MLS and the OKC investor group are just bargaining. Problem is, I don't see OKC investor group getting ANY break. MLS is just about to turn the financial corner in a way that cannot be denied. They have their own stadiums OPERATING in LA, Columbus, and are about to have them in Frisco, Denver, Chicago, and probably the biggest of them all, Metroland. DC is rumored also. They are getting a new team somewhere under the Chivas name, either Houston, SA, or SD. In other words, unlike AEG, Hunt, Kraft, and Horowitz, the OKC guys will NOT have to absorb 9 years of losses like the other ones did. They get to cherry pick by buying into a league that is near-solvent. Now I'm sure that Uncle Lamar and Saint Phil have dibbs on the league profits to pay them back for their previous losses. BUT even if the OKC group has to wait awhile to start earning their share, they won't be paying leaguewide losses like Horowitz did.
"If you have to ask how much it costs, you can't afford it" If Rochester needs financial breaks, then they shouldn't be allowed in. That's the lesson of Ken Horowitz. His $60MM in the bank wasn't enough to keep the Fusion in business. MLS ownership isn't for the faint at heart or the light of wallet.
Appearantly OKC and Rochester are the only ones with any sort of balls then to make a go at it. I don't seen anyone else other than Chivas USA (and even then who really knows) make a go at it. Sure Cleveland signed some paper but they didn't back (or haven't yet) it up with a stadium. There's also a big difference between Horowitz and these two cities.
What is it? Horowitz was dedicated to MLS. He sunk a small fortune into creating the best stadium MLS had at the time -> and still the third best soccer stadium in the country <- and blew approxiamately $50MM of his $60 net worth on the league. His General Manager was 2003 MLS Executive of the Year Doug Hamilton.
OMG, don't tell the Fusionistas that! To them, Horowitz was Satan himself, who gleefully ran fans off and shut down the Fusion on a whim.
And with some justification. It's not all black and white. Horowitz was definitely not a "good" owner. He was in over his head, but the South Florida market is a graveyard for professional sports teams. The fact is, at least Horowitz tried. For all the hate sent his way, just remember he spent 50 million dollars supporting professional soccer in the United States over a 5 year period. All of these whiners combined haven't spent a fraction of that. For all of his problems, at least Horowitz put his money on the line. It's really too bad for all of us that it didn't work out. But the lesson remains. If an ownership group (Rochester, OKC, Seattle, whoever) needs a break to get into MLS, then they can't afford to be in MLS.
I thought I'd bring this up before someone else did. There's really no good way to spin this. But it is pretty amazing to me. There's a 7,000 ticket drop-off? What in the world? I'm sure the Easter weekend can contribute to it a little. I also know that last year there was much, much more print coverage of this event and MLS in general (the day of the game they had a huge thing about the HDC). This year's there's been squat except little blurbs people hardly see. 2,000+ seems like the number you could get just from getting youth soccer kids to come out. I don't know. It's pretty astounding to me how you go from almost complete sell-out on a crap-ass cold-as-a-witch's-tit night to so few tickets sold on what should be a perfect day. The marketing for this game has been extremely awful though. Can anyone in Oklahoma tell me where they've seen commericals, heard commericals or seen print ads?
I've only seen one ad in the Oklahoman and it was 2 or 3 weeks ago. I have seen a TV commercial on during the local news in the morning before I go to class. I saw one last night during the 10:00 news. However, the adverstising has been generally pretty bad. Most people I have talked to that don't follow MLS but would go to the match if they knew about it don't even know either if it is going to be played at all or if they do, they don't know the date or time.
Where does the $60 million figure come from? I read that he made $250 million selling airwave rights in NYC in 1993. (The article was from a Miami newspaper, reprinted on the Barnburners site.) It would be hard to believe that Horowitz was down to $60M during the late 90s bull market. Maybe he just got tired of the losses, as Soros, Kluge, and Subotnick did.