Onward! - Shuffle up and deal, Joey

[Ben Knight]

Just what cards is "Riverboat Slim" Saputo holding?

http://onwardsoccer.com/2009/03/24/shuffle-up-and-deal-joey/

[Lucky Strike]

Very interesting, that the expansion fee "quietly dropped to 35 million" is news to me.

[Beach_Red]

Still, $35 million wouldn't have been low enough for Saputo, would it? I understood he said he'd spend $40 million on the franchise fee AND the stadium expansion.

Montreal is an odd market. The Expos failed at Olympic Stadium and the Als prosper at McGill Stadium. Certainly a good soccer team could draw as well as the Als.

But really, as long as we can beat them twice in the Canadian Championship games that's as often as i need to see Montreal in a year.

[Billy the kid]

Gillette was the deep pockets in that bid, wasn't he? With him looking to sell off assets including possibly the Canadiens, I think Saputo will need help from other investors. Gillette's stake in Liverpool has been a loser financially.

[Steve]

Good article. I agree that Saputo really played his hand wrong this time around. By adding Vancouver and Portland, MLS is essentially taking away even more from Saputo, and showing him who's boss (Montreal needs a strong USL, without one, their "I'll just stay in USL" move is weakened substantially). I will go out on a limb and say that if Saputo doesn't decide to play ball (or cards) for the proposed 2012 expansion, he might be out of luck entirely.

[Billy the kid]

The commissioner is still courting Ottawa.

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Sports/Ottawa+contender+soccer+commissioner+says/1420013/story.html

[Mark in Ottawa]

The commissioner is still courting Ottawa.
And why wouldn't he?

Melnyk and the Ottawa Senators have a sound "sports business" enterprise up and running smoothly. All they need is the stadium go ahead to be ready.

Touting Ottawa puts the pressure on Saputo to fall in line or fall by the wayside.

Great article Ben... as always.

[ensco]

Actually I generally like Ben's stuff, but he's totally wrong on this one. Saputo doesn't even have, and won't have, a seat at the table.

Montreal is a cadaver in terms of MLS expansion.

Ben, do you recall that Saputo called a press conference to insult Garber and denounce MLS? Did you see the Miami, Atlanta, St Louis or NY2 groups do that?

No journo in Canada is willing to state the blindingly obvious - Saputo acted completely unprofessionally and personally blew it, forever.

Montreal's dim MLS hopes now hinge on buying an existing team and moving it - which won't be simple given that, under the single entity system, Saputo needs the league to go along with it. The league would need to have multiple failing franchises before they consider having Pal Joey as a partner.

It's an utter disaster for the Montreal soccer community

[rocker]

Very interesting, that the expansion fee "quietly dropped to 35 million" is news to me.

Garber mentioned it on the day Vancouver got in... then repeated it when Portland came in.

[rocker]

Still, $35 million wouldn't have been low enough for Saputo, would it? I understood he said he'd spend $40 million on the franchise fee AND the stadium expansion.

ya I think I read he offered the equivalent of $45mil CDN for a package of stadium reno and franchise fee. (can't find the article tho).

funny enough, Vancouver's franchise fee works out to $43mil CDN... and MLS gets a world class stadium with renovations paid for by someone else (gov).

The problem with Saputo is he doesn't seem to understand the whole revenue sharing thang. The stadium reno he planned was just about adding seats. But seats are only 1 revenue stream. from what i saw, there wasn't enough of an expansion of additional infrastructure. Garber is a money man, and why allow a team to keep its stadium from maximizing revenues?
If Montreal is such a great market, they should be able to build a correspondingly great stadium. I mean look at Real Salt Lake's new stadium -- Saputo Stade doesn't, and wouldn't, come even close to that.
I mean, people always say that us TFC fans deserve something better than BMO... well, Saputo stade wouldn't even be at BMO's level after reno.

[Billy the kid]

And why wouldn't he?

Melnyk and the Ottawa Senators have a sound "sports business" enterprise up and running smoothly. All they need is the stadium go ahead to be ready.

Touting Ottawa puts the pressure on Saputo to fall in line or fall by the wayside.

Great article Ben... as always.

Just to clarify, I didn't say he shouldn't court Ottawa. I was only drawing attention to the article. I like the Ottawa bid. I think Garber wants both Montreal and Ottawa in the league eventually.

[arbogast]

IMO too little too late.

I think the league will be trying to help get an investor for Cooper and get a team in St. Louis because they desperatley need another one in he mid west, it's the heart of US football and there has been significant blowback from fans there after this expansion round.

The other likely candidate IMO is NYC2, IF Red Bull Arena can't raise the profile of the energy drink enough to make a significant impact in the area.

If it can't, then Saputo MAY have a chance but he's going to have to pony up even more scratch cuz surely, the expansion fees will rise significantly again.

[Beach_Red]

It's an utter disaster for the Montreal soccer community

But it really only needs to be a disaster for Saputo.

If there is a good soccer community in Montreal someone else can go after a team. I saw the Seattle-RBNY game and even though that was a football stadium there were no lines on the field. An MLS team could play in Molson Stadium in downtown Montreal.

Damn, if only I had forty million bucks......

[rocker]

ya when the bid fell apart i hoped some other rich montrealer would step up and say

"no more pussyfooting around here.. where do I send the $40mil cheque" :)

[T_Mizz]

Actually I generally like Ben's stuff, but he's totally wrong on this one. Saputo doesn't even have, and won't have, a seat at the table.

Montreal is a cadaver in terms of MLS expansion.

Ben, do you recall that Saputo called a press conference to insult Garber and denounce MLS? Did you see the Miami, Atlanta, St Louis or NY2 groups do that?

No journo in Canada is willing to state the blindingly obvious - Saputo acted completely unprofessionally and personally blew it, forever.

Montreal's dim MLS hopes now hinge on buying an existing team and moving it - which won't be simple given that, under the single entity system, Saputo needs the league to go along with it. The league would need to have multiple failing franchises before they consider having Pal Joey as a partner.

It's an utter disaster for the Montreal soccer community
You're probably right but hopefully if Saputo and Montreal are in the best interest of the league then hopefully the MLS can be more professional than Saputo was

[ensco]

ya when the bid fell apart i hoped some other rich montrealer would step up and say

"no more pussyfooting around here.. where do I send the $40mil cheque" :)

Seems pretty unlikely. There just aren't enough grillionaires in Quebec.

Gillett bought 80% of the Habs, and 100% of the arena, for $180 million (less than the construction cost of the building).

There were no local bids.

[kodiakTFC]

Good read, Saputo needs to realize he is sitting on a goldmine in Montreal. Montreal is very much a soccer city and wouldn't be competing with Baseball like Toronto does.

[Mark in Ottawa]

Just to clarify, I didn't say he shouldn't court Ottawa. I was only drawing attention to the article. I like the Ottawa bid. I think Garber wants both Montreal and Ottawa in the league eventually.
Understood.
And I think that a trio of teams would mean a number of great rivalries :D

[Ottawa MLS Fan]

If Montreal want in, they had better hurry up and start building bridges, because once Ottawa get their SSS approved, I believe that MLS will go with them for 2012 and Montreal will be out for a number of years. It's too much to hope that Canada will get 3 of 4 spots for 2011/2012.

[Toronto Ruffrider]

If Montreal want in, they had better hurry up and start building bridges, because once Ottawa get their SSS approved, I believe that MLS will go with them for 2012 and Montreal will be out for a number of years. It's too much to hope that Canada will get 3 of 4 spots for 2011/2012.

Agreed. Joey Saputo needs to swallow his pride and apologize to Don Garber, pony up the full expansion fee, and then beg for entry into MLS. All things being equal - stadiums, expansion fees and the quality of each ownership group - Garber will surely grant a team to the owner who didn't piss him off.