Garber: MLS fairer, more stable than European leagues

[Oldtimer]

MLS fairer, more stable than European leagues

LONDON — MLS commissioner Don Garber will tell European clubs this week that adopting U.S.-style financial controls could safeguard their futures and make for more competitive leagues.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Garber argued the merits of applying salary caps and spending limits universally -- a case he will present to global sports leaders in London this week.
"I hope to present some of the experiences we have had in the MLS and in other leagues as perhaps, if not blueprint, a guide as European football starts looking at financial fair play," Garber said in a telephone interview ahead of this week's "Leaders in Football" conference. "That is the key driver to the stability that exists in our major leagues -- and there is tremendous stability in American sport.
"I'm not so sure that same stability exists in football around the world."


http://www.usatoday.com/sports/soccer/2009-10-05-1547765108_x.htm


The Don is being very smart here, if the rest of the world adopted spending controls, MLS' product would be more competitive globally.

[TOBOR !]

bah - the Russian oligarchs won't be having any of that.

[Macksam]

Getting those "G-20" clubs to co-operate will be hard. They don't view this as a business. It's a hobby to them.

[TOBOR !]

that's when your breakaway Euro Super League will form. Real Madrid isn't going to operate under any financial hinderances - why should they ? It's not their fault no-one can keep up to their free-spending (well, other than Gazprom / Sibneft types, but who wants to play in Russia, eh ?).

[maninb]

that's when your breakaway Euro Super League will form. Real Madrid isn't going to operate under any financial hinderances - why should they ? It's not their fault no-one can keep up to their free-spending (well, other than Gazprom / Sibneft types, but who wants to play in Russia, eh ?).

I don't think you'll EVER see a Euro Super league because (a) most countrie's leagues/teams thrive on local DERBIES like ManU-City, Arsenal-Spurs, etc... and (B) that would be the DEMISE of the Champions League which is the the TOP EARNER for those very same teams....

[Pookie]

that's when your breakaway Euro Super League will form. Real Madrid isn't going to operate under any financial hinderances - why should they ? It's not their fault no-one can keep up to their free-spending (well, other than Gazprom / Sibneft types, but who wants to play in Russia, eh ?).

The President of UEFA is on record as saying he wants to adopt some form of salary controls. The idea being floated about is that salaries would be a direct function of revenue a team generates.

The issue they are trying to get a handle on are salaries (and transfer fees) that are being paid based on loans and future value instead of cash in the bank.

It's a US Mortgage crisis waiting to happen.

The spend:revenue ratio would need to be satisfied in order for a team to be granted entry into the UEFA Champions League competition.

I do think that would effectively change the habits of the big spenders.

[CoachGT]

Add to it that the powers that be want to restrict any club from playing in the Champions League if they are running any form of a deficit. If that gets brought in, a few of the big clubs would be in trouble.

[Macksam]

I don't think you'll EVER see a Euro Super league because (a) most countrie's leagues/teams thrive on local DERBIES like ManU-City, Arsenal-Spurs, etc... and (B) that would be the DEMISE of the Champions League which is the the TOP EARNER for those very same teams....
(A) Yeah, except when AC Milan, Barca, Chelsea and Juventus are coming over week after week, I don't think you'll be having any empty seats.

(B) A TV contract for a EURO super league would be bigger than the NFL's. The teams would earn more under a EURO Super league than their current Champions League contracts.

[Macksam]

Add to it that the powers that be want to restrict any club from playing in the Champions League if they are running any form of a deficit. If that gets brought in, a few of the big clubs would be in trouble.
All the big English clubs, minus Arsenal, would be in trouble. Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool.

[SilverSamurai]

Good idea. As much as the quality is better overseas, it's pretty much a 2-3 horse race all the time.
It's sort of like knowing the Leafs are never going to win, but you keep on supporting them. Although the Leafs have some sort of chance I'd think.

[Fort York Redcoat]

Yes and perhaps the NFL will take the CFL's business model.

Thanks Don but I don't think the world will see your light anytime soon.

[jabbronies]

If the NHL can do it, European Football can do it as well. This is for the greater good of football. It'll only help the sport to see more teams being able to compete with the big guys.

[Steve]

that's when your breakaway Euro Super League will form. Real Madrid isn't going to operate under any financial hinderances - why should they ? It's not their fault no-one can keep up to their free-spending (well, other than Gazprom / Sibneft types, but who wants to play in Russia, eh ?).

Because they have been spending money they don't have? They borrowed hugely to spend money on players, it's not a very smart system, and could come crashing down.

[Beach_Red]

Because they have been spending money they don't have? They borrowed hugely to spend money on players, it's not a very smart system, and could come crashing down.


Oh, come on, people in America borrowed all kinds of money they didn't have to buy bigger and bigger houses, it's just debt, it doesn't really matt-- oh wait, right.

Well, maybe when the big European teams collapse under their own debt their governments will bail them out...

[Detroit_TFC]

I hope oxygen is available for the European top bosses when they start laughing uncontrollably during Garber's speech.

[TOBOR !]

The President of UEFA is on record as saying he wants to adopt some form of salary controls.

The idea being floated about is that salaries would be a direct function of revenue a team generates.


So, then, a salary cap, but all the fashionable clubs are allowed to spend more ? How much more would Man U be able to spend than Man City, even if the Glazer's don't have the available funds that Thina-what's-his-name has ?

That needs a re-think.

[Fort York Redcoat]

If the NHL can do it, European Football can do it as well. This is for the greater good of football. It'll only help the sport to see more teams being able to compete with the big guys.

MLS, NHL. These are showcase leagues for the rest of the world? I get it but will they?N.F.L.(not likely).

[TOBOR !]

ha ha - oh, LOL... the NHL can't get a TV contract in the US and at least 6 teams are in dire straits financially. The Emperor insists that a team in Phoenix is viable despite the evidence laid out before him and continues to shut a billionaire suitor out of the league.

Kindly explain how this is a showcase for anything other than how not to run your enterprise.

[flatpicker]

that's when your breakaway Euro Super League will form. Real Madrid isn't going to operate under any financial hinderances - why should they ? It's not their fault no-one can keep up to their free-spending (well, other than Gazprom / Sibneft types, but who wants to play in Russia, eh ?).


And then eventually the Euro Super League won't be enough.
We'll end up with the GFL (Global Football League)!
:D

[Bobo]

(A) Yeah, except when AC Milan, Barca, Chelsea and Juventus are coming over week after week, I don't think you'll be having any empty seats.


For a few years anyway, til it gets old and the hype that comes with playing another top team diminishes.


I HATE the idea of this super league shit. This is supposed to help domestic leagues? By taking away the teams that people tune in for in the first place? This is the Argos-CFL situation multiplied by a hundred.

[Parkdale]

"...and there is tremendous stability in American sport."


http://onfrozenblog.com/2009/01/08/BettmanMismanagement.jpg

[ManUtd4ever]

There is truth in Garber's statement...many of the percieved wealthy clubs in Europe are actually millions of dollars in debt...

[Carts]

The NHL, simply put, is a MESS...!!!

There's a huge difference between the NHL and the MLS - and that is the man at the top...

I know alot of you dislike Don Garber, but he's a least realistic when it comes to the MLS... Salary Caps, controlled spending, small stadiums, slowed exspansion - he knows where his league stands in the US. And yes, he has dreams of making it 'big' he knows it takes time...

Gary Bettman seems to think that the NHL is on par with the NFL/NBA/MLB in the United States - and here's a news flash for him, ITS NOT! He's embarrassing the league by trying to hard to push into markets that don't work, while staying away from markets that could work (in the new salary cap NHL)...

The NHLPA had a 6-hour long conference call on Monday, and yes while alot of it was the state of the union (and the problems they're having) there was much of it that was spent on their stance on the state of the league, and how to move forward...

People in Canada don't beleive it, but things like PBA (that's professional bowling!) and women's softball get much, yes that's much, higher ratings than the NHL on a regular basis...

The NHL should actually be looking at how the MLS has handled themselves in regards to "appropriate growth" and "appropriate expectations" for the league - in my opinion Garber has been responsible (some mistakes yes) and successfull, while Bettman has delusions of grandeur which has resulted in many failures...

Carts...

[Beach_Red]

There is truth in Garber's statement...many of the percieved wealthy clubs in Europe are actually millions of dollars in debt...


Yes, but as long as there's a need for money-laundering and tax-write-offs they'll be okay.

Fans will never complain that "their" teams are nothing but billionaires' playthings.

Did anyone actually use the NHL as a model? The NFL I can understand, it's the most profitable sports league in the world - every single team makes money and there's no debt. All the revenue is from fans and no single owner can dominate the league. From a fan's point of view, that's the best model.

[rocker]

Fans will never complain that "their" teams are nothing but billionaires' playthings.


don't the Liverpool fans hate their billionaire owners?

i fear the rich, individual owner because he could become a Harold Ballard type. Owning for ego, holding on til death. ugh.

at least with a company looking to make money, winning = more money.. and that drives the team.

[Beach_Red]

don't the Liverpool fans hate their billionaire owners?

i fear the rich, individual owner because he could become a Harold Ballard type. Owning for ego, holding on til death. ugh.

at least with a company looking to make money, winning = more money.. and that drives the team.

The winning = making money model works sometimes for individual teams, but it doesn't work as well for whole leagues. When the making money is removed, as it largely is the NFL, some teams consistently do better but it isn't because they buy championships. The Steelers and the Lions both spend about the same and make about the same - one is a much better run organization.

Maybe it's personal preference. I like a league in which the depth of the owner's pockets isn't the biggest determining factor in championships.

[Gazza_55]

Yes and perhaps the NFL will take the CFL's business model.

Thanks Don but I don't think the world will see your light anytime soon.

The NFL salary cap system is almost exactly the same as the CFL's.

[Beach_Red]

Yes and perhaps the NFL will take the CFL's business model.

Thanks Don but I don't think the world will see your light anytime soon.


I just wish a Canadian soccer league would take the CFL's business model.

Next year the CFL will play a regular season game in Moncton, and this was in the news report:

"Although news of the football game was only announced on Wednesday, those involved with the upcoming event are already getting ready.
Gordon Horsman is consulting on the grass that will be grown at the university's stadium."

Next up Quebec City.

[boban]

at least with a company looking to make money, winning = more money.. and that drives the team.
What's your excuse for MLSE then?

[TorontoBlades]

The point is missed. Why should the big clubs suffer because the rest of the world doesn't have the same prestige in football clubs.

A football club is a club were people meet to play football. Just like your local bowling club, tennis club or whatever.... now if the club has enough money, it can afford people that are superior at football to join their club and play against representative from other football clubs in leagues or firendlies or whatever. The more money is involved with a football club, the more it has to pay for players and facilities, etc...that's really up to the club. Now this muppet is going to come along and limit the amount a club can pay it's own members to represent the club, it's backwards I'm afraid....

[dag]

The NHL, simply put, is a MESS...!!!

There's a huge difference between the NHL and the MLS - and that is the man at the top...

I know alot of you dislike Don Garber, but he's a least realistic when it comes to the MLS... Salary Caps, controlled spending, small stadiums, slowed exspansion - he knows where his league stands in the US. And yes, he has dreams of making it 'big' he knows it takes time...

Gary Bettman seems to think that the NHL is on par with the NFL/NBA/MLB in the United States - and here's a news flash for him, ITS NOT! He's embarrassing the league by trying to hard to push into markets that don't work, while staying away from markets that could work (in the new salary cap NHL)...

People in Canada don't beleive it, but things like PBA (that's professional bowling!) and women's softball get much, yes that's much, higher ratings than the NHL on a regular basis...

The NHL should actually be looking at how the MLS has handled themselves in regards to "appropriate growth" and "appropriate expectations" for the league - in my opinion Garber has been responsible (some mistakes yes) and successfull, while Bettman has delusions of grandeur which has resulted in many failures...

Carts...

QFT

Football has truly taken over from baseball as America's national sport. The NFL's quasi-socialistic business model seems to me to be pretty successful at promoting competitiveness on any given Sunday.

[Beach_Red]

The point is missed. Why should the big clubs suffer because the rest of the world doesn't have the same prestige in football clubs.

A football club is a club were people meet to play football. Just like your local bowling club, tennis club or whatever.... now if the club has enough money, it can afford people that are superior at football to join their club and play against representative from other football clubs in leagues or firendlies or whatever. The more money is involved with a football club, the more it has to pay for players and facilities, etc...that's really up to the club. Now this muppet is going to come along and limit the amount a club can pay it's own members to represent the club, it's backwards I'm afraid....


Is it really, "a club where people meet to play football," if the money all comes form a single owner?

I would say that's the backwards set-up, when the money to pay those players doesn't come from the "members" or the supporters or is even generated from the team itself but rather from some unrelated businesses in another country.

What people are saying by keeping out the teams in serious debt is that only the money generated by the team is to be used on the team. They're not limiting what the "club" can pay its own members at all, just what the owner can pay from other businesses.

[Fort York Redcoat]

The NFL salary cap system is almost exactly the same as the CFL's.

Yes it is and there is more to a sports business model.:rolleyes:

[Gazza_55]

Yes it is and there is more to a sports business model.:rolleyes:

How about you read the first two paragraphs of the article so you know what this thread is about.

"MLS commissioner Don Garber will tell European clubs this week that adopting U.S.-style financial controls could safeguard their futures and make for more competitive leagues. In an interview with The Associated Press, Garber argued the merits of applying salary caps and spending limits universally -- a case he will present to global sports leaders in London this week.":facepalm:

[Oldtimer]

New article on this:


MLS Commissioner Don Garber is in London this week to show executives from around the world how a cost-control model can work. Kyle McCarthy writes that Garber and MLS would also be well advised to listen to others as they strive to expand and grow MLS in the future.



http://goal.com/en-us/news/1110/major-league-soccer/2009/10/07/1545969/mccarthys-musings-spreading-the-single-entity-gospel

[Beach_Red]

New article on this:



http://goal.com/en-us/news/1110/major-league-soccer/2009/10/07/1545969/mccarthys-musings-spreading-the-single-entity-gospel


That's an interesting article with some good points.

"In an ideal world, those executives will indicate to Garber that cost-control measures can only go so far without impacting the quality of play."

Of course, that's not true if everyone goes along with it. The NFL is able to control costs because all teams agree and there's nowhere else for the players to go. If all European teams agreed to a salary cap based on revenue then it wouldn't impact the quality of play as long as there was no other league offering the players more. (I would just like to see expenses line up with revenue)

The article also says, "foreign player slots almost certainly need to be expanded," and I think this would be a mistake. Rosters could get bigger, sure, but if this sport is going to compete with baseball the NBA and the NFL it's going to have to have Ameican stars - at last until it's well-establshed and secure. The market to watch foreign players - no matter how good they are - is limited in America.

[Fort York Redcoat]

How about you read the first two paragraphs of the article so you know what this thread is about.

:facepalm:


Sorry I didn't explain it to you better. The likelyhood of the European leagues taking the advice of MLS is that of the NFL taking advice from the CFL. Yes I think ego has a lot to do with it. I agree with the facepalm, though. Way to go Don!

[Beach_Red]

Sorry I didn't explain it to you better. The likelyhood of the European leagues taking the advice of MLS is that of the NFL taking advice from the CFL. Yes I think ego has a lot to do with it. I agree with the facepalm, though. Way to go Don!

That may depend how far past the 3-4 big teams in each league you go.

The other article also says:

"Considering the outlandish level of spending in the European game, leagues across Europe would be wise to heed Garber's message and adopt some measure to peg spending to turnover domestically. Ask Leeds United and Bradford City how a financial gamble to play on par with the big boys measures up over the long haul. In smaller leagues than the Premiership, clubs are teetering on the edge of insolvency due to crushing debt burdens and increasing financial commitments."


So, some of those, "teetering on the edge of insolvency," might be a little more open to new ideas.

Still you're probably right about the egos involved. Likely it will be like the mortgage crises and the debt won't mean anything until it's called and a bunch of those teams go from "teetering," to falling off the cliff.

[james]

MLS needs to spend more money!

Euro Leagues need to spend less!

There needs to be a balance in salary cap between MLS teams forcing other teams to pay such little salaries compared to Euro giant clubs spending whatever the hell they want.

They need to meet some middle ground.

[james]

that's when your breakaway Euro Super League will form. Real Madrid isn't going to operate under any financial hinderances - why should they ? It's not their fault no-one can keep up to their free-spending (well, other than Gazprom / Sibneft types, but who wants to play in Russia, eh ?).

There is nothing for teams to keep up with tho. See the thing is teams like Real Madrid who just spend whatever the hell they want are putting themselfs into more debt..these giant clubs are not breaking even or making any profits. Now if you had a club who is making millions and millions of dollars and has the money to pay for its players thats fine to me, but these clubs are going over and beyond then there support can even afford.

An example might be like if Real Madrid makes $100 million dollar profits off its supporters then hell let Real Madrid pay $100 million for players if they want, the supporters earned it. But right now its more like Real Madrid makes $100 million profits and decides to go pay $500 million on players. It should really only beable to spend on players what its supporters pay for.