We need a new commish. Next commish needs to consolidate the power of the office. Right now the man is simply a puppet.
Hey, if acted unprofessionally towards you then he deserves scorn. Now, I don't know th esiuation or what you said either so to each hi sown on that one. Yes, he is the face of MLS, and you also don't know what he is being told either. It is possible that he is being left to twist as much as you. You just can't take what people like this say to heart. Gotta read the facts or other options and situations are fluid. I know you don't want to hear that but it makes things easier. No one is saying you don't have to like him, but you have to understand what he actually is also. Note - If he was that unprofessional contact MLS and be very detailed about the situation and professional and let it be known. You may be surprised who talks to you. Garber was nothing but gracious to me and I asked some tough questions - but I was very professional also.
Good post, but how do you know how many people he is alienating? A couple of hardcore net posters is hardly a consensus. He is doing what almost all do in his position. It's just here where we disect every word, action, pass, touch, foul, good play, bad play each second and make a decision on it as if it is final. Doesn't work like that.
True, but IG was still more business, which is why Arsenal hired him. The US Nats is still waiting for the TD spot to be filled. It's been 2 years...what happened?
IG was very business but he understood the game in a way that DG doesn't. 2 years? lol Seems like the USSF isn't as hungry for glory as it once was. Maybe the plateau we are suffering is more from a administrative standpoint instead of a athletic one.
Oh, I agree about IG, of course he knew the game betetr than Garber, but he is still more business than sport. What TD in their right mind would take a position that put shackles on everything and anything you could do in the postions/influence/mindset you need to change the most. The US youth soccer mafia. Would have to be nuts to take the job.
True, but the general drift seems to be that people are already pissed and the league hasn't even made a decision yet. Usually, everyone gets mad after the decision is made for obvious reasons. Again, a lot of it is in the way Garber goes about it. I was at the MLS draft. The St. Louis group there was enthusiastic, loud, yet polite. Everybody shut up when it came time for one of the draftees to speak and when anybody from the league spoke. I realize that the league has more to worry about than 50 people from a supporters group. Admittedly, I was not there when Garber rudely brushed off SB, but I have heard this from more than one person. I just don't think you do that to a group or a representative of a group who is trying to show it's support for the league and a city trying to get a team. You can politely say something like "It's great to see support for the MLS in St. Louis. I appreciate it, but I have a meeting that I have to get to right now if you will excuse me." That takes about 10 seconds to say and I guarantee you the St. Louis group would have understood that. Again, it goes to way Garber handles things, not the job he has to do. I certainly understand that it is a tough job and he can't possibly please everyone.
FedEx was sent and received. The fact that there hasn't been an announcement and (if it was Miami) they might not be liking the paperwork that was inside doesn't mean I'm full of chefjims cooking. You seem to forget a lot of things lil' 77. Your Tonya Harding-esque mannerisms might be easy enough to overlook, but you really should see someone about your memory. He certainly should have handled that better. The guy did portray himself to be exceptionally busy at the StL event. He even blew off FSC when they had that live 2 hour show. Said he couldn't make it to that. Thats why the taped the interview in the afternoon in a conference room.
He certainly should not be acting in that manner if he is. That is for certain. I think one of the problems DG suffers form is his availability. Let's face it, we aren't the big leagues and those heads are not in the faces of fans and mingling for the most part - as Don Chich said "yeah, in the family there were a lot of buffers." With the net and IPhones, etc., you can't run, can't hide. I have always been pleasantly surprised by how willing league people were willing to talk to me/respond. Now, to be fair, I haven't been as involved in soccer over the last couple of years so maybe things are changing. It's a tough job, the fans have easy access to him, and he has to put his best foot forward at all times.....or he needs to hire a buffer.
If this insult made any sense at all, I might have gotten upset, but Tonya Harding? I'm not sure where my memory came into play here either. You really are just a moron.
so, I guess...both of the Canadian Championship games sold out? They were very reasonably priced, not part of the season ticket package, well advertised and very meaningful matches. The Vancouver match....on a beautiful day on a national holiday....drew less than 19k!!!! so, to quote you "hahahahaha" not every meaningful TFC match is a sell out!
He is difficult to catch sometimes, but has seemed genuine the couple times that I have spoken with him. Additionally, when we asked him via email if we could help with Futbolito, he must have forwarded the email immediately, because we heard from the organizing company within 12 hours.
given recent facts (50k for a game event, miami bid in doubt, other bids with issues to fix) in your opinion, how many are the chances to have montreal back in the 2011 expansion round?
I'd say 0% to about -10%. Portland has a vote in about three weeks time to determine their stadium financing. Reports out of Portland have been generally positive about this getting done. St. Louis has a stadium deal but MLS wants the group to get richer before they grant a francshise. But when push comes to shove, the league could concede and allow them in, because they at least have shown the willingness to drop the $40 million. Even Ottawa and Vancouver are still ahead of Montreal at this point. The simple fact remains that Joey Saputo is a cheap ass who instead of dropping $40 million for the expansion fee and an addition $15 million or so to upgrade his stadium, he offered up a grand total of $40 million Canadian for the whole package, which puts him somewhere in the neighborhood of $25 million shy of what he needs to put forward to get a team. That was a really long sentance. So long as Saputo is backing the Montreal bid, Montreal has no chance of ever landing a franchise.
I'd be as optimist as GVPATS77 about StL, I'm a fan of their bid: even if Garber words and the general felling don't go on their way. I see Portland and Vancouver ahead of StL in MLS board opinion, and I think they would prefer to be in Portland and Vancouver sooner than in StL. The fact is, if the league really wants to keep 2 new slots for 2011 and Miami is out and maybe one between Portland and Vancouver still has problems, then the choice could fall on StL. I don't think Cooper's group would still be around with this plan by 2013, so it's 2011 or nothing: in 2013 sure Montreal, with a deeper amount of cash (honestly I didn't realize there was so huge difference ...) and some great cities (Atlanta, NYC), it would be another tough challenge.
I'd agree with that. You definately want to break in this round. As soon as the economy bottoms out and a city like NYC-version 2.0 or Atlanta or a great bid (Ottawa) or someone we haven't considered yet (Phoenix) the competition is much tougher. I'm surprised this bid in Barcelona is saying things like "we want a team but without any exposure to losing money", its sort of impossible. I really think Montreal and MLS is like Los Angeles and NFL. The leagues want the cities and the cities want the league but both need the right deal.
In answer to the thread's question yes they did. In addition to the CONCACAF Champions League ticket sales, (if it's true) Montreal a couple of years ago drew 50,000 for a FIFA U-20 Tournament Game and Canada was not one of the teams playing!!! If we're looking at the books there's like only three MLS teams reporting a profit. Now is not a time for pride. I'd do everything short of selling my soul to get Montreal in the league.
All signs point to Seattle posting a profit. Philly will enter the league in their own stadium and have already outsold several existing MLS franchises in terms of season tickets. They look like they have a good chance of turning a profit from the get go. I don't think that Montreal was/is the only city in North America that can turn a profit, so if Saputo wants to be a douchebag, he can sit this round out, and the next, and the one after that. As soon as people realize that MLS doesn't NEED any particular market then they can start to have objective converstations about expansion.