But the salary roster budget is defined through the end of the CBA, which expires at the end of 2027.
And how dare anyone have different opinions from yours, right? Has anyone told people who are excited about this that they're simply not allowed to tune in, buy tickets, or otherwise enjoy this new spectacle? Of course not. Knock yourself out. All some us us are saying is that we're not interested in this new mid-season tournament. We have as much right to our own opinions (and, incidentally, how we choose to spend our time and money) as you have to yours.
The league has the ability to add ways to spend money - outside of the CBA. TAM and GAM were both non-CBA methods of spending. I don't know all the details of what they can do, but they can do something while the CBA is in effect.
I have no faith in the owners to agree to higher spending. Most of the committees are stacked with the cheapest and most apathetic owners. As long as sponsor money rolls in and ticket sales don't tank, they couldn't care less about the quality of their MLS teams or getting embarrassed by Mexico. It's no different than the USSF. I mean, we found out during STC that the league has never made money despite its salary cap, remember? /s
One thing I don't know is if the new CBA limits the league's ability to do that. The one agreed to 2020 did. But we know the 2021 version was less advantageous for the players. TAM, as we know it, is going away, as per the new CBA, and the players hate it. Anyway, what the league decides to do is purely hypothetical at the moment. What's factual is that there are currently guidelines that restrict this kind of investment. Maybe MLS conjures up another 'marquee player 2.0' rule, maybe not.
Did anyone else happen to notice that the two most recent tropical storms were named Peter and Rose?? I'll "bet" that wasn't a coincidence.....
This is a very valid point, and I agree that every person is entitled to their opinion. I'm just really over the league getting shit on at every turn. No matter what, some people just aren't pleased.
I think one other thing that remains to be seen is just how seriously MLS and Liga MX clubs (and fans) take this competition. We've seen teams blow off the US Open Cup every year it's been in existence. This season Crew was eliminated from Concacaf Champions League by a club playing mostly a B team. Peter Vermes sent out what amounted to a U-23 squad and got waxed in one of these cross federation competitions earlier this summer and was completely unapologetic about it. (Being Peter Vermes means never saying your sorry). The Crew plays for something called the Campeones Cup next week and my enthusiasm level is at somewhere around a 3 on a scale of 1-10. I'm not saying this to shit on the league (or to troll LaMacchia). I say this because even if I was behind this idea 100%, looking at history it would take an enormous leap of faith to believe that MLS and Liga MX clubs are approaching it with near the same level of seriousness.
Your comment made me think of the following question: Do fans of teams in other countries spend as much time and effort as we do talking about their "leagues" as opposed to spending the vast majority of their time focusing on their preferred club? I honestly have no idea, and am sincerely curious. In MLS, the league - and Don Garber - are omnipresent. The league owns all player contracts. Decides where certain players will get signed. As part of its core business model seeks to eliminate to as great an extent possible MLS clubs bidding over player talent. It's created Byzantine roster rules that govern how teams can sign players, and is always tweaking those rules. And so on. MLS HQ and the commissioner are always in our faces. But until I looked it up, I had no idea that someone named Richard Masters is Chief Executive of the Premier League. I think someone named Christian Seifert may be the CEO of the DFL in Germany. I get the sense that the primary role of league leadership in other countries is to negotiate media rights. Anyway, you mention how fans shit on "the league." That may be true. I just wonder if the league plays such a dominant, coordinating, king-making role in the US - compared to other countries - that it's not all that surprising that fans have become highly critical of it.
As a pretty die hard Serie A and Portuguese Liga fan who consumes too much media from Italy and Portugal I will say there is some focus on the leagues, but it's quite a bit different. The typical corruption stories and accusations in Italy, and the general incompetence of the oversight of the Portuguese Liga are recurring themes.
I don't often watch - or even follow - other leagues so I can't speak to that. Valid questions, I just don't know the answers. I just hope that one day in the future, hopefully in my lifetime, it falls out of fashion to talk shit about our own country's top-flight domestic league.
Maybe someday the shit talking will instead turn to sarcastic admiration like on one group text I'm on that at least twice weekly refers lovingly to Liga Portugal Bwin as "Greatest League In The World."
I would say historically agree but this feels different. Both leagues are putting a lot of financial eggs into this basket and with both leagues pausing for this tournament they won't have fixture congestion excuses. We have never really seen two leagues try to do something like this and it's a revenue driver for all parties and BOTH leagues are being very clear about that. I don't think Vermes is going to be rolling out a total reserve squad while his first team sits for a month waiting for the season to continue. What I think is a small but interesting wrinkle is MLS is clearly moving towards selling players to Europe which is something our southern neighbors do not do at the same level. This adds another interesting piece on the timing of things as "star" players could depart in the middle of this tournament and will that be another potential barrier for owners to sign off on selling someone.
I mostly agree with this. A once every four years might be fun. Pausing the season for a month every year seems less than ideal. Definitely makes it seems like the importance of the league season is lacking. Most teams will lose and be out after two weeks then be sitting around doing nothing for 2-3 more weeks until the season picks back up. And/or those who do go deep in the tournament will have a very short turnaround on the season. I've been less critical than a lot of people on here about ticket prices, but I can't see spending money on my season tickets, USm/wNT games, and this tournament. And I'm a guy who gets excited over making it to the CONCACAF Champions League, or whatever it's called now. Granted, who knows who will host games. But if it's more about sponsors, sure, I'll watch the Crew games on TV.
Just add that the Bundesliga takes close to a month off from league play. They don't stuff other games in there but the league does pause for 3 weeks or so
Sure but the point is they don't play league games for multiple weeks and they do it for completely different reasons
Given that they said both leagues would be shutting down for the tournament and Liga MX already takes two months off for the summer FIFA window, I'm guessing that's when the Leagues Cup will be played. So, no more regular season games during the Gold Cup/World Cup/Copa America, yay?
They train in Spain or other sunny locales and get a lot of friendlies in. It also matches up to some extent with the transfer window, allowing integration of new players.