Onward - "Clearly a major malfunction"

[Ben Knight]

Time to clean house at BMO Field.

http://onwardsoccer.com/2009/06/03/clearly-a-major-malfunction/

[TorontoBlades]

yup!!!

[Detroit_TFC]

Pretty much sums it up.

If somebody told me two months ago the away game in KC was the highpoint of the season, I would have pissed myself laughing. It was looking like skys the limit for 2009.

I'm not laughing now.

[Parkdale]

well said Ben.

[billyfly]

Me fingers hurt from posting so much....

[Carts]

This is a great line from Ben's article...

"Pablo Vitti did his dances, made his moves, got good marks from the “So You Think You Can Dance” judging panel, and continued his perfect record of never, ever, ever scoring a goal for Toronto FC."

Couldn't have said it better myself!
Carts...

[Razor]

Nice article Ben!!

FUCK the TFC FO and FUCK MLSE for not giving a shit about OUR team.

[Parkdale]

Me fingers hurt from posting so much....

imagine how Robbo's must feel after last night. he was mangled!

[TFC Via Buffalo]

Ugh, that story just ripped at my guts even more. Good God.

[ensco]

Ben, you might want to think about Anselmi's role in all this.

[Beach_Red]

I didn't read it, but unless it includes sell the team to a very rich comedian or a billionare who can't get a hockey team - what difference will it really make?

If there's no DP in the next week that's all we'll need to know.

[ensco]

What have you got, ensco?

Only gossip that runs along these lines: MLSE facing huge problems with Raptors renewals, even Leaf luxury boxes are heavy (although it's early to be too worried about that)....only MLSE unit that's holding up well is TFC.

Anselmi wants Peddie's job. He wants TFC to be the only business unit that's up, not down, in 2009. So lots of jawboning, but no DP, no grass, more friendlies and (this is the key to the whole thing) the Edu money....disapppears.

It's 100% hearsay, maybe you can find a bunny with a good nose.

[Toronto Ruffrider]

Only gossip that runs along these lines: MLSE facing huge problems with Raptors renewals, even Leaf luxury boxes are heavy (although it's early to be too worried about that)....only MLSE unit that's holding up well is TFC.

Anselmi wants Peddie's job. He wants TFC to be the only business unit that's up, not down, in 2009. So lots of jawboning, but no DP, no grass, more friendlies and (this is the key to the whole thing) the Edu money....disapppears.

It's 100% hearsay, maybe you can find a bunny with a good nose.

THAT is something I'm curious about. MLS rules dictate that money made through player transfers has to be re-invested into the team. I assumed that most of that money had been earmarked for a practice facility, but I'd like to see the books on this form of revenue.

[rocker]

THAT is something I'm curious about. MLS rules dictate that money made through player transfers has to be re-invested into the team. I assumed that most of that money had been earmarked for a practice facility, but I'd like to see the books on this form of revenue.

I remember an article (can't find it now) saying that MLS holds the coin until TFC makes a proposal to use it for specific purposes. Obviously some of that coin went to allocation money to sign players, but the rest is presumably growing interest in MLS's bank account.

[neuf]

THAT is something I'm curious about. MLS rules dictate that money made through player transfers has to be re-invested into the team. I assumed that most of that money had been earmarked for a practice facility, but I'd like to see the books on this form of revenue.

MLSE is a privately held company and their finances are very closely guarded.

But I'm not sure how MLS finance rules affect this.

[Detroit_TFC]

MLSE is a privately held company and their finances are very closely guarded.

But I'm not sure how MLS finance rules affect this.

Since MLS held Edu's contract, I'm sure the check the Rangers wrote was made out to MLS. So the revenue probably got booked to MLS and is being held in some sort of reserve for revenue sharing. It is probably booked as a receivable on MLSE's accounts.

[ensco]

Since MLS held Edu's contract, I'm sure the check the Rangers wrote was made out to MLS. So the revenue probably got booked to MLS and is being held in some sort of reserve for revenue sharing. It is probably booked as a receivable on MLSE's accounts.

Not to get off topic, if it's a receivable, it'll be a year soon, it'll have be reclassified. You can't just roll it, the accountants almost never allow that. It could also be in some form of escrow. Or the whole thing may be a sham, and the full amount is already on TFC's books. Would love to know.

One takeaway from Balsillie/Bettman fight - the court documents show that the NHL Commisioner lied repeatedly about virtually every element of the Phoenix team's financial situation for years.

Sports leagues lie about how the revenues work, it's just what they do. We see it every day with the attendance figures.

[Ben Knight]

I don't think it's a receivable. ensco. The money belongs to MLS. As I understand it, they hold it in an account until TFC submits proposals. If approved, the money is paid out. The money NEVER belonged to the club.

[andyc]

How about this for a paranoid hypothetical situation??

Could temporary grass qualify as an acceptable way to spend the money?

MLS gets the publicity of Real Madrid playing Toronto so I'm sure they won't object.
MLSE gets all the revenue from high priced Real Madrid tickets without having to spend any of their own money on the temporary grass.

Edu money magically moves from the club improvement account into MLSE bottom line.

TFC supports screwed over...

:cuss:

[billyfly]

^interesting idea and plausible.

[rocker]

the problem with that scenario is that the cost of grass for a temp game is not in the millions, which MLS is holding. I seriously doubt it's a "blank cheque" scenario. MLS is making interest off that money while it sits there.

[andyc]

It may not be millions but is in the hundreds of thousands of dollars range. So maybe there still is money left but it's an example of how to cheat the system...