TRANSACTION: Toronto FC traded No. 2 position in the Re-Entry draft Stage 2 and No. 2 position in the waiver order for $75,000 in 2022 GAM and the 22nd position in the Re-Entry Draft and Waiver order from the Rapids.
TRANSACTION: Toronto FC traded No. 2 position in the Re-Entry draft Stage 2 and No. 2 position in the waiver order for $75,000 in 2022 GAM and the 22nd position in the Re-Entry Draft and Waiver order from the Rapids.
Another TFC coach has joined Manchester United. Ewan Sharp who served as an assistant coach for the Reds in 2021 under both Armas and later Perez has joined Man U in the same role. I do not think TFC even announced his departure in November unless I missed something. He was briefly in Russia between the Reds and Man U.
Manchester United confirm deal for Ewan Sharp to become Ralf Rangnick's assistant and analyst | Daily Mail Online
Remember The Man, The Legend, The Goal 5-12-07 and All That #9 Left On The Pitch, Thanks For The Memories !!!
"There are some people who might have better technique than me, and some may be fitter than me, but the main thing is tactics. With most players, tactics are missing. You can divide tactics into insight, trust, and daring." - Johan Cruyff
Alistair Johnson is a fantastic player and would be great On TFC, but 1 million in allocation is way too expensive for one player - it’s a textbook example of overpaying In a moment where a player is a hot commodity and ending up with a roster that still has holes because you don’t have the salary budget room to fill them. Montréal are better organized and coached than they have been for a while, but still seem to make similar acquisition errors. Johnson - brilliant acquisition, of course. But for this much of your flexibility? Iffy
Miami finally going to embrace the pink
https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/a...256885507.html
(Kaufman is the best beat reporter for Miami)
Looks like new houston segal and gm onstad have finally made a decision and bringing nagamura as head coach
Reports: Houston Dynamo FC to name Paulo Nagamura head coach
^ should maybe add ''former tfc player'' nagamura
He played four games before being traded
Nagamura was traded to Chivas USA for a 2008 first round draft pick that turned into Julias James, who was later traded with allocation added for DeRo (his first time with TFC).
James bounced around between various MLS teams, then D2 teams, ending up becoming a coach.
Last edited by Oldtimer; 12-28-2021 at 10:45 PM.
Watching man U with Ragnick is interesting. Echos of TFC under Armas. (both Greenwood and Rashford played out of position against Newcastle, and both had bad body language like Marky did early season ...) : https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/59821474
Armas is not picking the lineup, he is there to run drills and get players fit for the system.
Manchester United players were on easy street, no tactics or systems under Ole. Ragnick has a lot of work to do getting that petulant bunch up to professional standard.
Yes, of course. Disagree re Ole. He had very clear and effective tactics built around counteracting at speed using Rashford and Greenwood. But once Ronaldo came in, that premise had to be ditched.
Still, the parallel of out of position and poor body language was worth mentioning. Even if Armas is only Ragnicks’s disciple.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/18/majo...-pay-more.html
Good review of state of TV viewership and network money in MLS
“Years have gone by and I’ve finally learned to accept myself for who I am: a beggar for good football.
I go about the world, hand outstretched, and in the stadiums I plead: ‘A pretty move, for the love of God.’
And when good football happens, I give thanks for the miracle and I don’t give a damn which team or country performs it.”
-Eduardo Galeano
Good find.
There's a lot of "chicken and egg" involved in increasing viewership by getting more star players.
People will pay to watch stars... but signing too many stars without network deals would bankrupt the league... so not so many people watch... so the networks won't sign big deals.
One thing that would not cost a lot would be the networks hyping MLS a bit more.
The NFL became what it was due to hype. MLS needs the same.
Here in Canada, TSN has done a terrible job, despite being a part owner of MLSE/TFC. The average age of a CFL viewer must be in their 60's or 70's, not a prime demographic, and that league has been in decline since the 1970's, yet the hype for the CFL is 100x that of MLS.
MLS is a tough, physical league, that emphasizes speed, and features plastic fields, grueling travel, extreme weather, and incompetent refs. - NK Toronto
The CFL has been a national institution in Canada for decades. Even though demographics for the league skewer towards the senior citizen zone, the media in Canada still see it as important to hype and showcase for nationalistic reasons. MLS meanwhile are still basically the new kids on the block. And while demographics for soccer in Canada remain stellar - when compared to the CFL's - MLS is viewed as an inferior league, at least when compared to leagues in Europe, South America, and Mexico. Even a lot of die hard soccer fans here won't watch MLS for said reasons.
We lost a lot of ground after the Bez-Vanney era and the side reverted back to the bad old days. And Covid hasn't helped matters either. Hopefully, with the 2026 World Cup coming here and our men's side improving greatly, we can get back on track for the future.
TORONTO FC, 2017 MLS CHAMPIONS!!! (Still the greatest in league history!)
It didn't help that they seemed to scrap a lot of the pre game coverage, even if it is only 30 mins it is still that extra coverage. Part of that change could have been due to the team not doing all that great this year though.
Also they got rid of KJ and got DeGuzman, which I don't think helped. I did like that they brought in Kilbane, he has some good insights
The CFL has very specific and recognizable characteristics. It is not the right thing to compare MLS to, or for MLS to aspire to.
A bit like hockey, but even more so, the CFL is a uniquely Canadian product. Every country has a sport like this. Baseball in the US and Japan, hurling in Ireland, handball and waterpolo in a bunch of smaller European countries, cricket in the commonwealth, Aussie Rules, these sports are usually a bit niche and often regional (unless you live in India or Pakistan!) and resonate for deeply cultural reasons. Of course soccer itself is like that in dozens of countries, but it can never be that here. It’s not the sport people who grew up here played with their fathers. For those of you who think immigration will change that- it should have already. A lot more people want to assimilate than we give credit for here, I think. HNIC in Punjabi has outdrawn TFC (that night it premiered - I am not sure that is a regular occurrence!)
The growth of basketball, mentioned earlier, isn’t quite right either as a model. The Raps had perhaps the best player in the world after only 4 years of existence. There is not much chance that a young Messi or Ronaldo spends years of his prime here, building the base of interest. Davies' departure at age 17 shows you that.
MLS is truly in its own world, and it’s biggest problem is that it's the minors, AAA ball - world soccer is just a lot better than the product they can ever offer. I think they are closest to German hockey in Germany, or maybe even better, NASCAR in the US circa 1975, which lived (and lives) globally in the shadow of F1 and Indy, but ultimately built a rabid regional base.
But NASCAR peaked a few years ago and has never been a national TV property, and F1 is growing like gangbusters. This would worry me if I were betting on national TV for MLS. The national TV dream for soccer, which has been around for decades, and was a big topic 10 years ago on this board, never seems to really get traction.
But as somebody eloquently said a couple of pages ago, sometimes things just change. Maybe that'll be true this time. It’s not inconceivable.
Last edited by ensco; 01-03-2022 at 11:07 PM.
"There are some people who might have better technique than me, and some may be fitter than me, but the main thing is tactics. With most players, tactics are missing. You can divide tactics into insight, trust, and daring." - Johan Cruyff
2'nd Oldtimer's good find.
Offers real relevance and clarity for some of the spend/funding implications exchange on another thread; 20-21 P/C/GM off-season roaster discussion.
ensco, again, simpatico with your analysis.
If I am reading and understanding correctly, the past and potential US(CAN?) network media numbers and earnings quoted in this article as revenue source are not that exciting and would not account for or eventually offset MLSE/TFC current spend IMO; somewhat contribute to, yes.
Average televised game viewership's with lots of number holes seems to be at about...
MLS possible TTL 560K+/ 284K Univision + 276K ESPN + ?K but 4% growth Fox... gets.... USD $200M w/o USMNT or $300M w/ USNMT.
While...
EPL possible TTL 1.023M/ 414K NBCUniversal + 609K NBCSports... gets... USD $2.7B.
I must be overlooking lots. Payment ratio doesn't compute for me; if they share same demographics.
MLS undervalued or EPL overvalued? In the article Garber says... 'all of MLS's content will be leveraged [packaged - all in one?], including games in local markets and the leagues data rights, for the 2023 media package.'
I get Ultra & Proud's point about allocation money, value in a Cap league structure and how a DP budgets the same as another DP.
Q- Is a teams updated-any allocation reserves posted somewhere or mentioned as public knowledge?
Q- Understand allocation funds are limited, hence value... would team's allocations cover / last Insigne's yearly USD 15-20M over 5YRS?
Trying to get my head around this. Anyone's further insight welcome.
I will maintain that archaic MLS roster rules and the broadcasting deals that MLS want are incongruent.
The rules barely serve their original purpose anymore, clubs in this league are the most financially reliable and well-backed in the world. This is not NASL anymore.
If they want to become a top 5 league like Garber claims, then they have to greatly increase the salary cap. I get the feeling that once SUM has negotiated their next round of media rights in 2023, they are going to go to the owners and MLSPA and renegotiate the salary cap. I bet they get rid of TAM and DP slots (but keeping the U22 initiatives) and setting the cap at the average team salary of the top 3-5 teams in the league, with the amount of GAM available to each team equal to the difference between the new cap and the team with the highest payroll. The old salary budget would be the new salary floor. Percentage increases through to 2027 would remain the same. (with the 2027 cap having 10% increase over 2026!) Insigne should still be on the books in 2023, so I could see the new cap being around $25-30 million, which is fairly respectable.
I wouldn't be surprised if this plan has been telegraphed to the ownership groups already, hence why it took a while to find a buyer for RSL, why Joey Cheese has mused about moving CF Montreal, and why Sacramento ownership gave up it's place in MLS. If we see a sudden flurry of franchise sales in the next 2 years - you'll know that the writing is on the wall.
But to do this, they are going to need at least a $1b USD/year network contract, though with WC2026 broadcast rights included, this should turbocharge the bids.
Last edited by Initial B; 01-04-2022 at 03:57 PM.
Even though I find Canadian gridiron faster and more interesting than the NFL, the CFL is the very definition of an "inferior league."
It's now back to being fully owned by MLS (they had sold 25% but repurchased it back).
However, you might be thinking of the USMNT. SUM doesn't control those rights anymore.
I'm not saying MLS in Canada (or the CPL for that matter) should aspire to be the CFL. Far from it.
I'm just saying a little hype promoting TFC by TFC's owners would help.
Last edited by Oldtimer; 01-04-2022 at 04:30 PM.
MLS is a tough, physical league, that emphasizes speed, and features plastic fields, grueling travel, extreme weather, and incompetent refs. - NK Toronto
Yeah, I just read that they no longer have the USMT rights. Well, there goes that theory. Maybe they could do it at $300m USD if the clubs were willing to take a loss for a couple of years (or they could negotiate a subsidy with USSF (yeah, right)). Regardless, if they want to be seen as top 5, they will have to get their payrolls up to the $80-100M range, just to compare to the other major North American leagues. I don't see that happening for at least another decade or two unless they rip the band-aid off.
This just makes me laugh, could have seen this coming from a million miles away LOL
Remember The Man, The Legend, The Goal 5-12-07 and All That #9 Left On The Pitch, Thanks For The Memories !!!