Originally Posted by
rocker
I agree with some of your points (and some of Garber's) but I disagree on these (and some of Garber's).
1) the fair market value for an expansion is whatever candidates are willing to pay for that team; there is no "inherent" value of an MLS team. And if we were to come up with some formula that calculated that value, it would be made up of all kinds of values (future potential value, current revenue potential, scarcity of teams). So 40 million is fine, so is 100 million, so is 10 million... there's no "right" value for the team, and it's only too high if nobody wants to pay it. The value Garber has stipulated has not prevented any good candidates from applying... and I don't understand why we, as fans, should care what Portland pays to get in.
2) the whole "only three teams make money on paper" thing is completely unproven and a total guess by Forbes. Teams don't reveal #s; it's always been a case in pro sports that NA teams massage finances with creative accounting. Lew Wolff, owners of San Jose, once said the great thing about MLS is the downside is almost nothing financially and the upside is huge.
3) it's been proven that teams have much worse attendance on Wednesdays, particularly early in the season, so it would certainly be a problem to lose 30% of your attendance if you moved to wednesday games. My solution was that you schedule Wednesday games for teams that have high season ticket holder rates, so that game day sales are not hurt.
4) Other leagues have playoffs other than MLS, like Mexico. Just because Europeans do it one way doesn't mean we have to follow their lead like sheep. Personally as someone who has grown up with playoffs, I like it. Europeans love playoffs too, but it functions as things like Champions League or World Cup quarters/semis etc. Same idea, slightly different formulation of teams.
5) If you've been following Garber's comments relating to the Collective Bargaining Agreement, he implies the reason he doesn't want to raise the cap is not that the league can't afford it, but that he doesn't want to tip his hand to the players about the state of MLS finances.... seems smart to me that you don't gift the players $$$$ before you have to negotiate with them.