I am writing a report on why the MLS business plan will be the model for sports franchising/league success in the next 20 years, I've already found about 7 good solid sources, including a review written by Edward Mathias on the Fraser v. MLS lawsuit that was fascinating. But I do need a few more quotable articles and sites that I can use to add some breadth to my report. Does anyone have anything useful for me? Thanks much.
http://martnet.com/~jgoodwin/case.zip An archive of a significant amount of the lawsuit testimony that someone posted to the web at some point. Every time the topic comes up, the site gets swamped and won't work (its on geocities somewhere, I've lost the reference). BTW: probably better to pick ONE forum for posting a new thread in, not just posting it in every one that appears to be relevant. People do read multiple forums here, you know.
Well, there are sponsorships that run past 2006, and Chicago has a stadium contract for twelve years starting next season. This league is a going concern. Any speculation to the contrary is baseless.
MLS League of Governors stated that they would only finance the league until 2006. After that year who knows, hopefully more investors can be found and SSS can be built. I'm encouraged by the new stadia in Dallas, and Los Angeles, as well as, the possibility of a new facility in Harrison, NJ for the Metrostars.
The "Board" of Governors stated nothing. They don't "finance" anything. The league's primary investors have commited to keeping the league going until 2006. Nowhere is it stated, or implied, that they'd suddenly pull the plug at that time.