by J Hutcherson | April 30th, 2006
Happy May Day, and if you’re in a city where protests are happening, well, let’s quote some Rabbi Hillel: “That which is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. This is the whole of the law, and the rest is explanation.” Personally, I wouldn’t want to feel like my life was illegal.
This is from Jayson Stark’s Insider column on ESPN:
At least four teams — the Marlins, Devil Rays, Pirates and Royals — are getting more money from their good friends at MLB than they’re spending on their entire payroll (this is before they sell one ticket).
And this is from The Salt Lake Tribune:
Real Salt Lake is losing millions every year - perhaps not surprising for a fledgling sports franchise - and expects the red ink to flow through 2009, a year after moving into its proposed Sandy stadium. In fact, the team isn’t predicting its first profit - a modest $11,000 - until 2010. From there, though, RSL predicts the profits will start rolling in, topping $2.2 million by 2015….
The team projects more than 7,000 season tickets holders in 2015, and more than 20,000 total seats sold between 2011 and 2015. “We hope that is true,” Howes said.
While both are absurd, both also depend on situations remaining the same. As Jayson Stark suggests, raising the minimum club payroll pushes those four clubs into the red. On the soccer side, RSL’s numbers suggest no significant raise in payroll, no discounted or giveaway tickets, and no real change in the standard operating procedures of the league.
Instead, the RSL math is based on simply doing what pro clubs always want to do: increasing tickets sold. “We hope that is true” indeed, because anybody sitting through the last Soccer Saturday should be wondering when the magic happens. I’m guessing somewhere around 2011.
Or maybe Major League Soccer gets to the point where they’re capable of pulling a baseball. As we now know from the fine folks at the Salt Lake Tribune, MLS clubs currently pay 30% of their ticket revenue back into the League, the opposite of what happens in baseball. Flip that for baseball, and existing clubs are skirting bankruptcy immediately.
This isn’t about dumping on Real Salt Lake’s speculative future in particular, or Major League Soccer in general. It’s simply pointing out that the current financial situation for MLS as a single-entity league would force some pro baseball teams against the wall.
Comparatively, a case could be made that some mediocre MLS teams are actually healthier than their counterparts in baseball. In and of itself, that’s a relative success. In reality, not so much.
What I’m Watching
Other than deciding midway through Soccer Saturday that my cable system has the worst local commercials in the country, there’s Sunderland - Arsenal live at noon and Manchester United - Middlesbrough live at 30pm, both on Fox Soccer Channel. West Brom - West Ham is delayed at 5pm. All Times Eastern
Quote Of The Day
“It shows the leadership of this team. It shows we had a lot of guys who have been through a lot of things. We lead each other. Nothing got us down.” MISL champion Baltimore Blast forwardLee Tschantret.
Unfortunately, I set the dvr to record the time-slot, not realizing aggregate goal wasn’t a factor and there might be an overtime/mini-game. As if it wasn’t obvious from the amount of space I’ve given it over the years, I like indoor soccer and have a tremendous amount of respect for the players leaving it all on the carpet.
The Wonderful World of Soccer Media: Europe
Champions with room for improvement — from The Guardian’s Kevin McCarra.
McClaren on brink of landing top job — from The Independent’s Sam Wallace.
Fallen foot soldiers — from The Times’ Tony Cascarino.
The Wonderful World Of Soccer Media: USA
MLS affects Cup decisions — from The Miami Herald’s Michelle Kaufmann.
”In all honesty, I don’t want to be critical of the league,” Arena said after the U.S. tied Jamaica 1-1 in a recent friendly. “Some of our guys have lost fitness and sharpness since we saw them in February. Unfortunately for us, our domestic players need more time. In April, most players around the world are heading into their 40th game of the year and our guys are heading into their third game of the year.”
Playing not to get hurt — from Soccernet’s Steve Davis.
New addition brings veteran presence — from The Columbus Dispatch’s Shawn Mitchell.
For RSL, losing is now a habit — from The Deseret Morning News’ Brad Rock.
Chivas Doesn’t Get the Points — from The LA Times’ Grahame L. Jones. Registration Required
Big Picture
In Boston, It’s Still Catch as Catch Can’t — from The New York Times’ Jack Curry. Registration Required
I’d rather not got to a game if it means watching Tim Wakefield pitch. It’s not so bad on television, but live it’s like watching denistry.
Comments, questions, solutions to problems that have yet to present themselves. Please, tell me all about it.