MLS talk on Prime Time Sports now.

[Shakes McQueen]

Bob McCown just called TFC the "Toronto Soccer Thingies", hahahaha.

He's totally slamming soccer right now, but I have to say, Iit's pretty entertaining.

Listen in. Apparently Eugene Melnyk is going to be on too, and they are talking about the MLS announcement at 5:15 today.

- Scott

[Shakes McQueen]

Almost forgot - Stephen Brunt is also on the show, so it isn't totally anti-football.

- Scott

[Maple Leaf Red]

Someday McCown will pass from this world and we'll all be better for it.

[Wagner]

it's surprising how much attention he is giving this expansion talk.

[rocker]

McClown and this woman from Sports Business Journal are really skeptical that the candidates will want to go through with it because of the credit market problems in the USA.
But most of these owners are super rich. Would that really affect them that much?
The Montreal bid is in with Saputo and Gillett together.
Saputo and Gillett can afford this no matter what happens to credit markets.
That, I think, is one reason that MLS is looking for big time owners this time around -- to withstand money problems within and outside the league.

I also think that the NBA example (NBA laid off 9% of its staff) provided by the lady doesn't really matter. The NBA is at the top -- only place to go is down. MLS looks at itself as a growing market. Being small means it's easier to go up than down. Ticket prices are lower than other sports, salaries are much lower. I see MLS as shielded from these bigger trends to a degree.

[Shakes McQueen]

Someday McCown will pass from this world and we'll all be better for it.

Nah, I actually find his anti-football rants pretty funny. Obviously I disagree with him, but the passionate hate he has for the sport is entertaining.

PTS is usually a pretty decent show, if you care about baseball and hockey.

- Scott

[Shakes McQueen]

McClown and this woman from Sports Business Journal are really skeptical that the candidates will want to go through with it because of the credit market problems in the USA.
But most of these owners are super rich. Would that really affect them that much?
The Montreal bid is in with Saputo and Gillett together.
Saputo and Gillett can afford this no matter what happens to credit markets.

I don't think this woman knows what she is talking about.

- Scott

[AL-MO]

Nah, I actually find his anti-football rants pretty funny. Obviously I disagree with him, but the passionate hate he has for the sport is entertaining.

PTS is usually a pretty decent show, if you care about baseball and hockey.

- Scott

And Football...(you know the American variety)

[greatwhitenorf]

Think about this.

Every other major league has huge salary structures or, in NASCAR's case, huge operating expenses. MLS has a very nicely controlled salary structure, one that doesn't look too likely to run amok in the next few years.

Rich people love sports franchises. They're a great way to create tax write-offs or even launder money.

If soccer looks affordable over the next decade, and it's likely to continue growing and developing, it looks a better investment opportunity than some money pits like the Bloo Jays or, Stateside, the NHL.

And Melnyk sees all sorts of ways to create economies of scale by building a soccer stadium next to his lovely hockey palace. That's smart thinking.

Wish Bobo McClown could figure these things out for himself.

[OneLoveOneEric]

I'm no expert, but I think the current market totally effects sports expansion. I mean, first off, yes these guys are rich, but most like to buy sports teams with other people's money. That will be harder to do right now. THey want to borrow so they can leverage the value of the team, and borrowing just got a lot harder. And also, yes, they're super rich, but I'd imagine many of them have lost LOTS of money over the past month. And while they still have lots left over, I'm sure they're still hurting. I mean, Roman Abramovich lost something like 20 billion dollars. He's got tons more, but there's no way he's happy about that.

[Redcoe15]

One time, someone mentioned to McCown that six billion soccer fans in the world can't be wrong. To which McCown replied "Well I've come to the conclusion that I'm right and six billion people are dead wrong!" :skep:

Spoken like a narcisistic, meglomaniacal, sociopath Bobo! :dita:

[Shakes McQueen]

One time, someone mentioned to McCown that six billion soccer fans in the world can't be wrong. To which McCown replied "Well I've come to the conclusion that I'm right and six billion people are dead wrong!" :skep:

Spoken like a narcisistic, meglomaniacal, sociopath Bobo! :dita:

I don't think the guy actually views it as a right-vs-wrong thing, though. He's just trying to be entertaining about his dislike for soccer. Notice that guys like Brunt always start laughing when he raves about soccer, and McCown himself usually has a partial-smile on his face when he does it.

- Scott