http://www.theglobeandmail.com/serv...UNT18/TPStory/TPSports/?page=rss&id=..BRUNT18 All apologies if this has been posted elsewhere. I looked around but could not find it so I will post it. In light of the struggles of some of our sports leagues, this short article discusses the success MLS is having, and it is all down the economic model. A couple excerpts: "With an announcement expected today confirming an expansion franchise for Vancouver to begin play in 2011 (perhaps to be joined by Portland, though there are a few snags to be worked out there), the MLS is the only North American professional league that is growing in the face of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression." and: "But the fact anyone is willing to ante up to buy into a sport that has been the subject of an active will-it-survive debate in North America for the better part of 30 years, suggests something has gone right both in terms of the game, and in terms of the league's business model." If you have been following what is going on in the NHL and the NBA, you know the economic crisis is taking a bite out of pro sports. I have heard some absolute horror stories about the finances of some NHL teams. The Phoenix Coyotes might lose $30 million this year on top of the $60 million they dumped the past few years. I have heard one behind-the-scenes estimate that 10-15 NHL teams will fold in the next year or two. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/090227 I am really interested to see how much attendance drops in MLB this summer. With the addition of Seattle, something tells me MLS attendance will be up this year. Discuss.
"the MLS"? It's a crap article Seriously, very nicely done and a great point that should be screamed to the high heavens.
What is interesting is that some people in the comments section of that article are wondering whether the whole thing is a Ponzi scheme......using the $40 million entry fee to fund current operations, the league constantly requiring more capital that it can't generate on its own. But I think the bottom line is that what makes the league attractive is the $2.5 million salary cap with DP flexibility coupled with room for growth. Something neither the NBA or NHL can claim. The NHL has zero room for growth and if you look at some of the weak markets they are in it could easily contract 6 teams or so. Both the NHL and NBA simply have too many teams with too many meaningless games at too high of a ticket price.
a) wow. great link. quite the read. kind of funny... but not really I'm a huge march madness fanatic, but as a maybe a 30% nba fan sure makes me wish better times come soon - even though MLS is tight with its spending. b) atlanta thrashers & nashville predators will be the first to go
And the bastard responsible for where Nashville goes will be none other than a Phil Anschultz. He owns an arena in Kansas City with no tenant currently, and has been trying to get a friend of his to own the team and move Nashville there, in spite of there being no signs of a K.C. hockey fanbase.
Bill Simmons isn't exactly an investigative journalist. No way in hell the NHL loses half its teams, and here's why. If the NHL folds, say, 2 franchises, that would put the fear of Odin and God and Hades together into the players union, and if the league can open its books and show real losses, the union will renegotiate its contract rather than lose more jobs. The relevance to MLS has to do with the upcoming labor negotiations. The players may take a hard line, but they won't kill the league.
The NHL just has too many teams in an area of the US where the game just has no grass roots. Heck, I grew up around Chicago and their were/are very few youth hockey programs.........it is strictly a niche sport for very wealthy families on the North Shore. How many kids grow up playing hockey in Phoenix, Atlanta etc? If as many teams are losing as much $$$ as Phoenix is then anything is possible but I doubt many teams can be in that deep. I wonder if the value of some MLS teams is starting to surpass that of some NHL teams. It appears that the Coyotes are worth next to nothing and Atlanta and the Nashville Sexual Predators are not far behind. Surely they can't move all these teams (as well as a few others) to Winnipeg and Ontario.
On top of that, why does someone always have to be a board Nazi? I too seem to recall this article being posted a couple of days ago, but the OP said he looked and didn't find it, so sheesh...
Hey, how exactly is a rainbow made? How exactly does the sun set? How exactly does the posi-trac rear end on a Plymouth work!? It just does. It just does.
Yes, and not only that...they didn't bother showing home games for the Blackhawks in Chicago. It's amazing, since it doesn't have to be a rich only sport. I lived right by Belmont Harbor as a kid and that plaze froze over most winters. It could easily be full of kids playing on that all winter. There's ponds and harbors in other parks in the city. Oh well, who cares, this isn't bighockey.com.
Is it just me or does it seem to others as well that the Sports Media hasn't caught up with the people? What I mean specifically is, it seems that Hockey gets beaucoup media coverage, yet no one seems to be watching. I mean, no one at my work talks about hockey and this is supposed to be a hard core hockey town. Conversely, MLS gets no coverage from ESPN, yet ESPN carries the games. So, the 800 lb. gorilla in the room seems to be that ESPN covers hockey but doesn't carry it. It carries MLS but doesn't cover it. What the hell is up with this? I've felt for the last few years that Soccer will seep in, slowely but surely. The first traditional "4" it will overtake will be Hockey. Then maybe decades later, Baseball or Baskeball will be next. I used to think Basketball but now I'm beginning to think Baseball. All the old timers and non believers out there don't even see this on the radar yet. But if you suggest this, they instantly say it's preposerous. Their cultural limitations and deeply ingrained prejudices do not allow them to see the big picture.
The second article you posted was talked about a month ago and we had a few-page discussion about it.
Hockey gets coverage? Since when? I'm also very safe in the assumption that the NHL has far more fans in the U.S. than MLS. I went to a hockey game Saturday night with 18000 fans watching an NHL game in Raleigh, North Carolina. And it's not like this is a traditional market. When an MLS game can do that in Raleigh, call me. And the only reason ESPN carries MLS is because they're required to if they want the World Cup/national team rights. Another sport I watch used to have a similar arrangement, and while ABC/ESPN treated what they really wanted with a lot of press, if it wasn't that event, ABC/ESPN treated it like the red-headed stepchild because they didn't want those events anyway and the other individual events were money losers.
Actually, the Mouse owns the World Cup right free and clear of MLS. They write a separate check for MLS now.
Do you think the Mouse would be sold the World Cup rights if they did not also pay for the MLS rights?
There are hockey fans. Sh*t, there are 3 teams in NY/NJ area. I cannot speak for other regions in America, but the game is alive and well here. The Devils may not sell out their arena, but there are thousands upon thousands of NY Ranger fans that fill up the PruCtr and the Mausoleum.
I know that. And I know we had a long discussion about the second article. I was just using it to point out the sorry situation some of the other leagues are in.