Landon Stays in MLS--Confirmed!!

Two more years. Cool. I wonder how much this costs the league?

I know this will piss off jmiesson000 but I like it. It'll take us to expansion in 2005 and on the cusp of the World Cup again.

Surprising news re McBride. I've heard so much about him heading over to England in January that I'd basically come to believe it as fact.

Of course, it's still a rumor, and not a fact he's staying either.

 

Wow, if the McBride re-signing is true, its gonna shoot holes all through jmessien's theories.

Someone "demanding" to go to Europe re-signing with the league...

 

Hint-McBride's value wasn't that high. I wouldn't expect a whole bunch of teams to be all over a 31 year old forward with a history of injuries.

 

how can holes be shot in a "theory" that was based on mcbride, himself, saying he wanted to go abroad

not me...

learn to spell my name, i spell yours correct... both of you

 

re-signing mcbride makes sense


extending donovan's loan doesn't... way to go morons in the front office

wake me when people go to mls games because of a particular player... i'll be in a nursing home by that time

but they were 1 for 2

 

I assume MLS is thinking Donovan will be that particular player that brings people to the stadium. Whether that will actually happen remains to be seen...

 

I'd say that SJ keeping LD means trouble with their SC (salary cap).

 

you mean like the countless players before him that haven't done that, but were suppose to?

or how donovan hasn't done that for the past two years??

or how donovan already plays at a level above and beyond most everyone in the league, and by playing in it will be allowed to dog it and still kick ass

incredibly stupid decision

 

i don't think so, i don't think he affected the cap too much before... not really sure though

but i'm not really sure if anyone knows what he does to the sj cap (before or present)

 

you've never come close to proving LD hasn't brought extra butts into the seats. in fact, you've never even made an argument. you just state it as fact. many Quakes fans, as you well know, believes he brings plenty of fans to Quake games at least. they could be wrong. but at least they've been to Spartan Stadium.

but personally, i don't have a Kantian theory on what the league should do re keeping or not keeping players, or what any particular player should do. i'm just glad seeing the best players possible in the league within the limited framework that exists, and LD is certainly one of them.

 

Of course nobody knows. I'm sure he'll get a raise. They're trying to get Barrett and Cannon signed as well. The Quakes will probably trade Graziani for draft picks and a bench player.

 

I agree with you, but from MLS' perspective he is the first young, attractice, successful, potentially global superstar. He is only 20 and if MLS keeps pushing him down our throats anything is possible. Personally, I think you're right and I would MUCH rather see him grow in Europe than become stale in MLS.

 

yes, but him getting a pay raise doesn't necessarily mean that he affects the cap anymore

i believe he is bringing in more money than the maximum mls salary with his leverkusen contract, so if that gets bumped, i don't think you can necessarily assume his mls "salary" would be bumped as well (and i'm not really sure why that contract would be bumped unless it was already in there, i would imagine the workings between leverkusen and mls were about money between the two, not how much ld gets paid)

 

they can't push him down our throats... in no way can he become anything major in this country... our media and our people aren't that stupid


AA and AAA baseball players can become known, but they don't become stars... people can know who they are when they hit the big leagues (rick ankiel or kerry wood comes to mind in this regard)... but they weren't stars until they showed they could do it on the main stage

and ankiel has essentially fallen from the limelight, as both initially received rave reviews and were on their way to stardom... but only wood still remains

people can know of donovan, but he will be no real attraction unless he proves he has it in the highest level (and before people whine about the world cup, take careful note of that ankiel reference i gave... meaning he has to prove it the same way ball players do... every day, at the highest level... europe)

 

Jim,

First, sorry bout the name...

Second, I invite you to come to a DC game when we host San Jose and count the number of pre-teen and teenage girls in the audience wearing Donovan shirts.

They come to the game for the specific purpose of watching Landon Donovan. I would bet 95% of them couldn't name a DC player outside of Marco Etcheverry.

It may not be MLS's "target demographic" but he still puts butts in the seats.

 

I'm going to ignore the development aspect of this whole deal and simply focus on the marketing side of things.
Landon Donovan currently is THE face of American soccer to the majority of Americans. Most non-soccer people I talk to have at least heard of him. He's young, talented, and has a huge upside.

I remember being at Spartan Stadium when he returned from the World Cup. When he strolled out before the match for an interview, there was practically a stampede on each side of the player tunnel to get a look at him. And this wasn't just small kids, but adults... of all ages and ethnicities.

Remember that in 2001, LD wasn't nearly the big name he is now. He basically spent that season trying to prove he was for real. In 2002, he had a great run in the World Cup, but after he returned, he didn't produce b/c the kid was basically burnt out. Now, he's become the name associated with U.S. soccer.

I think this coming year is when the league can really use him to market everything MLS with the knowledge that he won't be rushing back to Germany for another 2 years.
I say it's a smart move to sign him.
Sports leagues need those special marketable players.

PS: I also remember the hundreds of fans who stayed after Quakes matches after the WC to get LD's autograph. Quite a mad scene. He truly has become an idol to many kids.

 

i've been to fire-san jose games and seen nothing

i would imagine that any group of pre-teens - teens would be there as a direct result of pushing group sales (youth teams)... and the mls team trying to do it in coordination with sj coming there, but it's not like the people coming necessarily know who is who... the teams hope they will know for that game (or the future)

and you are right, i would imagine they couldn't name any player on either team (most of them)... vague following of u.s. soccer (world cup) would elicit a "donovan?" "mathis?" or "mcbride?" response... (i'd give them a scarf if they said friedel, but that's me )

 

Why do you assume that? When MLS started in 1996, I was twelve (a pre-teen) and for years I've been going to Spartan Stadium with my friends to see the ClashQuakes play without and group sales or anything.

This past year at Spartan there has definately been an increase in "Landon-mania" at Spartan whether it be the infamous Landon groupies or just adults wanting to see one of the greatest players this nation has ever produced.

Whether these fans stay after he leaves is another question, and one that the Quakes management now have two years to work on.

 

Donovan has only played one MLS game in Chicago--May 26, 2001 in a torrential downpour. Attendance was 8322. The weather was the biggest factor in that game's attendance and it was more than a year before the World Cup drew out the Landon-mania teenyboppers and others who wanted to see him.

 

Stars sell tickets, expecially in the US.

And would sitting on the BL bench have helped his development?

Not only will LD have training in MLS, he will also train much more with the us nats than if he were in Europe.

 

correct, i had also been thinking of this year's meeting in chicago

sold out, 13k+ (not at 15k seating at that point)

but all the national teamers had been called into camp... no ld, no dmb, no wolff, no goose, no armas

at first thought, i forgot he (and the others) wasn't there...

but it would have been a game that people could ahve looked towards as i *believe* that was the first weekend where the national teamers had left mls for the world cup training camp, so it wasn't exaclty known they wouldn't be there (i had personally circled it to see him, but i don't count in this equation, because i'll go to as many fire games as i can, if i know the number, i'll try and pick ones i'll like more... better rivalries, see a player, etc.)


regardless, it shows that he simply isn't a factor, nor are the fire american studs (hristo was out at this time as well, i believe... well, if he was ever healthy)



the game sucked though, blown pk call allowed the quakes to get a goal and therefore a 1-1 tie... of course that game also got section 8 into some trouble with our front office (wasn't appreciated when "f* u ref" resonated through all of downtown naperville... rumors have it that many a highschool may queen was sullied )

 

hmm

periodic training with the nats and daily training with the quakes or daily training with leverkusen and even more periodic training with the nats

i think the leverkusen one holds more weight, but that's just me... you may have different opinions on how leverkusen and quake training compares though

development takes place in training, not in the game... ask arena


and precisely where are these american stars of soccer?

i did notice eric wynalda in a commericial the other day (wasn't even during the break of a soccer related program), but other than that... i haven't seen a u.s. soccer player get something like that (outside of hamm, of course)

 

It's a very strange conclusion you come to here. A sold-out downsized stadium where Landon wasn't even expected to appear shows that he isn't an away crowd draw? If he was there, it wouldn't have been possible for anyone else to get in anyway.

 

OK well, as I said in one of the other threads on this, the numbers I posted just before the crash are gone. But I included post-WC attendance for San Jose on the road and the number came to something like 500 or so people per game higher than the league average. That did not include the Rose Bowl's 4th of July game. It should also be noted that all the matches were on Saturdays. I'd say the jury is still out on whether or not Donovan supplies a substantial attendance boost league-wide. Hopefully the powers that be have access to info that warrants his resigning, as far as the good of the league is concerned. It just seems that, to a limited extent, we are sacrificing the good of Landon the soccer player for the good of the league.