Interesting that he says... So, either the DC deal is signed, sealed, and delivered, or the rumors of the E-Quakes demise has not been exaggerated.
So what?! If it wasn’t for Leiweke MLS wouldn’t be half of what it is today. And what is he saying that is so outlandish for you guys? The fact that he truly believes in MLS and its potential and more importantly has the $$$ to truly give it a go, should be commended on these boards not patronized. I truly believe MLS has the potential to be a major relevant sport in this country and it would be foolish not to think that way. This is the USA for Christ sakes; he knows as well as everyone knows that to be "major" in this country you shoot for the stars and settle for nothing less!
I think its fairly obvious he doesn't. They seem to have this idea that if you have enough marketable gems then the revenue will be there. He doesn't seem to grasp the idea that when you surround quality players with srubs it drags down the product. When you see him try to justify the salaries at the lowend its quite clear this is how he is thinking.
The less teams AEG owns and the more diversified the ownership becomes, the better. I'm starting to think more and more about how great Televisa will be for the league on top of Jorge Vergara.
Yup. When I have complained about the level of play on here people have accused me of wanting MLS to blow the budget and go and get Ronaldo and Zidane and thats never been the case. The best way they could improve the product is to have a "raise the floor approach". The top half of players in MLS are fine, its the bottom half where the talent nosedives. If you could replace these players with quality professional players I think the quality of play would go up dramatically.
The only reason they do that is because that is the only argument they have an answer for. Once you start making rational suggestions their silly arguments fall apart and they predictably put words in your mouth to try to paint you as something that you are not. I have even had some one say to me on this forum "I know you say you want talent development, but I still think all you want is big money europeans." Its not an exact quote. Somethings have to be brushed off.
"If within 10 years from today Major League Soccer is not top four and hopefully top two or three in the conscience and the minds and the hearts and the pocketbooks of the sports community in this country, we will have failed." That, for starters. That statement is "outlandish"... as well as patently absurd, self-delusional and chock-full of worthless hyperbole. Mr. Leiweke knows full well that Major League Soccer is not going to surpass either the National Football League or Major League Baseball in the conscience, minds, hearts or pocketbooks of the American sports community in the next decade. The NFL is the "eight-hundred pound gorilla" of said community and its popularity continues to grow both domestically and internationally. It is the sports entity by which all others - rightfully or not - are measured. It is #1 in the public eye and will continue to hold that spot in ten years. Further, over the past decade MLB has managed to survive the cancellation of the 1994 World Series, the threat of contraction and a steroid abuse scandal. Whenever it has seemed poised on the verge of being labelled an anachronism by the American sports community, it has been saved by its history and traditions - not to mention timely home-run chases, the advent of interleague play and wild card pennant races, and loveable "underdog" franchises capturing the World Series Championship. Does Mr. Leiweke really see anything coming down the pike in the next ten years that presents more of a threat to MLB than it has experienced - and survived - in the last ten years? There's a reason that baseball is known as the NATIONAL; it is that beloved. So the top two slots are locked up. What other sports entities will MLS overtake to enter the "Big Four"? The NBA? I doubt it. The league recently brokered new labor peace which should keep it on solid financial ground for the forseeable future. The league continues to grow in popularity on the international scene. Frankly, this is a league that is healthy enough to have "piggy-backed" a women's professional sports league that is in the midst of its ninth season. The NBA is certainly #3 amongst the "Big Four". So, is Leiweke counting on overtaking the National Hockey League for the #4 slot? Well, the NHL certainly didn't do itself any favors by cancelling an entire season this past year. Still, there are those who would argue that the NHL had already been overtaken by NASCAR for the fourth spot in the American sports community. Does MLS have what it takes to leap-frog both entities? And what of major college football and basketball? Many US sports fans would argue that they are both more popular than the NHL, NASCAR and MLS. Is Mr. Leiweke conveniently ignoring those sports entities because they're not "professional"? Let's face facts: Mr. Leiweke knows that MLS is not going to be the second or third or fourth-most popular sport in the conscience, minds, hearts or pocketbooks of the majority of the American sports community in ten years. I mean, he sings the praises of the Krafts, the Hunts and Mr. Kroenke, right? Okay... granted, all of those gentlemen - along with Mr. Leiweke's employer, Phil Anschutz - have recognized that soccer fills a niche in the American sports landscape. However, each of them owns one or more other pro sports entities. If they were each forced to part with all but one of their franchises and told that the decision had to be based upon their keeping the team that they felt would be most ingrained in the sports public's conscience/minds/hearts/pocketbooks in ten years, how many do you realistically think would select their MLS franchise? The Krafts and Hunts are going with their NFL holdings. Kroenke is going with his NBA or NHL franchise, as well as a facility (Pepsi Center) that plays host to both leagues. Hell, even Anschutz knows that the real "jewel" in his sports "crown" is the Staples Center... home to NBA and NHL franchises. Right there, we're talking about franchises in at least three other pro sports leagues and we haven't even touched upon baseball yet. What does that say about soccer's prospects for vaulting into the upper echelon of the American sports community's conscience, minds, hearts and pocketbooks? I'm a die-hard soccer fan. I want to see a top-flight, domestic competition survive and grow in the already crowded US sports marketplace, but I don't want to be pandered to. Mr. Leiweke doesn't do MLS - or US soccer as a whole - a bit of good by making nonsensical statements about where the sport needs to be domestically in ten years in order to be considered successful. Particularly when he should know, given the position he holds within AEG, just what niche MLS fills within the North American sports heirarchy. Bottom line? It is one thing to be optimistic about Major League Soccer's prospects in ten years, while setting the bar high for where you'd like to see the sport go. It is quite another to foolishly - and I would say, disingenuously - claim that MLS must reach far-fetched goals in order to be considered a success. Frankly, it undermines Mr. Leiweke's credibility.
I read that article today too. Up to this point I had thought that the city owned that land, maybe this will make it easier to build the stadium? Especially since the whole point of the transfer is to allow the city to develop the land. Barry didn't get that invite because he is a political figure... They are probably trying to get him to be their first customer.
Erm no it's not. You have to justify any increased investment with a belief you'll see increased revenue. There are plenty of rational ways to disasgree about your position on that.
You seem to have missed the part where people who don't advocate bringing in expensive players get accused of wanting that anyway.
Right. There's no doubt that MLS could raise the overall level of play somewhat without blowing millions on Euro stars - but that still doesn't mean that doing so would be an optimal use of the league's resources. There are lots of things that MLS can spend money on. From a business perspective, I don't see any solid evidence that trying increase the level of play should take precedence over all of the other options.
The fact is, MLS has zero chance of being one of the top three team sports in the USA in the next 10 years, and almost no chance of passing hockey (I think it'd only happen if hockey self-destructs). Even with vastly increased marketing, MLS still wouldn't be able to compete with the free media and word of mouth advertising that the major sports get. If Leiweke is just making bold statements in order to present a confident and positive face to the media, that's fine. But if he actually believes that MLS has a reasonable chance of becoming one of the top two or three leagues in the US in the next decade, he's out of touch with reality.
I think the NHL is a major mistake or two away from severe retrenchement. All they'd have to do is open up the gates next year with ticket prices as high as they were when they left, for instance, and a half dozen or more teams would be in jeopardy. FWIW, I suspect it's somehwere in between. He probably doesn't quite believe what he's saying, but he's overconfident enough to be dangerous.
True. Unfortunately, talk like that is not only dangerous - it doesn't go away. We are STILL living with the non-sense, "In 10 years, soccer will be the number one sport in America." spouted nearly forty years ago.
Absolutely. Expectations color everything. By setting the bar so high, the sport practically defined itself as a failure. Oh, if I could only go back and change that Phil Woosnam quote from lo those many years ago.
Brian in Boston. You are one of my new favorite people. I share all of your sentiments exaclty (perhaps maybe more passionately sometimes). Wow you hit on just about anything I ever would have said on this topic. MLS needs to not hit the panic button here. Attendance has looked iffy this year. Big deal. Someone do an analysis of all the sports leagues in America at all times and lets see if we can see noticeable gaps for no reason. I'm sure they exist. American consumers are fickle as hell. If it rains we won't go, if it's too hot we won't go, if it's not a winner we won't go, if it's not in we won't go, etc. While I support AEG's commitment to make soccer here what it is everywhere else, everywhere else has 100 or so years on us and everywhere else has only F1 really to compete with. AEG needs to not jump the gun either. It takes time for things to grow into appreciation. When the MLB, NFL, AFL, NBA, NHL, etc all began, how many kids who played those sports really thought, "I'm going to grow up and be a pro athlete, and if not, I'm going to spend my disposable income and time on this"? Everyone knows that the participation and demographic numbers are there and are ripe for the taking. It's going to take MORE time. NASCAR did not go from it's moonshiner beginings to where it is today just like that (beleive me, I know...when I was younger I watched races on such networks as TNN..who even on here knows that that stands for). And NASCAR, now rich w/ TV money, is continuing to do things very intelligently. They are always trying to make sure that it stays an accessible sport, a fan friendly sport, and one that doesn't run off all aspiring participants. MLS just needs to give it some more time and allow my generation of the youth soccer player to mature to the 40 and 50 year-old season ticket holder and have children playing soccer who will grow up knowing that their is a pro league and that you can make money playing soccer just like you could any other sport. They will also know that it is on tv and grow up watching it. It makes a difference I believe. Don Garber really needs to take a stand and say that things are going well. Announce some new stadium deals and some new solid and committed owners. He also needs to say, "Look, we know that our numbers are starting to get out to people and we're OK with that. We are now going to work on getting the minimum salaries up (which will lead to more young guys hanging around and trying to develop) and we're going to work on making sure that what we deliver on TV and on the field is the best we can deliver. And that MLS is committed to its business model and will continue to develop in the consciousness of the American sports consumer and will continue to support the growth and achievement of the USMNT (but allow some of it's high profiel stars read: Landon to play Big Teams in MLS and let some other rook get a shot at a Cap)" Praying for a good run in Germany. Rambling as always
I agree with this. MLS needs to do a better job of retaining players in the Brian West/Ramiro Corales class, and "discovering" players in the John Wilson/Edson Buddle class. It should be extremely rare that a player who could start in MLS prefers to be in the A-League because he can make more with A-League + indoor, and/or there's a player in A-League who could start in MLS. Just those two things, IMO, would be an extremely cost-effective way of raising the level of play, and concomitantly helping any big-money stars (Beckham, for example) truly shine.