The Scottish Premier League recorded losses of £48million last year. Is this comparable to the recent losses of MLS? http://www.soccernet.com/scotland/news/2002/0912/20020912scotfinances.html
First off, let me say I dig the SPL Having said that, the SPL is a hell of a lot worse off than MLS and not just in losses. Competetiveness within league and in Europe, TV deals, etc... Last season (2001-2002) "Accountants PriceWaterhouseCoopers reveal that the clubs lost £48million altogether and racked up a staggering £132m debt." That translates roughly into $70 million lost and $200 million in debt. Compare that with, MLS losing $250 million in its first 5 or 6 years. I read somewhere recently that MLS was scheduled to lose $50 million this season - but I think that was some lazy reporter extrapolating on that 18 month old $250 mil figure. Compared with some of the soccer losses being bandied about all over the world, MLS is doing pretty well. The rub for MLS is that MLS does not have the revenue earning potential the rest of the world has in soccer, at least in the short term. The problem these teams and leagues are dealing with is that they simply outspent their revenue and by and large teams can no longer do that indefinitely. However, they still have significant revenue and they just need to trim their budgets. MLS has a pretty tight budget and must increase their revenues. All things being equal, MLS has the tougher job ahead of them.
Well thought out & written post! I agree. In the short run, their isn't going to be huge jumps in revenue. That holds true for other leagues like Scotland or even La Liga or the premeirship. And with the threat of relegation, it will be more difficult for clubs to make huge cuts across the board and risk losing the players they need to avoid relegation. I wouldn't say that the other clubs will get off too easily.
Talk about terrible business. How do 3 teams have a player wage bill that exceeds their entire revenue? For this season, they might want to think about dropping a reserve midfielder and signing a decent accountant.
There needs to be some SERIOUS creativity to pull the Old Firm into more competition, and give some other teams a shot.