It's a tough biz. Being a professional soccer player means moving alot. There are very few players in professional soccer, at an international level, that can say that they will be in the same team tops two years. Very few like Aguinaga in Necaxa or Roberto Carlos who has been in Real Madrid almost 10 years. These are the exceptions, not the rule. Maybe in MLS there is more stability. Nevertheless, if you are serious about playing professional soccer, being displaced pretty quickly is something you'll have to get used to.
I would think moving with the whole team would make things a lot easier on most of the players. It's not like they are traded alone and now have to get use to new team mates and a new place.
Hmm... I never thought of it that way. Good point. I guess the hardest thing will be finding a place to live, and then get adjusted to the area.
And....look...it's not like the whole team is being traded to Beijing, China. Learning basics of new language, culture, etc. of a foreign country. Look. If James Obiorah from Nigeria can go play and live in Moscow, Russia, I think the formerly SJE players can survive in Houston.
Using this link, http://www.homefair.com/homefair/servlet/ActionServlet?pid=200&tool=salarycalculator&previousPage=116&cid=homefair&fromState=TX&toState=CA&salary=300000&fromCity=4835000&toCity=0668000&ownrent=own (assuming an average salary of 300,000 in Houston, which I hope is reasonable) I have discovered that San Jose's players would need to be making 465,657 in order to have the same standard of living. So in essence, the players are all getting 50% raises. I think that they'll get over any pain of having to move. I know that I would.
Veruca, your assesment would be right on if someone on the team made $300,000 per season but unfortunately the last player to do that was Landon Donovan. Current players make nowhere near that amount. The players will see a change in their cost of living in Houston for sure. But for some of them that will not be enough to assuage the relocation. Life!
If you are making $10,000 or $20,000 or $30,000 a year to play soccer, a move like this is a lot bigger deal than if you are making $300,000 or more. And it's an even bigger deal if you have significant personal and/or business relationships (including supplementary income) in the area you are moving from. (Many of the younger players either grew up or played college soccer in the Bay Area or northern California.) Now, if a player has connections to the area he is moving to, it's not nearly as big a deal. The only two players who have connections in Texas, AFAIK, are Danny O'Rourke whose father played for the Oilers, and Alejandro Moreno who lived in Dallas for a year while in high school. There may be others (including those with grandparents, uncles, aunts, siblings, etc., who live in the area) with Houston connections but I don't know of them. The fact that most of the players will be moving together gives them a built-in support group, which is good. But in contrast to a trade to an existing team, where an incoming player can get support from existing players who have lived in the area for a while, there is no such knowledge base or "comfort base". Also as far as the players supporting each other, some will surely be traded, released, loaned or not make the roster by the time the season starts in April. So there is some uncertainty as to which of the players will end up being there, making the concept of the players supporting each other a little bit more complicated. Finally, much of the front office staff will also be getting oriented themselves as well as working hard on the business end of the team, so there will be less time for them to hold the hands of the players than there would be in a trade to an existing team.
I redid the analysis with info from 2004 salaries. The average salary for the San Jose team was between $67,000 & 74,000 (depending on if you use base or guarenteed salary). Running the smaller number you see an increase to $104,000. This is a 55.22% raise in real income. I agree that it is difficut to cut ties that you have and have developed, but they will all be better off financially and on a pretty big scale.
Congratulations Veruca. Your job has been moved from Zurich to Warsaw. The weather sucks, but your $ will go a lot further.
I wish I was getting 55% raise next year. I think that I could overlook a lot for the extra cash. Can't really say that I know the difference between Zurich & Warsaw. Both are colder than I prefer. That being said I would have 2 options. Find a different job or move. At least in the move I get more money and not less or the same, right?
They'll move and get used to it when they get there. Sure there will be some isues with college transfers and similar concerns; however, everyone in every industry has to move sometimes and adjust. I've done it, friends have done it and we're getting paid NFL salaries (well, some of us weren't). Besides, for players with second incomes provided by youth soccer programs and camps, I'm sure they'll have similar opportunites in Houston . . .I can't see soccer clubs and soccer organizations around Houston turning down the local MLS players and staff for jobs. They'll be chomping at the bit trying to grab talent and charge the parents more for their little traveling club players.
Holy BAZOOKAS Chapulin, you always get your hands on great photos. And I have to say that the Polish chick in the picture was by far your best avatar . . .by far. She is HOTSKI
Lawd Have Mercy! BS posters make it sound like former SJE players are being sent to Haiti! Damn! They are being sent to one of the mover and shakers Mega-Metropolis of the WORLD! S***! I wish I was being sent to Houston. I agree with you Veruca, these are professional footballers. If they find moving hard....they are in the wrong biz. Heck. I know local american football players that play in AFL2...AFLfrigging2...And they come from all the way from North Carolina to the Rio Grande Valle...and pay for the "privilige" of playing in AFLfrigging2.
He, he, he, he....Hey, but if you are in Chicago...there should be a bumper crop of these Polish beauts.
I do live in Chicago and we do have a LOAD of Polska chicks up here. But NOE have the headlamps of that chick in the photo.
I don't know why you would want to insert logic into the discussion - it is much better when the thread degenerates into a big negative discussion of why this will never work!!! LOL - there is something really familiar about your response . . . . oh yeah, it is almost identical to one that I made in another thread about the same thing . . . It's a done deal, I seriously doubt that the entire team falls apart now because they can't find youth soccer gigs - based on my experience I am thinking the youth soccer clubs in this town will be kicking down their doors to get them associated with their clubs.
Yuppers, teams move all the time in sports and almost always end up for the better thats why they are moving in the first place. I can't see Houston not working about for the better in this case either.
1. Warsaw Philharmonic is a very fine orchestra. 2. Warsaw is one of the top spots in Europe for jazz 3. Polish babes are HOT, and the hottest are in Warsaw. 4. Polish theatre -- forget about it (it's highly imaginative), let's stick with those babes. Check them out in the soccer babe threads. (Sorry, no link.) 5. Polish sausage. They invented it. 6. If only I were 30 years younger! But 30 years ago Warsaw would not have been as much fun.