Since not much is going on with Rapids right now. Thought we could explorer how you would "sell" (pitch) the Rapids to someone capable of buying the Rapids? Some things I recall being mentioned here before is the Denver Market is/was in the top 10 (top 5 for at least one) for EPL, Men's WC and Women's WC viewership. What are your ideas?
Highlight the only thing Keeping Stadiums Empty has done right, a favorable stadium deal. And then highlight all of the failings as something this new more competent buyer can easily fix.
I already did when I didn't renew my season tickets. They doubtless were sold to some new owner. If we had a minor league soccer team closer to FtC, I'd be the proud owner of season tickets to that team and try desperately to forget that I ever wasted my money on the Rapids. Yes, that's how little I care about the KSE Rapids any more.
Any pitch I could make in terms of value (wealth/appreciation) or revenue potential (income) would be prospective for the future, not at all based on the current situation or recent past. It also would have to be generalized to the league in re. franchise fees for new teams, broadcasting rights contracts, general growth trends in teams' values and revenue streams and then brought back to the Rapids as an outlier that is ripe for growth. Flip this team, if you will, it is a complete fixer upper but it has good bones i.e. DSGP, Denver sports market, league trend lines.
How much is the Rapids worth? What are their physical assets? They don't own DSG Park, they are just Operations Managers, so you can't throw in the stadium to "sweeten" the deal. They train at the fields at DSG Park, so do they have any ownership in that land? What do the Rapids possess beyond a franchise ticket? Also, would Kroenke hinge selling the Rapids with his other Denver based teams? Are the Avalanche, Mammoth, and Nuggets needed to be in the conversation in order to buy the Rapids? Probably. That might be why it is too hard to purchase the Rapids. Who would be able to purchase NHL, NBA, NNL, and MLS teams all at the same time? A very small to nonexistent list of people who don't already own team(s) already. I guess my biggest question is "Why is Kroenke in Denver?" He certainly has a big focus on LA market with the Rams moving there. He lost out on an opportunity to have the LAFC-esque team. Wonder if he made a pitch to have the second LA team and the MLS owners told him to shut up and sit down? Is Kroenke even thinking of Denver as he thought of St. Louis?
KSE owns the rights to operate the stadium and fields (and keep the profits) for some insanely long period of time. So those could/would be sold if the Rapids would ever be sold. The problem is that KSE wants those rights and doesn't care about the team. MLS doesn't want to get into a position where they're paying rent again. So if KSE is unwilling to sell the stadium rights along with the Rapids there's very few deals MLS will approve in selling the Rapids. MLS also has no interest in moving the team and torpedoing their negotiating stance with other cities were they want a SSS built. If you believe that the Rapids need a different owner (I don't, better the devil you know) then the best case scenario is to find somebody who's happy to buy a majority of the team and not the stadium rights while allowing KSE to remain a minority owner in exchange for free use of the stadium and training facilities (essentially the Paul Allen setup in Seattle). Good luck finding that person.
Think your off, what KSE or Stan want are the development rights to land they already own which are separate from the stadium land which is Commerce City's.
They want both. There was actual KSE documentation (as seen by fans at the time of the team purchase) that said basically "we should by the Rapids as an excuse to get a local government to help us build a new event arena we could control".
Guess they don't run events any better then soccer club. There is like one music fest a year there per what I ever see. Plus, don't they also manage that event center in Broomfield that gets used a ton more.
True, that was added after the Dick. Though they make a ton of money from the field complex from what I've heard.
Profit from field complex doesn't surprise me. Besides soccer, my kids also play la crosse, rugby and ultimate frisbee. Since a few years back, there are youth tournaments in all these sports at the Dicks. I'm sure there are others I'm not familiar with.