How? I watched the Mexico/Netherlands game with my wife's family (who are Mexican). Probably 25 people there and I was the only person who could name all the players for both teams. Maybe 2 or 3 watch some occasional Euro/Liga MX games but they were all there because it was Mexico and the World Cup is a really big deal. How do you get ALL those people to start watching Columbus vs. Dallas MLS game? There is just a certain market that is willing to watch their home country play in a really big event like the World Cup. There is another smaller market that is willing to watch club soccer at the highest level. There is another even smaller market willing to watch club soccer at MLS level. If you know a way to get all those viewers to watch MLS games I'd love to hear it.
This thread is for Miami MLS Stadium news, not the debate if Miami will get MLS again. While outsiders with genuine interest are appreciated, lets stick to the topic. If you want, we can spin-off the obvious non-Stadium posts into a new thread for various posters to articulate their well designed thoughts.
Did anyone go to that Miami Herald stadium panel discussion thing last night? Would have liked to have seen it. Wondering if something meaningful was accomplished, or If it was just a farcical exercise in futility.
To increase TV atmosphere To attract sponsorship money To increase spectator atmosphere Pro sports teams make their money off of TV revenue, sponsorship/advertising, merchandise and then game day revenue. I don't think game day revenue is a very big piece of the puzzle to the NFL teams that are building the billion dollar facilities. They only have 8 home games a year.
Yea I don't want to get the thread off topic, I'll just leave it with this... MLS is not like any other major league sport in this country. Game day revenue is of course important for everyone but for everyone else it is dwarfed by TV money. Why? There are no competitors. If you are a broadcaster and you want to broadcast baseball, there is only one place to go to. There is only one entity to buy. Since there are multiple broadcasters and only one product, the price is driven up. Thus the huge inflation that has created billion dollar broadcast deals. Soccer has plenty of competitors. If you are a broadcaster and want to broadcast soccer, there are several leagues and different competitions (club and country) for you to buy. Since multiple broadcasters have many products to buy, the price is not driven up. Thus the lack of inflation and why the most popular soccer league on the planet (EPL) only gets about a 80M a year TV deal. Soccer market is not like other markets, game day revenue will always be crucial for MLS. Broadcast dollars will never be what they are in other sports because of the market.
Yea sorry, didn't mean to hijack the thread. I am not trying to debate if MLS will or should happen in Miami. I was trying to answer the question someone had about Garber's statements about the stadium. I don't think it shows that the league are bad negotiators, I think it shows that they really will walk if they don't get what they want. I tried to show some evidence or reasons why the league would walk, but then it just turned into an anti-Miami thing. I like Miami and I hope they get a great stadium and do well.
Umm...EPL TV deal is only 80M in the US. This is not a comparison. You would have to look at EPL TV deal in the UK and other countries and compare that to NFL in the US. The EPL definitely makes most of its money off TV rights. If you are trying to say soccer is less popular in the US than football and baseball...of course. we all know this, but the way you are going about it is very strange.
Let me try to make this as clear as I can. If there is more demand for something than there is supply the price goes up. If there is more supply for something than there is demand the price goes down. Why has the other major leagues in the US done so well? Why is it that out of the top 100 most valuable franchises in the world, 75% of them are in US based leagues? There is only 1 NFL. So broadcasters have to fight for the broadcast rights for that one property. The supply is limited and the demand (from broadcasters) is high. So each time the contract is up, another media company steps in with a huge offer because if they don't get it then they will have no pro football to broadcast. Soccer in the US (and I don't care about anywhere else) is never going to be like this. There will always be alternatives. There will always be more supply. If you lose out on an MLS broadcast deal you can make a bid for UEFA CL, EPL, La Liga, Liga MX, etc. There is no monopoly like there is in other sports. Yes, the EPL has the biggest tv contracts in the world and yet the contracts are still dwarfed by the NFL despite being much more popular world-wide? Why? Because EPL doesn't have a monopoly on international soccer rights. Yes they have been the most successful, but the NFL is only popular in 1 country and still blows everyone else away because the market is different (less competition and inflation of broadcast rights). So if you want to make tons of money in broadcast rights you can either. A) have a total monopoly on that sport (like other major leagues) B) be incredibly popular world wide My point is that MLS is probably never going to do either of those. Bringing up NFL or EPL in comparison to MLS just fails to recognize why the market for US soccer broadcasting rights is different. MLS broadcast rights will continue to creep up as the league becomes more popular, but it will probably never reach option A or B from above. MLS will need to rely heavily on game day revenues as most soccer leagues on the planet do.
People miss this point when it comes to the idea of "TV markets>All" I really don't think that getting into the South Florida TV market is the financial boon for MLS that some are making it out to be. And plus MLS already has a new TV deal worth $90 million over eight years (til 2022), so one could argue that the planned expansion has already been factored in. Whether Miami comes on in the next couple years or towards the end of the contract itself. That's one reason why Garber can play hardball on this.
Article in the New Times this morning about Beckham looking to Broward and Ft. Lauderdale: http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/p...d_beckham_to_bring_mls_to_fort_lauderdale.php
Now that's hitting the nail on the head, in getting the t.v. deal they received, I'm sure Beckham and Miami was a tool and was factored in along with expansion to the Southeast was instrumental in such a lucrative new national tv deal. That's why there is still a commitment to Miami after all the craziness from the local politicians and that's why a downtown stadium is so important to MLS. That's a more logical argument than all the other stuff posted before here in the last two days.
My guess is that the big increase didn't have anything to do with specific markets. Certainly I'm sure broadcasters would like to be in more markets (NYC and Southeast) but the big decision I think that forced the price of MLS broadcasting up was... A) Soccer is a growing market. At 80-90M today they might be overpaying but by the end of the contract they could be underpaying if soccer keeps growing. B) The other sports broadcasting rights are insanely priced and MLS offers a pretty cheap alternative with some good potential. For ESPN its not like trying to buy the NBA rights or NFL rights. C) Digital is becoming more relevant. Young people are cutting the cord and getting their entertainment in new ways. Live sports is one of the ways they can hold on to those customers. MLS does well among young demographics D) Unlike other major league sports, if broadcasters pay MLS more then the quality of the field could actually drastically increase. Increased quality could mean more viewers and thus more advertising revenue. You can give the other top 4 major league sports as much money as you want and the product will stay the same. MLS is unique, so front loading a contract and overpaying them to start could be a good business decision.
None of this is a case against Miami. The bottom line is TV ratings are the most important spectator stat for any professional sports league. Adding big markets with potential and that have shown an appetite for soccer on TV is the top priority of the league. Period. Smaller markets equal greater risk.
But none of those are going to stop MLS to expanding to those smaller markets either. One thing that the league now has is time on their side. They aren't in any rush to expand to Miami now, because there isn't an immediate tangible benefit that hasn't already been realized. So I doubt that the idea that Miami is "holding up" the league's growth holds any water. Or that Miami-Dade is holding any leverage on this issue. Especially with Broward bringing a lot more to the table.
The more I think about it the more I fear that Miami will turn into for MLS what LA currently is for the NFL. A large market that is used mainly as leverage for potential expansion in TV contracts and as a threat by other ownership groups to relocate their current franchise too for new stadium deals.
The year the Fusion were contracted, they started selling out Lockhart I believe. That was more about owner capital, than location. My opinion is put the stadium between Ft. Lauderdale and Miami and find a plot of land that gives Beckham the views he wants. It will be a success and adds a location that's attractive to players. Of this I have no doubt. Also I don't get the hand wringing over not having a stadium deal locked down in 6 months...Talk about unrealistic expectations. They will negotiate, neither side will get all that they want and Becks and MLS will be happy because they know that is how this stuff works.
No, not sell outs. They averaged more than 3 other teams I believe...around 12K if I recall, and while an improvement on previous seasons not all that great either.
Please, any improvement is progress in the right direction, over their last three seasons they improved to the point of bettering more than three other team. Also the attendance numbers were greater that 12k and marketing improved under the direction of the late Doug Hamilton. Tremendous strides were made and the Fusion were also a winning product on the field as well! The only reason why South Florida doesn't have an MLS today has to do with the bad ownership of Ken Horowitz.
Over reacting just a bit to a factual statement I made to correct another poster. Miami needs to prove it. Government, fans, etc. End of story. Prove it and people shut up....until then it's just Miami being Miami.
"It's just Miami being Miami again", that statement within itself shows the depth of your ignorance. To say that is to insinuate something was done wrong before...well here's two things, the Fusion was in Fort Lauderdale and it was the ownership who failed the Fusion. The other is "Miami being Miami again", how so? Did Miami have an MLS team before? The thing that ticked me off about your little statement "they've improved on previous seasons not all that great either". At that time every MLS team struggled with attendance, I believe DC was the only exception, so over all league attendance wasn't great at all then. You talk about "prove it and people will shut up", how about people knowing the facts before they open their mouth or just shut up?
No. They were much improved (with the league's best team), but they were not selling out Lockhart. 1998 - 10,284 1999 - 8,689 2000 - 7,460 2001 - 11,177 They were ahead of Kansas City, Tampa Bay and San Jose in 2001. It certainly is the major reason and the only one that really matters, in the end. Certainly not by today's standards. But DC and NY were both over 20k, Columbus and LA were over 17 and the league averaged 14,961. People get sooooooooo angry when you say anything about where they live.
Thanks for your post, it added a lot of context...yes people are touchy about were they live, especially soccer fans. That guy is lucky @krusso wasn't online, he would've broke the facts down at that same moment the post was sent. But anyways as you should already know, soccer is a tribal sport and your colors and city sometimes matters more than life itself in some cultures. That's something a lot of American soccer fans are starting to discover as the sports grows in this country!
Yes yes yes!!! In other countries you see that passion, MLS is starting to get to that point, Miami will get there with their team when they reach CCL concacaf club championship status.... 305 till I die