments on the salary cap in the NFL being "a large reason why his family bought the team" and winning (enjoy the last paragraph/sentence).
Sorry, I just have to quote that here: - "Bill [Belichick] is somebody who I think will check out when he's not there" anymore trying and driven to win, Kraft said. "And I think for us, I think we'll check out if the family isn't driven that way, we'll check out of the business too. Because it's a lousy business to be in if you're not winning. In this business, it's all about winning. If you're not winning, there's plenty of other ways to make money." There's no point in even responding to that from a Revs perspective, as it's just too obvious for words.
One thing I was thinking about recently, I doubt Bob Kraft would ever want to own an MLB or NBA franchise, where you can go over the cap if you want to, you just pay a little penalty money. The pressure from fans of those 2 teams would be much harder to ignore than the pressure they get from the small number of hard core Revs fan, ironically, a hard core which is kept so small thanks to their ownership practices. Also, if you think about it, the NFL is probably the easiest league to build a successful team in, relative to the other 4 major sports leagues. The talent base you have to scout for the in baseball covers all the high schools and older youth leagues in the country, as well as college, and the limited number of international leagues that exist. So you're dealing with young players who are far less developed, so they're much harder to read in terms of where they could end up. You also have to have an extensive minor league organization, all of which you have to manage, to make sure they're getting the most out of the young players they're in charge of developing. You don't have as many free agents come in from other leagues, but it does happen. Hockey is quite similar in terms of the base that has to be scouted, though the minor league organization doesn't have to be as extensive as baseball as junior hockey can develop players for longer, but there are a lot more internationals that can be brought in. Soccer is similar to these 2 sports, but with obviously a much bigger international pool of free agents to be looked at, and a minor league system which isn't close to mature here in the US, in terms of teams owning or running their minor league system of teams, so who knows where it will go. The NBA is closer to the NFL, as a lot more of the development is handled by the free minor league system we call the NCAA, though there is a fair amount of international talent coming in, and the league is also newly entered into a version of a minor league system. But for the NFL, in terms of player development, it's all done free of charge by high schools and colleges, the young players they have to pick are much older and closer to the end of their development. Also, there is literally no other such league in the world, so you only have to scout colleges for your "young" player, and your direct opponents for free agents. That's not to say that the NFL doesn't have some factors that are more difficult than other leagues, a larger top team (well, only team) roster, and shorter average careers for players and higher injury rates come immediately to mind, but when it comes to finding players, it's much easier than any other league. And the league has a hard cap, so there's never a question about how much you have to spend, the question is only how do we cut the same pie everyone else has, not how much pie do we need to be successful. Just to be clear, I'm not by any stretch saying this means that it's "easy" to be as successful as the Pats have been, I'm just saying that building a team in the NFL is much easier to do than it is when compared to other leagues. So best practices from your NFL franchise can't be nearly as easily incorporated into your soccer franchise as some might think, there's sooo much more involved, even in young little MLS. That said, I always thought the biggest factor for the Pats was to go get the best guy you possibly can to run the sports side of the organization, and let him do his thing. That is why Kraft was willing to do something which was a little shady to get the guy he'd identified as "his man", basically stealing him from the Jets. Even taking into account that you're not going to get a Mourinho, Guardiola or anyone close to that to come to MLS, whether you think the most important guy on the playing side is Burns or Heaps, there is literally no need to ask if anyone thinks Kraft got the "best" guy he possibly could have.
A few years ago Kraft decided not to buy Liverpool because there is no salary cap in the Premier League.
... which shows he is great because this way he can keep his buckets of money at home to spend on the Revs?
I'm not too sure how familiar you are with Liverpool's recent history, but Hicks and Gillett came dangerously close to destroying the club beyond repair. Maybe if the Krafts sell the Revs to NESV we could find similar success to Liverpool.
I think the Revs are unique in that they are in the only MLS market where spending more money will not elevate the team's profile. KC happened to be the perfect place for that given the demographics and the culture. The Krafts recognize this and we should be thankful they do.
Not familiar with any of the off the field stuff. I just know they went from starting Charlie Adam to bringing Coutihno in off the bench. Wikipedia tells me that Hicks and Gillett drove the club into bankruptcy and were forced to sell - that vaguely rings a bell. I guess it IS possible to be a worse owner than Kraft. Always look on the briiiiiight side of life!
Spending stupid money like the contracts that Toronto splashed out this winter would be crazy for the Revs. It would definitely raise the profile and mindshare of the club, but it probably would not bring in enough new fans, mechandise sales, TV revenues or anything else that can directly be attributed to the bottom line. I think you should change that statement to "the Revs are unique in that the way they are currently managed, they are in the only MLS market where spending more money will not elevate the team's profile." If they spent money wisely and did a few things that would not cost a lot of money, but were focused and targeted, they could indeed raise the team's profile, and revenues. We've gone over this before, but things like buses from Riverside and Alewife every home game, and the surrounding publicity to make it successful could work. Once that is in place, things like shrink-wrap ads on Green Line trolleys (with the message that you can take the bus to the game from a T terminus), and a bunch of other things a smart college intern looking to get their first professional job in PR or Marketing would know about. We're not talking about a $10 million/year DP, just a little bit of money combined with a smart plan.