I hope (big reach here) that the depressed wage feature has required the current MLS clubs to scout and develop better than they otherwise would because they simply can't buy players ... and that continues even as the salary cap grows.
Well, MLS has not exactly been a shining example of scouting or development, now, has it? I mean, if you're being honest about it.
completely agree ... although I think it's getting better (more home grown minutes throughout the league, some decent pickups with valeri, p morales, etc in parts of the field MLS hasn't really developed players yet). It's getting better I think ... and that's all we can ask. Want it faster/better, sure, but it is what it is.
Max cap, like the flip side of the min cap NASL has. Sorry for any confusion. That would (should) prevent the market fighting happening now.
We were not talking about revenue sharing but allowing people to spend the money they have where and on what. Revenue sharing is indeed a socialist practice, but it is a choice. Putting caps on locations denies someone to invest where they want to. If some rich oil baron wants to invest (aka toss away a ton of money) in a traditionally small market, because they believe in a particular vision, then that is their right to do so. Same on the flip side. If the only people stepping forward is a group that can only afford a lower division club, or they feel that is the best investment regardless of their available resources, then that is their right too. St. Louis FC, to take a considered large market, is not being held back because they are entering the USL Pro, it is because that is the only group that got their shit together to put a team in place. It is not like there is a room full of millionaires whining because they can't have a MLS team in St. Louis because USL Pro beat them to the punch. It is because there is no group of millionaires/billionaires willing to place a team in St. Louis. Their choice. Wrapping this back towards the Cavalry, it is clear that the VIP ass-hats didn't have the money to do what they planned. It certainly seemed like they did, and investors are suing them now, so you have to start asking about fraud and other illegal actions on the part of VIP. Seems like fishy business going on there, doesn't? Time will tell, along with investigate reporting, if that still exists, if there was money funneling or something else from Farren. I said it much earlier in the thread: Lehigh Valley Steam meet VA Cavalry. You two seem to have a lot in common.
Certainly. It doesn't mean MLS has to let them in their league, though. Bingo. This is the answer to the (too) often-asked question, "Why doesn't (Insert City A here) have an MLS/NASL/USL Pro team?" Because someone has to step the hell up and apply for one and pony up, that's why. That's a great reset. The D-man from DC-town. For those of us who lived through the Lehigh Valley debacle, yeah, this smacks of that.
And let's not forget the train wreck known as, Global Development Partners. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/17/AR2006011701016.html
I know this is totally aside the purpose of the thread, but I don't understand why everyone is referring to revenue sharing as socialism. It's a cartel, not socialism. It's meant to maximize the suppression of competition and wages. About as capitalist as you can get. Socialism would mean the janitors, concession workers, players, coaches, and front office workers owning equal shares in the teams they work for and split the profits as part of their take home pay.
Because in Amerikkka Socialism = Bad so if you dislike something like revenue sharing you call it socialism.
Maybe a thread could be started for that subject since it is entirely off topic. Just sayin' People just like to point out socialist elements (privatizing profit and socializing risk) and the hypocrisy involved-- happens on both sides of the aisle politically. But if you guys would like to argue whether MLS currently behaves more like a "cartel" than a "socialist" institution, be my guest... http://www.soccernewsday.com/usa/a/112/capitalist-america-favors-sporting-socialism