At the expense of their elderly population. They chose to essentially force herd immunity. When you do that, you are knowingly sacrificing people. The Lt. Governor of Texas argued for the same thing (knowing full well that he can afford treatment thanks to his citizen provided health care, when others obviously can't).
Why don’t these righteous people volunteer to be test subjects for the vaccine or for new treatments? Why don’t they liberate the White House?
NYTimes has a pictorial on stadiums around the world now serving as field hospitals. "It is in these stadiums, these soccer fields and ballparks and basketball courts, that we see the old world — the one in which sports could exist, in which we could be together — juxtaposed, most starkly, against the new." https://t.co/O3ZJYBScLE— Andrew Das (@AndrewDasNYT) May 1, 2020
Pandemic story to share. A few years ago I was involved in a sale of an older farm house. During inspections I chatted with the seller and she told me her mother had been born in the house in 1918. Apparently her Grandmother’s doctor had said “don’t come to the hospital to give birth, both of you will almost certainly get the Spanish Flu and die”. I can’t imagine the fear of having a baby at home if there are complications. My wife was forced to have a C-section with our first daughter. I bet it would have killed both at home in 1918.
Ran into one of Almeyda's assistants in Campbell and he said maybe the league might resume in either July or August......
I am beginning to wonder about the economics on playing this season. I don't know the TV contact amounts but I always thought that MLS makes more money from in stadium participates rather than tv rights. It's looking like sporting events might not have crowds so where is all the money going to come from? I assume if the league does not play a game then they can negotiate to drastically reduce player wages but once the teams take the field then I see no justification to not pay full amounts to the players regardless of no fans or less games in a season.
In most of Europe's top leagues anyway, the majority of clubs rely on TV revenues as opposed to ticket sales. Before TV they would rely on the revenue generated at the gate but no so much anymore. Some clubs still rely on tix. MLS is different. Since the advent of Soccer Specific Stadiums, I think a lot of clubs don't really make money from MLS games but from other events happening at their venues. Concerts, Friendlies , Monster Trucks or whatever. I'm sure they also make money from concessions at games but I doubt much money is made from 15,000-20,000 fans a game. Even if tickets cost $100.00 each, that is $1-$2 million a game or $30 mil a season. That is only if they make that much but even if they do, it won't cover too much. I don’t know what they get from TV and sponsors but I’m assuming it’s more than tickets sales...
Sorry falvo, you must be disappointed, this was shaping up to be a great season for you what with the sponsorship deal and all, hopefully it’s a multi year deal and next year more than makes up for it!
Supposedly it’s a 3 year deal. Not sure if they will pull out of the sponsorship deal or not. I’m sure there are always means to break or renege on contracts. Levi’s Stadium for example had a multi year deal with the Quakes. Not sure who pulled out but I’m assuming both parties walked away from the deal amicably.
I went to one of the STH events earlier this week with Jesse -- of course questions were asked about restarting the season, and he was noncommittal. As was Vega at the tequila tasting last night.
$30 million won't cover much? Our player salary is probably less than $10 million, FO costs are likely no more than that. Debt service on the stadium is another chunk. But, after that, what major expenses are there? And I don't really agree with your analysis. I think game day revenue is the biggest source of income, then sponsorships, then TV, and then in the case of the Quakes at least, other events happening at Earthquakes stadium, since we don't seem to have a lot.
Falvo, this is what I have read or heard as well, that the #1 income stream for all MLS teams is ticket revenue, and the teams with filled stadiums (e.g. SEA, ATL, LAFC) are the profitable ones.
I don't think so . How much can they really make from selling tickets? Especially if operating expenses can be costly? The main point was or is, they don't rely solely on tickets sales as their only source of revenue. By comparison , player salaries are not that much looking at this chart...... When paying all expenses I still don't see how a $30 million figure is a lot. Aside from that though, I was being generous based on tickets that cost $100.00 each but they don’t cost that and they certainly don't make that much and are lucky to get half , if that. If anything, they are maybe selling 10-12k a seats game and many are given away. They have been inflating attendances for years which we've all known and posted about. If that is he case, they are probably making half of that in tickets sales which brings the figure now down to $10 or $15 mil a year. That is not a great huge profit for any professional soccer or sports team, for that matter. Parking and concessions may be another story. I know the bar generates a lot of money but that is a good thing. Looking at the Chicago Fire renting out Soldier Field for example, they are paying out a lot of money to play there paying $210k if they draw 25,000 fans. I don't think they will sell 20k tickets a game though and they never have in over 20 years. I read Joe Mansueto is wort $4 billion so maybe he has other ways of making money or doesn't care about losing it or maybe he has bigger plans somewhere down the line. Also , when I posted making money from other events, I wasn't really talking about the Quakes but across the entire league in general. Concerts , monster truck rally's , fireworks and friendlies have generated income for MLS stadiums and clubs for years. Garber bragged about it and encouraged teams to do that. Again, that is not a bad but a good thing as teams are using their stadia to make money. I mean, I hope all clubs are earning a profit as opposed to losing money and I'm sure no one wants the league to lose revenue and have franchises folding.
Hey falvo, I came across this interesting article out of New York Magazine, which talks about excessive deaths, and the fact that morbidities other than COVID-19 are not getting their usual treatment. They also point to research that concluded 250,000 cancer deaths could be attributed to the aftermath of the 2009 recession. I've noticed there are more stats now about excessive deaths, especially in places like Ecuador and Brazil, where healthcare is so overwhelmed that people dead or alive aren't tested. So the stats look at how many deaths are occurring in those countries, which exceed their normal number. BTW, my doctor daughter mentioned to me that some stats people report the number of ICU beds and point out that they are not fully occupied. She said that may be because, as in her hospital, almost the whole place has been converted into an ICU, greatly increasing the number of ICU beds.
No one suggested that tickets were the sole income, I just think you have things a bit inverted. Ticket sales and game day in stadium revenue is the Quakes biggest source of income, sponsorships, TV, and renting out Earthquakes stadium follows. You assumed that TV money and sponsorships income was greater than ticket sales. " I don’t know what they get from TV and sponsors but I’m assuming it’s more than tickets sales." As mj said, that is not what has been reported over the years.
I'm still skeptical about all these numbers being flown around and think they've exaggerated them. Many Italians I know who died of the Covid had many pre-existing conditions and were about to die anyway. I do believe having the disease may have expedited their deaths but I also think many will have died just the same within a span of months not years.
I was talking about making money off of other stuff other than ticket sales. Of course they aren't relying solely on the selling of 10,000 tickets a game. I mean not unless they are wanting to all go broke and fold another soccer league. Again, I hope they are all making and not losing money. I don't know anyone who would want to see the league bleed money.
San Mateo County just released this COVID-19 data. Almost a normal bell curve for infections across age groups, but only 1 death below age 50 and 92% of deaths are in ages 60 to 90+. It would be interesting to know what percent of this age group were living independently or were in care homes or senior living. Of course, as pointed out earlier, these are only deaths attributed to COVID-19, so may be under-reported
My hubby heard from a friend at the Vi, which is the high-end senior living facility across the street from Stanford mall. They had been on extreme lockdown similar to what’s been told about cruise ships. They were not allowed to leave their rooms for 26 days, and meals were delivered to them. They had 10 cases of COVID-19, none of whom went to the hospital, and all recovered at home. Around the last week or so, residents were allowed to walk around the facility. Apparently, one person violated the rules and left the campus for some reason. On returning, he was told he needed to self-quarantine for 14 days, and he is refusing to do so. So right now Vi residents are debating personal freedom versus community responsibility.
I've never seen anyone at the Vi younger than about 75 yo and most have comorbidities, so if none in ten had to go to the hospital, that's interesting. We know that the virus has struck the hardest at people on the lower ends of the economic spectrum, but assumed it was because they lived in crowded conditions and had to take public transit. I wonder about other factors, like better overall health P.S. Betting that guy is a former Stanford professor, and where could he have gone anyway? The mall is closed.