Originally Posted by
Auzzy
Could be. I don't understand how the financials of TFC makes sense (but the same goes for many other sports teams). However people have predicted the same thing a number of times in the past, yet TFC hasn't gone the low-spending route yet. Maybe this time?
Some previous predictions that never came true. No one particular poster in mind; just a few events I remember; some of these predictions I believed myself at the time:
- Bogers control of MLSE will be a disaster, will only last a short time, and will make major spending & other major decisions difficult in the meantime.
- The Bloody Big Bust means the big-spending days are over: didn't work on the field and didn't adequately move the needle on revenue.
- Leiweke ("P.T. Barnum") leaving means the big-spending days are over.
- Friisdahl hiring as MLSE prez & CEO means the big-spending days are over for sure; look at all the cost cutting he did at Air Canada.
- The Bill Manning hiring means the big-spending days are over. At RSL he showed you can be efficient & successful with a much lower budget.
- The 2016 TFC season, despite the spending & despite making it to MLS Cup, didn't pan out in terms of significantly increased TV viewership or revenue. The big-spending days are over.
- The record-setting (& record-spending) 2017 TFC season didn't really move the needle either on TV viewership or revenue. The big-spending days are over.
- 2018 didn't get any better. CCL near-success didn't generate much hype. TFC bombed in the standings, in the stands, and on TV.
Yet despite all this becoming evident partway through 2018, they still blew a pile of money on Aketxe and others. They maxed out on TAM, GAM, WHAM, and other MLS shams. They signed (probably overpaying) a new long-term deal with Jonathan Osorio, 'that will make him “one of the highest-paid Canadian players in the world,” according to team president Bill Manning.' They already had the most expensive pitch installation & maintenance in MLS, yet they are replacing & upgrading it all again for 2019: redoing much of the irrigation & other subsurface systems; brand new hybrid pitch; more grow lights; more turf consultants etc. Oh and a major upgrade in the sports science department, to improve performance & reduce injuries.
Now Bez leaving, and Ali Curtis possibly coming, may signal that TFC is choosing a cheaper way? Maybe.
Note I'm not that worried about some cost cutting anyway, if they're smart about it. I've loved Gio, Jozy & Bradley, but other MLS teams have found success with less spending. (Or they've gotten bigger stars that sold more jerseys, more tickets, more TV viewership, & had other financial impact.) Finding some gems in SA or elsewhere, and selling them on after a few years, is smart if it works. The Academy has to eventually provide more return on the investment.
However everything I've seen from Manning tells me: gradual, slow change. For sure something will happen with 3 DP contracts expiring after this year, but I bet Manning would want to keep 1 or 2 of them, possibly on longer / cheaper deals, and stagger the transition. In the meantime they'll try to win everything in 2019. And what I've seen from MLSE tells me they will continue to have high spending on their teams, and to charge close to the league max for tickets.
(Any other past cost-cutting predictions I've forgotten about?)