http://www.bergen.com/page.php?level_3_id=137&page=4549836 Toward the end of the article: It also says that Bill Clinton may be going to tonights Real Madrid and A.S. Roma game.
Why Giants Stadium? As far as I know, the only ones making money off that deal is Giants Stadium itself.
Why Giants Stadium? http://www.nj.com/business/ledger/index.ssf?/base/business-2/1028193016107341.xml "Sports Authority Chief Executive George Zoffinger is scrambling to close a $6 million budget gap for next year, when Gov. James E. McGreevey plans to eliminate the state's cash subsidy to the agency. Zoffinger already has laid off 22 percent of his staff. Now he's on the hunt for new revenue, and the man who helped bring the World Cup to New Jersey in 1994 wants to host five major international soccer matches. He said the matches, beginning with an Aug. 8 game between Roma and Real Madrid, could produce as much as $1.5 million annually. "People around the world know Giants Stadium," Zoffinger said last week. "I think we can get 50,000 people for some of these games." Zoffinger and NJSEA think they can balance their books on the backs of soccer fans by cherry picking the best games and cutting the Metrostars out of the equation. They have no interest in the long range future of soccer in America.
As much as I want the MetroStars to make a buck and for MLS to grow and succeed, I can't find fault with that the NJSEA is doing. I mean, in the parlance of some folks who have made a name for themselves in the North Jersey area, it's nothing personal, just business. I mean, isn't this what the free market is all about? Competition and consumers being able to choose the product or products they like? I know in the monopolistic business dealings of MLS, the USSF and FIFA we often forget about the free market but the MetroStars and MLS don't have a god-given right to be part of every soccer game in their area. This goes for every MLS team. Yeah, if the NJSEA makes a lot of cash off a Brazil-US game, or any game for that matter, it doesn't help the MetroStars cause. So what? MLS should fight back. Not by whining but by putting on a better product. It's what competition is all about. And then, we get to make the ultimate decision. Those of us who want MLS to make it may not go. Or, if the game is good enough, maybe we will. But we damn sure should have a choice. I mean, no one is making any of us go to any game the NJSEA tries to promote but all this does if force them to put on a good enough product then eventually we, the consumers, will go. It's a basic tenet of economics that competition is good for the consumer and as a consumer of soccer I welcome as many options as possible and say let the public choose. This is as American as it gets.
How would you recommend you put out a better product if you don't have the bucks to do it. I'd be very interested in hearing how MLS is supposed to put out a better product than Real Madrid v. Roma. Would you invest in a business if your competitor who controls the venues was allowed to cherry pick the easily marketed products leaving you to hold the bag selling the loss leaders? The bottom line is this: Almost everyone has named the existence of a viable MLS as one of the primary reasons for the recent success of the USMNT in the World Cup. Saying "So What" to an effort to take money away from MLS by those who have no interest in the long range success of soccer on the national level and whose only interest is in balancing their own books is very short sighted. The facts of the matter are very simple. Metrostars and NJSEA had a contract protecting the Metrostars position in soccer games played at Giants Stadium. Once it became clear NJSEA had a huge budget shortfall and it's very existence is threatened they decided to take the route of promoting soccer games themselves by cherry picking the most attractive, easily sold international soccer matches. Either the Metro and NJSEA will come to some sort of agreement or the matter will be settled by the courts.
From 08.09.02 New York Times "The MetroStars have filed a lawsuit against the sports authority, charging that the agency's new president and chief executive, George Zoffinger, has violated what the club asserts is its exclusive right to stage soccer matches at the stadium. Zoffinger has said that the MetroStars have not been aggressive enough in luring big-time international teams to the Meadowlands and have fudged the terms of their lease by staging M.L.S./international doubleheaders." http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/09/sports/soccer/09SOCC.html You need a free password to access the article.
I agree. It's just a business decision, which the MLS could also imitate (but they won't). It's not just business - it's HUGE business: Look at the Real - Roma game revenues: Parking: $15 x 20,000 cars = $350,000! Tickets: $40 x 70,635 = $2,825,400! Other: $10 x 70,635 = $ 706,350 Total: $3,881,750. Not bad for a Thursday night (and without all the hard-core Metro fans who boycotted the event {although noone noticed })
I think the only proper response is to view it as a sign of potential for the game here. No, we cannot put this kind of product on the field at this time. It's true that some of the fans from last night, most of them perhaps, have no interest in attending an MLS match. But to whine that someone shouldn't be allowed to do this, because it hurts our league, well what kind of fascist attitude is THAT? Our league is only so good, but we're going to invoke the rule of law to make certain you ONLY watch our league. Do we then start outlawing EPL and Bundesliga telecasts on Fox Sports World because, after all, watching that isn't helping MLS. What about the Champions League on ESPN. Same thing? Enjoy a match like this when you can. Do you love the game or not? Maybe it doesn't help MLS, but it really doesn't change anything does it? People who want to watch MLS still will. It's not as if there are so many of these matches that they completely sate the desire of a fan to see live matches. A lot of us got interested in the game through seeing Soccer Made in Germany on TV. Maybe a fan or two started watching on YES last night and thought, hey, this soccer is a pretty good game. When can I go see it. Oh, the local team is the Metrostars, when do they play? Not to exaggerate instances of this, but as I say, having the match last night doesn't hurt anything. And as I say, it's a reminder of how many fans of the game there are around. Maybe someday, we will have a product that appeals to them.
Here's a few items gleaned from an Associated Press report on the USSF meeting in San Francisco. Contiguglia also said the USSF currently has a $5 million surplus, but it is not related to the performance of the World Cup team. He said the USSF's contract with Nike calls for the Americans to play World Cup champion Brazil, but no date or site has been selected. The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority would like to have the game at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., where 70,635 attended Thursday night's exhibition between European champion Real Madrid and AS Roma. sounds like the game WILL happen, just a matter of when
You're missing the point entirely. Nobody is whining or asking for anything other than for NJSEA to uphold the terms of the lease they have with the Metro. For the prior 6.5 years of MLS's existence the Metro had a contractual right through their lease to be the sole promoter of international friendly's in Giants Stadium. NJSEA wasn't interested in promoting soccer games and freely gave the the right away to the Metro in exchange for the Metro holding 20 soccer games a year at Giants Stadium. This year, in light of a huge budget shortfall, NJSEA decided to declare the Metro to be in violation of their lease for the past two seasons and to get into the soccer promotion business. How are they going to do this? By getting involved solely in the most attractive international soccer matches. They're skimming the cream off the top leaving to Metro to promote the less attractive matches if they still want to. This matter is now in the courts and will be decided there unless the Metro and NJSEA can come to some sort of agreement. I've already shown how this hurts the Metro, MLS and by extension the USMNT and why a "so what" attitude is short sighted.
Before any games between USMNT and Brazil or anyone else PLEASE NJSEA fix the Mothufu&*in pitch before a serious injury ends someones career you cheap bastards.
There is no way the USSF will allow NJSEA arrange USA-Brazil without MLS/Metros having a say in it. The NJSEA have screwed the Metros big time for example if the Metros make this year's playoffs they will not be able to use Giants Stadium for one of the games due to a Rolling Stones concert. So much for Zoffinger saying the wants soccer to succeed. He doesnt care about soccer. He just cares about putting money in NJSEA's pocket.
www.soccertimes.com has more info on this. How the court desicion could affect FIFA and the whole world. I think it is the idiot Wagman blowing it out of proportion though.