RSL 2020 In-Season News Thread

cancelling the entire season would seem foolish given we're in month 2 of the season that lasts another 6 months, minimum. I don't want all the games shoved together, but I also don't want to throw out the baby with the bathwater.

Ideally they should play a condensed season with the games behind closed doors, to start.

Though, reading through some trib articles today, some people want us all to go back to our lives because the economy is taking a hit and the data isn't as bad as some feared it could be. It's wild how quick people are to jump to sacrifice lives in the name of keeping this capitalism machine running.

 

You'd think they'd just announce that at this time they plan on a half season and go from there. I have a feeling that will be the best case scenario as is.

Funny how doing something that works makes the data more favorable. My biggest worry is a bigger second wave, because people are going to eventually think this was all overblown, and go back to normal, where we see an even bigger second round.

It's almost like good IT. Upper management seems to want to cut them because they 'do nothing' because they only recognize them working when shit hits the fan.

 

Good news! I've been keeping some of my own data on this, to track it. Although not yet seen in the number of US deaths which is a trailing indicator, the curve does seem to be flattening, both nationally and locally. However, even though we've seen a significant change in the doubling rate over the last week or so, it's still likely 10 days or more until we see a precipitous drop in the new case count. At least from the stuff I was reading about 2 weeks ago or even less, this seems to be happening a bit sooner than the experts predicted. Hopefully that bodes well for life getting back to normal. Of course, there is always the concern of getting back to normal too soon and seeing a 2nd wave like they've reportedly seen in some parts of China.

 

I miss soccer.

All of it.

 

https://www.ajc.com/sports/mls-exploring-alternatives-for-finishing-season/niuKeCgJ6xa4fv2ZoO100I/

Sounding less likely for a full season, which we were all doubting anyway. But also looks like MLS is considering fanless games to start. Could be July before or later before we get back to the Riot. The rumors about scrapping the season seem far too early to be taken seriously.

I read that NBA is starting to prepare for fanless games about a month out from now, but good chance that gets delayed a bit further.

 

I think they should consider playing all inter conference teams at a neutral site. Say Tucson Arizona for all western conference matches, play two matches per team each week, empty stadium, lots of cameras and MLS television. Do the same for the eastern conference. Go back when it’s safe and play the remaining matches as usual.

 

I've got to think that the loss of concession sales for those games would be an annoyance for some (Dell Loy) and crippling for others.

And how do you handle existing ticket sales for those games? Refunds? REFUNDS??!!

 

No easy answers to any of this, but I am sure the television revenue generated by the league would help each clubs bottom line and refunds or partial refunds for season ticket owners will I am sure be offered by the club. Not playing any of these matches equals zero concession sales so really not a deal breaker in my mind.

 

In case you missed it, RSL furloughed staff after doing a 180 on it before. That decision was made, according to Andy Carroll, with a lot of considerations. I just finished the 3:30 "townhall" they had and I'm seriously going back and forth on cancelling my season tickets. This club is ran by morons. There are good people within it, as most any place, but the very top is toxic.

I've defended Del Loy long enough. Sure, he came in and financially secured this club, but he installed an attitude that I turned a blind eye to for way too long. The writing has been on the wall about how the club is ran. What I took to be management style differences is actually Del Loy being so driven by the bottom line that he has lost his sense of people. The asset any organization will tell you is the very most valuable. Your people are who matter. If you treat them well, they'll treat your customers well and you'll be well regarded. You treat them poorly, and it trickles down and exposes the company for what it is.

This club is not a family. A family doesn't ostracize the hardest working members of the club just weeks into an unprecedented pandemic. Especially when the man at the top has the very means to keep those people afloat. he has no responsibility to do so. He has every right to shut down the entire club, if he wants. There isn't money coming in (well, actually, I did just get my monthly charge...) and the numbers say this isn't sustainable. Furloughing these people was a business decision that wasn't just done without thought. But it was done.

It reminds me of when I was visiting the house of Robert E Lee about 15 years ago. The guy giving the tour was not shy about his admiration of Lee. He made a point of giving us a long, well rehearsed speech about how Lee did not took the decision to lead the confederacy lightly. He contemplated for nights about what it meant. Why he should do it. Why he shouldn't. And the speech ended there. When challenged with the fact that Lee made the wrong decision, the man wouldn't listen to it. That didn't matter to him. Same with Del Loy, the repercussions of this don't matter. he can't see past himself.

This pandemic has shown the character of a lot of people. What they truly care about in their lives. What they truly think of other people's lives. What they view as "essential" and "non-essential". Del Loy can claim all he wants otherwise, but he made a business decision that said the livelihoods of those that work for him is not essential. A family doesn't do that.

 

This was my initial reaction to Andy Carroll, as recorded by BS nearly 5 years ago. I think it still holds up.

 

Want some irony: if this club ran itself like a decent enough club, they could have sold Ledezma and Soto and made up a good chunk of the payments I'm sure DLH has on ZBRA/RSL/Satellite Facilities. Justen Glad when offers came. Lennon to Liverpool as a player instead of an academy product. Plata. Salcedo. The list goes on and on.

But that is pointing the finger at more than Del Loy/Andy Caroll and the finger should only be pointed at them right now. ******** them. DLH can spend his money (or not, in this case) however he wants. And so can I

 

Thanks for the updates on the town hall meetings. I thought about checking one out but I am all out of outrage.

I might drop off more pennies though.

 

I think the first eye opener for fans on how this club would be ran was the Javi situation. Shafted him at the end of the season to avoid the contract clause, then basically told him to go.

I think the only reason KB was treated differently was because of the outrage at the Javi situation. DLH has more than enough to keep a player another year as a send off season, while keeping fans happy and letting the player have their last hurrah.

I can understand that DLH couldn't/wouldn't keep these employees on forever, but you'd think that even just 3-4 months before letting some go would look a lot better to the fans, and to those employees who got to stick around.

It'll be interesting to see how some businesses fare after things go back to normal. I can see those that did what they could for their employees the longest faring much better than those that immediately cut ties. I fully understand the situation from a restaurant or other business that may not have the means to hold onto employees long term, but it's sad to see it from owners that could be doing much more for the workers.

 

It makes sense now. Thanks for posting this.

 

there are a lot of interesting caveats to this. The low end of the pay structure guys won't be affected at all, it appears, or very little. The lowest a player salary can be reduced to is $100K.

This is a recipe for disaster for the league, as a whole, though, given it doesn't have a TV deal to fall back on for revenue. I was waiting for this point to be brought up more and explained on how the league planned to do these various formats but still pay any of its players the wages they've set aside.

According to the video, the TV deal is worth $90 million. The league wide salary bill, according to the article, is roughly $310 million. Though i didn't see any mention of if that number is what the league is set to pay, or what the OWNERS and the league are set to pay (DP salaries). So either that number is a lot higher with each ownership having to figure out their side of things, or the number isn't fully on the shoulders of the league.

Still, I'm not entirely sure why this is taking so much longer in the US than it is in other leagues. The premier league players got absolutely destroyed by the media there for taking too long and they've had their situation figured out for a few weeks now. It would be the absolute worst time for the league to go into a lockdown because it very easily could signal the death of the league as a whole.

 

The other interesting note from the article is the CBA has not been ratified and lacks any force majeure clause. It appears the negotiations are currently happening in good faith, but I wonder if we'll see a lockout by the league if the MLSPA refuses to accept any wage decreases.

 

I find the 50% number very strange. We've played 2 games of the season. The players have put in, at best, 3 months of a 9-11 month season. It's as if the owners are already extending an olive branch there to hopefully avoid the lockout.

Besides the TV deal (which will likely want a chunk of that $90 million back unless somehow the full season is played) I imagine all of the sponsors are going to want money back and/or won't be able to make the payments they've agreed to. Etihad Airways immediately comes to mind as that industry has been completely obliterated by this. Looking at the list of "official partners of MLS" site, it's hard to think all of these companies are going to be able/willing to make their full sponsorship payments.

Further, like Herc Gomez talks about in the video, MLS teams rely on their gate receipts similar to a division 2 or 3 league in Europe. So playing games behind closed doors just further makes things an issue. I'd be curious to know what the cost is to put on a hypothetical closed-doors game in contrast to the individual TV money that would be set aside for it. It's not hard to believe that the club/league would be operating at a loss just on that alone.

 

Twellman had an interesting take on the wage decrease a couple of days ago. His take is a higher decrease based on the pay received by players for the season to date.

If @MLS is asking for up to a 50% pay cut from the players of 2020, the players have already been 100% of their respective pay from January to April. So based on #'s, the league is essentially asking for a 75% pay cut for the remainder of 2020.

— Taylor Twellman (@TaylorTwellman) April 17, 2020

 

this is yet another reason why dragging this on just doesn't make much sense. at some point the players are going to have to pay back to the league and that'll be a PR nightmare

 

I haven't read any B.S. this last month. It was interesting to catch up on all your perspectives.

Also, DLH doesn't tip.

 

Doesn't tip? Figures. I am totally not surprised but would really like to hear the story behind your knowledge that he doesn't tip.

 

I'm assuming it was a joke to pile on the DLH hate. But I'm also hoping there's an anecdotal story to go with his statement...

 

He's probably the type that, if he does pick up the tab, makes a very big deal about it