A detailed Analysis of MLS first 8 seasons, MLS unique Business Structure, and more..

Peledre, I liked the essay, you might want to show a graph for the league's revenue, because the goal of the essay is to convince Mark Cuban to invest in MLS. Is this data even available from MLS? Who in your bibliography are Jesse Hertzberg and Alan Plum and what is their affiliation with MLS?

 

man, I knew I shouldn't have majored in music back in the day. No way I could have worked "the future of MLS" into a paper detailing the impact of the French Revolution and Industrial Revolution on to the Romantic era of music, and hence, MLS. Just doesn't fit.

Oh wait, I majored in music for the lucrative teacher's salary.

 

Jesse Hertzberg is the anti-christ.

 

that's pretty damn good. i've never taken any buisnes classes so i don't know what the writing is supposed to be like. just be carefull to go through and proof read it. there's a misplaced "it's" in there.

 

I just read this and I have to point out a few things. You need a better understanding of the LLC business structure before you can write effectively about it. In an LLC there is no "stock" or "class of shares" that you refer to in this report. Owners are referred to as members and there is no Chairman, CEO, CFO structure.
Also, as someone who has written many executive summaries to private investors I need to point out that you need more facts and less conjecture. A person like Mark Cuban does not need you to point out what constitutes a good or bad business decision. He would be looking for facts and numbers. More graphs of Revenue/Expenses and operating cash flow, referred to as EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation & Amortization).
I realize that this information is not readily available to the public so I suggest that you estimate based on number of ticket sales, administrative staff, sales, operating costs of stadiums, marketing & advertising expense and other related expenses. Also I would add a comparison of operating with and without a stadium. Include funding for stadium, amortization of debt, expected contribution from local and state government, additional revenue related to other events such as concerts, youth tournaments, international exhibitions, and other special events.
You refer to MLS as being a value-based investment in comparison to other sports franchises. You need side-by-side comparisons of operating other major leagues sports franchises compared to an MLS I/O "franchise".
This is an excellent start but remember your audience, understand what you are talking about, and make concise points validated by numbers, not article references.
Good job and keep at it!

 

Is Mark Cuban paying for this of are you doing this to "plant the seed" so to speak?

"A comprehensive facility that’s final cost could come close to $200 million dollars."

Isn't that a bit high - re Frisco for $65 million?

"Mr. Anschutz has a luxury that most investors do not, a huge amount of money, and a lot of free time."

He has money - but Garber says he is a busy guy.

 

Voodoo beat me to it, but he's right. You need numbers to back up your points. "Good investments" are a dime a dozen. Show Mr. Cuban what kind of return he can expect over the years, don't just tell him it's profitable. You might try using MLB and the NHL as comparisons since both leagues suck financially. You also talked about how the new ownership turned things around. Try to get some numbers to show it, even some percentages would be helpful. If you can get a hold of some of MLS's financial statements, do so. Try to do some ratio analysis of the league from year to year, or a side-by-side comparison of each year. And don't forget the risk calculations, the ever popular beta, etc. calculations, as well as a possible break-even calculation. Getting the informations to do the calculations will be the hard part. And don't forget to proof read your work.

Looks like a good paper. Who knows, there may be a job in the MLS front office in your future. Keep up the good work.

 

The report says miami and tb were contracted because they were bleeding too much money but ny costs the MLS more. Also no mention of chicago stadium situation.

 

I pretty much agree with Voodo in this case. It's quite a good paper, but more statistical analysis (as crappy as that stuff is) over financial areas is needed. Keep the executive summary relatively short with focus only on the main ideas and the general concept of them. Voodoo has made some solid reccomendations, if you can follow them, do it. Overall pretty solid stuff. Good luck.

 

I forgot, don't forget about the concerts and events in the SSS's during the off-season, or during season for that matter to increase revenues. And looking at my post, I should have proof-read myself.

 

Remember also when researching numbers especially for five or ten year projections that the importance is in the reasonableness of numbers more than complete accuracy. I could take any budget or projections and blow it up, but that's not the point. Put something on paper that should be representative of the result and then move on from there.
And as an accountant I hate to give this one away, but if it is hard for you to get the numbers it is also hard for someone else to check your numbers.
What you are trying to do, I think, is get a person (in this case Mark Cuban) to the negotiating table. Once you get him there the books will be opened and the real due diligence will happen. Until then make some reasonable estimates, focus on deriving data from other data i.e. attendence growth, season ticket growth etc. times average ticket prices and voila you have the basis for a forecast.

 

There are lots of interesting facts and figures in the anti-trust case proceedings.

http://www.kenn.com/soccer/mlscase/index.html

 

The http://www.geocities.com/peledre/MLS_Report.doc link seems to be down. Would like to read the revised draft if possible.

 

I'll give you an A-