Fans who followed the league from the beginning, regardless of who they support, are aware of the hard slog it was to get going. Some who have joined in more recently actually take the time to inform themselves. Others do not. I get no discredit for not spending Bill Gates' money. It wasn't on offer. Just as you don't get credit for spending the Hunts' money. Adrian Hanauer certainly deserves a lot of credit for keeping the project alive until he could attract additional investors. His hangy parts are in good order.
Actually, I would more point the finger at Paul Allen. Don Garber wore out the knees of more than a few pairs of pants crawling to Seattle and begging a man whose boat cost more than the whole frigging league to give it a a shot. Brave new paradigm investor my ass. Allen is as chicken shit as they come.
Oh, sure. He didn't make the jump until Adrian managed to get the other two on board, and by percentage, of course, it was a helluva lot bigger risk for them than for Allen, on whom God calls when he needs a spot.
Wow. I didn't know the MLS almost went out of business in 2001 and 2003. Fortunately, they moved to Houston and haven't won since...
I wonder if the original Dos a Cero in Lamar's own stadium earlier that year played any role in deciding to keep it together.
I have brought it up on occasion when people bitch about the structure of the league... Occasionally I will go on a rant about how it took MLS putting together Roth with Hanauer before we could get a team and that most of our current fan base didn't care about the Sounders before that. Allen is what he is. At least we have Roth and Hanauer. Would be worse to have an absentee majority owner who really doesn't care.
I don't know. I think pro soccer in the US was always going to be the castle in the swamp. All the kings said it was daft to build a castle in a swamp.
I would be proud to be liked by so many people liking me in opposition to Bill Archer, except, of course, I got so many likes because I was in respectful dialogue with Bill Archer. He is amany thiings, but he is a great servant of truth and a great opponent of bullshit, and, whether he likes it or not, I love him for it.
As Bill says, I think it is unlikely that the owners kind of fully decided to close up shop during that time, and then Hunt called them back to convince them otherwise. I think it is more likely that certain players were definitely out at that time, and some were on the fence (Hunt, Anschutz and Kraft (believe it or not) - the big players, thank god). And for a while I think there was a collective feeling that the league was likely heading for demise. And that is when Hunt said, ok, I'm going to double down, who's with me? And Anschutz and Kraft said, ok - let's try this again. So, probably there was a feeling of uncertainty moving forward that appeared to be headed toward complete shutdown, and in preparation for that, the papers to shutter the league probably had been ordered. A fly on the wall during that period of uncertainly probably would have been right to conclude that the really only viable option was that the league was moving to shutdown, unless a miracle happened. But, then a miracle happened, so the rest is history.
Lamar had just invested $28m in an SSS. Of course he was against folding from the get-go. Kraft wouldn't have been too anxious to fold either since he was in the middle of building Gillette Stadium. Really, all this was about was convincing Anschutz that the numbers made sense even though SSS were more expensive than expected.
And the 2-1 against Jamaica in Foxboro that qualified us for the World Cup on October 7, 2001. We were close to going out. However, we got in thanks to two goals from Joe-Max Moore, the second a penalty, and fortuitous results elsewhere. I took the overnight train from North Carolina to Boston to see the match. Less than a month after 9/11, the game had an all-or-nothing feel for MLS as well as the Nats (as we called them back then) with the impending closure of the Mutiny and Fusion to come that winter. I always wondered if that Foxboro game saved Major League Soccer. By the way, if Bill Archer's reading this: Any chance of convincing the massive support in Columbus to create a tifo for ESPN's Bob Ley for the upcoming (hopefully dos a cero!) Mexico match? If there's anyone in the media who's sustained US Soccer these past 25 years, it's Bob.
Has anyone in this thread mentioned Horowitz? I know it was a tricky thing to get him out, and a priority for the league moving forward. The Fusion weren't doing worse than a lot of other clubs as far as play or attendance or establishing an identity - but out the baby went with the bathwater. Then I heard years later Horowitz still had some shares in the league. What's the story? Lawsuit?
Actually, relegation would be the swamp. We are going to spend money to raise a castle, only to have it sink in to the swamp. But the next time...
Wasn't the story that the Burn or Wiz were going to be the ones that were contracted with Tampa and that Horowitz approached the league and said he wanted out of Miami? If that is true, getting Horowitz to give up the Fusion was probably pretty easy..
Mead will probably disagree and be right, but what I recall is that Horowitz was stunned at the yearly cash calls and balked at what he saw as throwing good money after bad. However, as we all know, MLS "owners" are really just investors in MLS LLC. Horowitz had sunk a chunk of cash buying into MLS and I clearly recall Don Garber saying that his investment entitled him to an.ownership share of MLS even if his team didn't exist any more. There were/are other non-operators, like Alan Rothenberg who took shares instead of cash. What i.don't understand is why Horowitz was different from the 1996 I/O's, who walked away from the 2002 cash call with nothing. Probably the contract was different for him and for Chicago, which came in at the same time he did. Either way, he did supposedly retain an ownership share in the league, although at this point it's so watered down that it can't amount to much. Just guesswork though.
As far as I recall, Horowitz offered to keep funding the losses of the Miami Fusion FC, but he could no longer cover the cash calls for the three league owned teams or the league office. When the Fusion were contracted, Horowitz maintained a share of the league, not unlike that owned by Dentsu and possibly even Rothenberg and other early league (but not team) investors. Additionally, Horowitz had a contract managing Lockhart for some number of years. The league continued to used the facility for its player combine and I believe some pre-season games during that time. Horowitz did not get a share of SUM. In fact, SUM initially launched with only HSG and AEG owning shares with Kraft having an option (later exercised) for 1/10th (the Revs were one of 10 post-contraction teams) of SUM. I vaguely recall having a conversation (amidst some free booze so my recollection may be hazy) at one of the league events with someone that would know and I think that all the minor league investors went away some years ago. This last bit may be wildly inaccurate. I haven't been reading this thread, so I apologize if any of this has been covered.
Chicago was Anschutz. At the time of contraction there were only for I/Os left: AEG (New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, DC United, Colorado), HSG (Kansas City, Columbus), Kraft Soccer (New England) and Horowitz (Miami). Tampa Bay, San Jose, and Dallas were all league owned. I don't recall that the original owners of DC, New York, or Los Angeles having retained any shares after being bought out or walking away with AEG taking over. There were some original league investors - Dentsu the primary one. Horowitz was different because he still owned and wished to operate his team. He was being killed by the cash calls to run the league owned teams. His ownership stake (which I don't know if it still exists) was compensation. While historically interesting, its no Spirits of Saint Louis story https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirits_of_St._Louis
A long time ago in a galaxy far away. I've killed a lot of those brain cells and locked a bunch more out of reach. My vague recall is that there were three plans: Kill the league, contract 2 teams, or contract 4. I think there were six teams in play for contraction. The three league owned teams plus Colorado, Kansas City, and Miami. I also believe Horowitz desperately wanted to keep his team playing. In the end, I think the perception was that the national sponsors and networks would balk if the team contracted all the way to eight. As for picking the "two", I think Tampa was DOA. The choice at that time probably came down to Miami, Kansas City, and San Jose. San Jose might have been saved by winning MLS Cup, but probably not. I think AEG valued the market. The real crux was probably HSG swapping Dallas for Kansas City or Anschutz propping up his buddy Horowitz in Miami. AEG has already moved to 6 teams with San Jose, making it 6 1/2 with Miami wasn't as palatable. Hunt sucked it up and went to three. Part of that came down to Hunt's presence in Kansas City with the Chiefs. Contracting the Wizards, while not a black mark, wouldn't have helped him push through the renovations he was seeking at Arrowhead, plus the fact the the Wizards were his "team" as a fan. Clark would've sold the team off to DuRoss in Rochester if he had his way. In fact, I think the back end deal of saving the Wizards was that Clark made the old man prove that the team could draw better than 10k. Lamar extended a lot of effort after contraction and Kansas City was averaging around 15k when he put the team on the block in December, 2004 (another bid to save the franchise, but that's for another thread).
Save some room for Malcom Glazer and George Steinbrenner. A handful of potential buyers kicked the tires in Tampa. And both Doug Logan and Don Garber crawled on their knees begging the Glazers to spare a few of their Manchester United dollars for MLS. Instead the Mutiny had one of the worst leases in the league, and that only got worse after the move from the Sombrero to Raymond James. At one point the Tampa based Steinbrenners were interested, except that they're apparently sworn enemies of the Glazers, and the thought of having to pay rent to the Glazers scotched that plan. As much as San Jose fans try to make everyone feel sorry for them over losing their team (when not stealing and keeping the Supporters Shield), at least people kept trying in San Jose - even AEG - and eventually one of the attempts made it. And Miami appears closer than ever to a revival, but Tampa was the big loser in all of this.