Forbes: MLS Franchise Values

Article here

Not so accurate, says the Crew Front Office

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Biggest criticism of the article itself is where was the list of each team and it's valuation? It didn't mention DC United or where it stands w/a new stadium.

 

Stop MLS Franchising

Until this problem is solved

MEanwhile, Ottawa Senators' ownerMelnyk wants to build a stadium to get a MLS franchise... at the same time the woeful Toronto team is crippled by international callups. How can a team be so full of Internationals, yet so bad?

 

RE: Stop MLS Franchising

And NO, the answer is NOT to adapt the European schedule. Might as well fold the league if you do that.

Which would leave you with USL... playing in the Summer.

 

Re: Stop MLS Franchising

Well looking at the countries those intl's are from (not exactly powerhouses) might tell the story about TFC.

Thanks for posting Fog, interesting article by Grahame Jones of the LA Times (always an excellent read). Common sense needs to win the day as far as scheduling. Even more important is trying to improve the league, and you can't do that by adding more teams too soon.

 

Re: RE: Stop MLS Franchising

The more I watch MLS, the more I think they need to adopt the European schedule. It sucks the best teams lose the best players for mulitple games. How can the Galaxy compete if both Beckham and Donovan are away?

I think using a tweaked European schedule would work. You could have a winter break to help keep the cold weather teams from playing on frozen fields. You could also schedule those cold weather teams a lot of road games in warmer climates during the harshest months. I know there would be more sports to compete with, (football, hockey, baseketball) but I think it would lend more credibilty to the league.

 

RE: Re: RE: Stop MLS Franchising

I, then, invite you to buy first game of season ten-year package at Columbus.

I'm SURE the Crew would like to put one together for you.

You're NOT talking about a longer break... you're talking SPLIT SEASONS. Would STILL be at least Dec 15 to Mar 15th.

Please remember MLS is trying to build FAN base. It is STILL not by any means an established league with the kind of die-hards that will sit and watch a game in a winter blizzard.

 

RE: Re: RE: Stop MLS Franchising

I still stand by my earlier idea. There are many people who much rather sit in the cold then bake themselves during a humid Columbus summer. I haven’t been to Columbus MLS stadium in a few years, but that stadium is just a ton of metal (if memory serves). Hot metal and human flesh generally don’t agree. Also December .15th to March 15th is a bit of an exaggeration for a winter break. I'm sure with a little research they could come up with something roughly a month long.

 

RE: Re: RE: Stop MLS Franchising

Turn the MLS Cup into a true cup competition (ala Carling Cup), with games during the season and the finals 1-2 weeks after the season's end, and you have the time in the schedule to fit in 30 games while taking the international fixture dates off.

Of course, of competing importance is the need to raise the salary cap by $1M and add 6+ roster spaces to each team, to allow them the depth they need.

 

RE: Re: RE: Stop MLS Franchising

Relegation-Promotion, Apertura/Clausura Schedule, Larger Squads, Single Table, Use the Cup competitions that we already have, skip the playoffs, Require all teams to have their own stadium within 5 years or move to a city that does.

 

Fixing MLS woes:

Single Table
Only home/away fixtures
Honor International Dates (!!!!!!)
Soccer-specific or smaller stadiums (no more HUGE football stadiums)
Ditch the playoffs
Cap the league at 15 teams
Remove or GREATLY increase the salary cap
More emphasis on US Open Cup, CONCACAF Champions League, Superliga, and other non-MLS competitions (which means paying them appropriately)

Will any of this happen? Probably not. Which is why the MLS will always be mickey mouse in my eyes.

 

I think it will happen - well some of it:

They are going to have to modify the schedule - teams are going to have to have their own stadiums - They are going to have to raise the salary FLOOR to a livable wage (50K+) - they are already talking about the Single Table...

All they need to do is move forward in a way that matches the tradition/culture of the game, and realize that we CANNOT DO IT BETTER.

On FFF last week they had the guy from DC United and he talked about how it is getting to a time where the people involved and/or getting involved with the MLS actually know something about soccer... He claimed that his organization was one of the only ones who - from the beginning - tried to create a club (With the look-feel-authenticity-propaganda) that tried to follow in the tradition of the great clubs of the world.

I cant say that he is right in his claims about his club, but it gets back to the idea that we need to stop re-inventing the wheel. They simply needed to create a league in a way that was conservative, and to a large extent I think they have done that. Now that the league has a foundation lets start to make it an authentic football product.

To me - this means Promotion/Relegation, but I know that will never happen...

 

Promotion/Relegation WILL happen. FIFA has limits on the size of the top national league and there are simply too many markets of sufficient size to support a team. Only through P/R can you field a team in every market deserving of one.

 

Ooops, thanks for clearing up my crappy math Don. I really mean 16 teams, which would total 30 games.