FFC Mariner
Well-Known Member
Football club gets raped by foreign property developer only interested in profit shock!
A first surely?
-
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NSO Protest in the YA
- Thread starter Blair
- Start date
Football club gets raped by foreign property developer only interested in profit shock!
A first surely?
FFC Mariner
Well-Known Member
Last line of the original words fits too
..."for her love in Botany Bay"
Great idea, sounds brilliant too
sydmariner
Well-Known Member
So do we all boycott the nso game in protest
eenfish
Well-Known Member
For over a 170 years we have been waiting for the Russians. I don't think they're coming.
in 1841 the Government of New South Wales decided to establish fortification at Pinchgut in order to repel a feared Russian invasion.[8][9] Fortifications at Queenscliff, Portsea, and Mud Islands in Melbourne's Port Philip Bay followed, as did similar structures on the Tamar River near Launceston and on the banks of the Derwent River at Sandy Bay and Hobart.
Link.
Post of the year. Well done. Shut down the forum, it has officially peaked.
eenfish
Well-Known Member
I already bought my ticket, but I got work that morning so I aint gonna bust my ass to get there either.
sydmariner
Well-Known Member
Ask 4 a refund its only $10
Ancient Mariner
Well-Known Member
Funny, you see him as somebody raping the club.
I see him as someone who came to the club's rescue in dire times, and is continuing to put his hand in his pocket to keep us viable.
It seems to me that the only options you see left is to either "lie back and think of Britain" or slash your wrists and hope an ambulance arrives in time and all will come good in the end.
I am prepared to sign up and enjoy the ride wherever it may go.
eenfish
Well-Known Member
I think some people just have different perspectives on what the Mariners mean to them. As a coastie, it is the first time a team properly represented me. I'm not Sydney, I'm not North Sydney, I'm not Newcastle. I don't just want to support any team, I want to support a team that means something to me.
sydmariner
Well-Known Member
Whatever happened 2 the chant "no matter what happens we'll always be loyal we love the central coast" 
sydmariner
Well-Known Member
We all do
Ancient Mariner
Well-Known Member
Whatever happened 2 the chant "no matter what happens we'll always be loyal we love the central coast"
Support the Central Coast.
I support the Mariners.
"Mariners 'til I die." (Ihope they don't go first)
Ancient Mariner
Well-Known Member
Get real, nobody interested in profit buys into a football club.
sydmariner
Well-Known Member
Clive palmer did
Atomic
Well-Known Member
Wrong.
Palmer was only interested in profit... that's why he f**ked over GCU. He had zero interest in football and was willing to jeopardise the entire league just to prove his point.
dibo
Well-Known Member
Then he should quit the martyr act for losing money. If it's par for the course you don't get a medal.
Think about when he bought in, and take in a hypothetical situation.
Let's assume that he *is* behaving like an investor.
Let's say he bought in for $1.5 million, and then owned the licence (once the sale was approved by FFA) and $4 million debt.
Since then he's paid down the $4 million in debt and injected a further $1 million in capital.
He can say that he's therefore paid $6.5 million into this club.
We can all agree that that's his cash contribution.
But let's think about it from a different angle. All up he paid a purchase price of $5.5 million. He only pays $1.5 million cash to the vendor because there's $4 million debt the vendor can't clear. But that's a cash problem, not an equity problem. He's still got $5.5 million equity.
The company bleeds a further $1 million.
He's lighter $6.5 million in cash, but only $1 million in assets. What's more, as explained earlier this year the loss should be significantly less (if anything at all) and this is a structural shift - TV money has increased substantially and it takes no imagination to see that TV money and crowds are on the up so the structural position of the club should be much more positive.
He might be able to offload it for considerably more than $5.5 million, at which point he will make back his $1 million cash loss.
dibo
Well-Known Member
Interesting article from Forbes about MLS - it might be a view into the future:
After Flirting With Failure, Major League Soccer Popularity Now Surging
16 comments, 2 called-out
Comment Now
The MLS fan base has grown dramatically over the past decade. (Image credit: AFP/Getty Images via @daylife)
Clark Hunt — son of the late NFL legend and Kansas City Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt — has a lot to be excited about these days. Yes, the president and partial owner has watched his Chiefs leap to their first 9-0 start in a decade after years of irrelevance. But the NFL season is long and brutal, and a variety of misfortunes could derail a Super Bowl bid and render that enthusiasm short-lived. He has more to be genuinely excited about in a different league and a different sport altogether– the other football: Major League Soccer.
The MLS Cup Playoffs are underway, and even though FC Dallas, the team he owns with his family, didn’t make the post-season, the future of the league he and his family helped build from the ground up has never been brighter.
For years it’s been the league that cried relevant. Hyped up events — from hosting the World Cup in 1994, to luring legendary British midfielder David Beckham to the L.A Galaxy in 2007, to recent international success of the men’s and women’s national teams — offered promise to finally catapult domestic soccer into national prominence, only to provide an small, incremental boosts after all the dust and fanfare settled. The lucrative television rights deals of the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL have long dwarfed that of MLS — which as recently as 2011 signed a three-year deal with NBC worth a meager $10 million per year, according to the Sports Business Journal. A decade ago, MLS was teetering on the brink of failure.
“We’ve been hard at work for 18 years. There were some days early on where we thought it wouldn’t make it,” said Hunt, 48, who along with father Lamar, was instrumental in launching the professional soccer experiment in the U.S. in 1996 and has stubbornly refused to let it fail. “Just 10 years ago we had 10 teams, three owners and we were really in trouble.”
Now, there are 19 teams – with another New York City team scheduled to launch in 2015 and one in Orlando in the works. And with Hunt selling his second soccer team, Columbus Crew, for an MLS record $68 million this July, ownership is as dispersed and valuable as ever. Average attendance has surged to 18,600, a more than 35% increase from the 2000 nadir of just over 13,700.
Perhaps most importantly, there are the stats that point to the sport finally gaining traction.
Rich Luker has been conducting and analyzing polling of American sports fandom since 1994, when he launched the ESPN Sports Poll. The poll – the first of its kind and the only national syndicated intelligence service dedicated to the study of sports — gathers data on a broad, inclusive list of sports and their U.S. fan bases. The growth Major League Soccer fandom has experienced the past five to 10 years is remarkable, Luker says.
Of the 18,000 people surveyed in 2012, more than a third identified themselves as fans of Major League Soccer, according to the Luker on Trends – ESPN Sports Poll. It’s a 24% increase from five years ago and a 33% increase since 2002. Avid fans of the league — now at 7.3% — grew 35% from 2007 and 43% from a decade ago.
The poll defines a fan as “a little bit interested” in a sport and an avid fan as “very interested,” a far more coveted distinction.
MLS’ avid fan base is the fastest growing of any sport, outpacing all others in the ten-year periods from 2001 to 2011 as well as 2002 to 2012. And the gains come from nearly all ages of both genders.
Why is MLS finally turning the corner? Hunt can’t point to just one catalyst, but he’s confident in its trajectory. It may never catch up with the NFL, but the league is now nipping at the heels of the bottom of the big four pro sports (see chart below).
“Soccer has a chance to be the No. 2 sport in the U.S. in my lifetime,” said Hunt, who recognizes the international leagues are currently more popular but believes MLS will be the primary beneficiary of the sport’s growth in years to come.
Critical to that growth has been a rapid cultural and generational maturation of a rather unique fan base, according to Luker.
Soccer is the first sport that has been imported and commercially scaled in the United States that rose to global prominence entirely outside the U.S. Even if their earliest incarnations occurred elsewhere in the world, the four major U.S. sports rose to cultural and commercial significance within American borders over multiple generations. Major League Soccer, only one generation old, was created because FIFA made it a condition for the U.S. to host the 1994 World Cup.
“This is a league that was born not of love or culture or tradition, but of mandate so the U.S. could host the second largest sporting event in the world,” Luker said. “It boggles the mind that we are where we are.”
The kind of fans the league is attracting and cultivating also bodes well.
The fan base, unsurprisingly, is especially robust among millennials and Hispanics, a steadily growing ethnic population in the U.S. But it has also made substantial gains among the 35-to-54 age demographic, which Luker calls “the most important demographic in sports and gaining strength.”
But beyond demographics and statistics, the culture and behavior of the fan base sets the league apart and has attracted the envy of the other leagues.
“What we are seeing in MLS is unlike anything we’re seeing in any other sport,” said Luker, who likens the fan base to a cross between two iconic musical followings — grunge and Deadheads. Grunge existed on a small but intense scale for years before exploding in the Pacific Northwest and then nationwide. Deadheads, the loyal grassroots following of The Grateful Dead, traveled from venue to venue night after night to experience the music and the culture that accompanied it.
“Other sports are trying to find a way to emulate that. That vibrance transcends the game day experience and therefore the consumption of goods and the interest of the sport.”
Doug Williams can attest to the growing fervor. He’s the business development director for Sports Endeavors, which owns Soccer.com and World Soccer Shop and is among the largest soccer merchandise retailers in the world. The company, which will cross $200 million in revenue this year, has been around since 1984 — long before MLS existed. Merchandise from English Premier League teams still sells the best, but sales from MLS teams have increased substantially in recent years.
“The dominate league is the English Premier League — they’ve had a long time to get a good head start on that,” Williams said. “But the best MLS teams would be in our top 10 of all teams.”
These trends matter little, of course, unless Major League Soccer translates its burgeoning popularity into revenues that allow the league to grow and invest in its product. With its comparatively paltry TV deals set to expire in 2014, expect the fastest growing league in the U.S. to command a fee far surpassing those in years past.
16 comments, 2 called-out
Comment Now
The MLS fan base has grown dramatically over the past decade. (Image credit: AFP/Getty Images via @daylife)
Clark Hunt — son of the late NFL legend and Kansas City Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt — has a lot to be excited about these days. Yes, the president and partial owner has watched his Chiefs leap to their first 9-0 start in a decade after years of irrelevance. But the NFL season is long and brutal, and a variety of misfortunes could derail a Super Bowl bid and render that enthusiasm short-lived. He has more to be genuinely excited about in a different league and a different sport altogether– the other football: Major League Soccer.
The MLS Cup Playoffs are underway, and even though FC Dallas, the team he owns with his family, didn’t make the post-season, the future of the league he and his family helped build from the ground up has never been brighter.
For years it’s been the league that cried relevant. Hyped up events — from hosting the World Cup in 1994, to luring legendary British midfielder David Beckham to the L.A Galaxy in 2007, to recent international success of the men’s and women’s national teams — offered promise to finally catapult domestic soccer into national prominence, only to provide an small, incremental boosts after all the dust and fanfare settled. The lucrative television rights deals of the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL have long dwarfed that of MLS — which as recently as 2011 signed a three-year deal with NBC worth a meager $10 million per year, according to the Sports Business Journal. A decade ago, MLS was teetering on the brink of failure.
“We’ve been hard at work for 18 years. There were some days early on where we thought it wouldn’t make it,” said Hunt, 48, who along with father Lamar, was instrumental in launching the professional soccer experiment in the U.S. in 1996 and has stubbornly refused to let it fail. “Just 10 years ago we had 10 teams, three owners and we were really in trouble.”
Now, there are 19 teams – with another New York City team scheduled to launch in 2015 and one in Orlando in the works. And with Hunt selling his second soccer team, Columbus Crew, for an MLS record $68 million this July, ownership is as dispersed and valuable as ever. Average attendance has surged to 18,600, a more than 35% increase from the 2000 nadir of just over 13,700.
Perhaps most importantly, there are the stats that point to the sport finally gaining traction.
Rich Luker has been conducting and analyzing polling of American sports fandom since 1994, when he launched the ESPN Sports Poll. The poll – the first of its kind and the only national syndicated intelligence service dedicated to the study of sports — gathers data on a broad, inclusive list of sports and their U.S. fan bases. The growth Major League Soccer fandom has experienced the past five to 10 years is remarkable, Luker says.
Of the 18,000 people surveyed in 2012, more than a third identified themselves as fans of Major League Soccer, according to the Luker on Trends – ESPN Sports Poll. It’s a 24% increase from five years ago and a 33% increase since 2002. Avid fans of the league — now at 7.3% — grew 35% from 2007 and 43% from a decade ago.
The poll defines a fan as “a little bit interested” in a sport and an avid fan as “very interested,” a far more coveted distinction.
MLS’ avid fan base is the fastest growing of any sport, outpacing all others in the ten-year periods from 2001 to 2011 as well as 2002 to 2012. And the gains come from nearly all ages of both genders.Why is MLS finally turning the corner? Hunt can’t point to just one catalyst, but he’s confident in its trajectory. It may never catch up with the NFL, but the league is now nipping at the heels of the bottom of the big four pro sports (see chart below).
“Soccer has a chance to be the No. 2 sport in the U.S. in my lifetime,” said Hunt, who recognizes the international leagues are currently more popular but believes MLS will be the primary beneficiary of the sport’s growth in years to come.
Critical to that growth has been a rapid cultural and generational maturation of a rather unique fan base, according to Luker.
Soccer is the first sport that has been imported and commercially scaled in the United States that rose to global prominence entirely outside the U.S. Even if their earliest incarnations occurred elsewhere in the world, the four major U.S. sports rose to cultural and commercial significance within American borders over multiple generations. Major League Soccer, only one generation old, was created because FIFA made it a condition for the U.S. to host the 1994 World Cup.“This is a league that was born not of love or culture or tradition, but of mandate so the U.S. could host the second largest sporting event in the world,” Luker said. “It boggles the mind that we are where we are.”
The kind of fans the league is attracting and cultivating also bodes well.
The fan base, unsurprisingly, is especially robust among millennials and Hispanics, a steadily growing ethnic population in the U.S. But it has also made substantial gains among the 35-to-54 age demographic, which Luker calls “the most important demographic in sports and gaining strength.”
But beyond demographics and statistics, the culture and behavior of the fan base sets the league apart and has attracted the envy of the other leagues.
“What we are seeing in MLS is unlike anything we’re seeing in any other sport,” said Luker, who likens the fan base to a cross between two iconic musical followings — grunge and Deadheads. Grunge existed on a small but intense scale for years before exploding in the Pacific Northwest and then nationwide. Deadheads, the loyal grassroots following of The Grateful Dead, traveled from venue to venue night after night to experience the music and the culture that accompanied it.
“Other sports are trying to find a way to emulate that. That vibrance transcends the game day experience and therefore the consumption of goods and the interest of the sport.”
Doug Williams can attest to the growing fervor. He’s the business development director for Sports Endeavors, which owns Soccer.com and World Soccer Shop and is among the largest soccer merchandise retailers in the world. The company, which will cross $200 million in revenue this year, has been around since 1984 — long before MLS existed. Merchandise from English Premier League teams still sells the best, but sales from MLS teams have increased substantially in recent years.
“The dominate league is the English Premier League — they’ve had a long time to get a good head start on that,” Williams said. “But the best MLS teams would be in our top 10 of all teams.”
These trends matter little, of course, unless Major League Soccer translates its burgeoning popularity into revenues that allow the league to grow and invest in its product. With its comparatively paltry TV deals set to expire in 2014, expect the fastest growing league in the U.S. to command a fee far surpassing those in years past.
Gratis
Well-Known Member
nailed it
dibo
Well-Known Member
Major League Soccer's Most Valuable Teams
At halftime of July’s 2013 MLS All-Star Game, commissioner Don Garber joined the broadcast crew to announce to a national audience that Major League Soccer planned to expand to 24 teams by 2020. That idea would have seemed preposterous ten years ago, when the league was hemorrhaging cash by the millions and two teams had recently been contracted. Yet these days, those plans for MLS to become the world’s biggest soccer league seem conservative. In fact, considering the financial success of the league over the last five years, 24 teams might not be enough.
There’s certainly no lack of demand for the proposed expansion teams. Two new franchises in Orlando and New York City are already expected to join in 2015, bringing the league up to 21 teams. Former LA Galaxy midfielder David Beckham is exploring expansion opportunities in Miami, while Atlanta, Minneapolis and Sacramento suburb Elk Grove are just a few cities that appear intent on claiming an MLS team in the coming years.
That demand should be little surprise given the league’s recent success. In 2011, average MLS attendance hit 17,872 to surpass both the NBA and NHL, and it has since increased to 18,611 fans per game. More impressively, the average franchise is now worth $103 million, up more than 175% over the last five years. With five planned expansion teams and a new league TV deal on the way, there’s no reason to believe that growth is slowing anytime soon.
FORBES hasn’t compiled MLS valuations since 2008. The league had just 14 teams that season, with the Seattle Sounders joining the following year on an expansion fee of $30 million. The average MLS team was worth $37 million and losing money. The LA Galaxy, the league’s most valuable asset, had an enterprise value of $100 million.
And today? Ten of the league’s 19 teams are making a profit (in terms of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization). The Sounders are now the league’s most valuable franchise at $175 million, a massive 483% increase over its 2009 sale price. And in May of 2013 a new ownership group paid $100 million just as an expansion fee to start a team in New York City.
How did MLS grow so big, so fast? MLS president Mark Abbott cites a host of league investments, particularly those targeted at improving the league’s level of competition. In terms of on-field product, Abbott points not only toward the premium salaries paid to designated players like Thierry Henry and Robbie Keane, but also to America’s developmental programs that have produced homegrown stars like Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan.
Rank Value ($M) Revenue ($M) Operating Income ($M)1
Seattle Sounders 175 48 18.2
LA Galaxy 170 44 7.8
Portland Timbers 141 39.1 9.4
Houston Dynamo 125 32.6 8.2
Toronto FC 121 30.9 4.5
New York Red Bulls 114 28.1 -6.3
Sporting Kansas City 108 27.7 5.1
Chicago Fire 102 24.5 -3.2
FC Dallas 97 24.2 0.6
Montreal Impact 96 26.2 3.4
Philadelphia Union 90 21.4 1.1
New England Revolution 89 17.1 2.6
Vancouver Whitecaps 86 23 0
Real Salt Lake 85 23 -0.1
Colorado Rapids 76 18.1 -2.9
San Jose Earthquakes 75 15 -4.5
Columbus Crew 73 18.6 -1.6
DC United 71 17.7 -2.8
Chivas USA 64 15 -5.5
FORBES estimates; revenue and operating income is for 2012 season
1 Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization
The recent growth has been tremendous, but getting there wasn’t easy. The league had ten teams for its inaugural season in 1996, with original teams selling for $5 million each. But a brief honeymoon period was followed by plummeting attendance. Two new teams, in Chicago and Miami, would join in 1998, but the expansion failed to solve financial woes. MLS reportedly lost $250 million in its first five years and in 2002 was forced to contract the Miami expansion and the charter franchise in Tampa Bay.
But later that year the United States would make a surprisingly deep run in the FIFA World Cup, leading to a surge in soccer’s stateside popularity and a wave for MLS to ride forward. MLS teams, following the Columbus Crew’s lead, soon began building soccer-specific stadiums, which had been foreign to the league before Crew Stadium was built in 1999. The new venues not only enhanced the gameday experience for fans, but they also granted teams full operating control of the stadiums and greater shares of stadium revenue.
And as Abbott notes, those stadiums are now being filled with the young sports fans who became hooked on soccer during the 2002 World Cup. “That fan base has grown up with the sport,” says Abbot, and they are now coming to an age where they are able to go to games and buy jerseys and beers with their own money.
At halftime of July’s 2013 MLS All-Star Game, commissioner Don Garber joined the broadcast crew to announce to a national audience that Major League Soccer planned to expand to 24 teams by 2020. That idea would have seemed preposterous ten years ago, when the league was hemorrhaging cash by the millions and two teams had recently been contracted. Yet these days, those plans for MLS to become the world’s biggest soccer league seem conservative. In fact, considering the financial success of the league over the last five years, 24 teams might not be enough.
There’s certainly no lack of demand for the proposed expansion teams. Two new franchises in Orlando and New York City are already expected to join in 2015, bringing the league up to 21 teams. Former LA Galaxy midfielder David Beckham is exploring expansion opportunities in Miami, while Atlanta, Minneapolis and Sacramento suburb Elk Grove are just a few cities that appear intent on claiming an MLS team in the coming years.
That demand should be little surprise given the league’s recent success. In 2011, average MLS attendance hit 17,872 to surpass both the NBA and NHL, and it has since increased to 18,611 fans per game. More impressively, the average franchise is now worth $103 million, up more than 175% over the last five years. With five planned expansion teams and a new league TV deal on the way, there’s no reason to believe that growth is slowing anytime soon.
FORBES hasn’t compiled MLS valuations since 2008. The league had just 14 teams that season, with the Seattle Sounders joining the following year on an expansion fee of $30 million. The average MLS team was worth $37 million and losing money. The LA Galaxy, the league’s most valuable asset, had an enterprise value of $100 million.
And today? Ten of the league’s 19 teams are making a profit (in terms of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization). The Sounders are now the league’s most valuable franchise at $175 million, a massive 483% increase over its 2009 sale price. And in May of 2013 a new ownership group paid $100 million just as an expansion fee to start a team in New York City.
How did MLS grow so big, so fast? MLS president Mark Abbott cites a host of league investments, particularly those targeted at improving the league’s level of competition. In terms of on-field product, Abbott points not only toward the premium salaries paid to designated players like Thierry Henry and Robbie Keane, but also to America’s developmental programs that have produced homegrown stars like Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan.
Rank Value ($M) Revenue ($M) Operating Income ($M)1
Seattle Sounders 175 48 18.2
LA Galaxy 170 44 7.8
Portland Timbers 141 39.1 9.4
Houston Dynamo 125 32.6 8.2
Toronto FC 121 30.9 4.5
New York Red Bulls 114 28.1 -6.3
Sporting Kansas City 108 27.7 5.1
Chicago Fire 102 24.5 -3.2
FC Dallas 97 24.2 0.6
Montreal Impact 96 26.2 3.4
Philadelphia Union 90 21.4 1.1
New England Revolution 89 17.1 2.6
Vancouver Whitecaps 86 23 0
Real Salt Lake 85 23 -0.1
Colorado Rapids 76 18.1 -2.9
San Jose Earthquakes 75 15 -4.5
Columbus Crew 73 18.6 -1.6
DC United 71 17.7 -2.8
Chivas USA 64 15 -5.5
FORBES estimates; revenue and operating income is for 2012 season
1 Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization
The recent growth has been tremendous, but getting there wasn’t easy. The league had ten teams for its inaugural season in 1996, with original teams selling for $5 million each. But a brief honeymoon period was followed by plummeting attendance. Two new teams, in Chicago and Miami, would join in 1998, but the expansion failed to solve financial woes. MLS reportedly lost $250 million in its first five years and in 2002 was forced to contract the Miami expansion and the charter franchise in Tampa Bay.
But later that year the United States would make a surprisingly deep run in the FIFA World Cup, leading to a surge in soccer’s stateside popularity and a wave for MLS to ride forward. MLS teams, following the Columbus Crew’s lead, soon began building soccer-specific stadiums, which had been foreign to the league before Crew Stadium was built in 1999. The new venues not only enhanced the gameday experience for fans, but they also granted teams full operating control of the stadiums and greater shares of stadium revenue.
And as Abbott notes, those stadiums are now being filled with the young sports fans who became hooked on soccer during the 2002 World Cup. “That fan base has grown up with the sport,” says Abbot, and they are now coming to an age where they are able to go to games and buy jerseys and beers with their own money.
dibo
Well-Known Member
Increased popularity helped MLS sign an eight-year, $64 million TV deal with ESPN in 2006, which provided the league’s first media rights fee, and by 2007 MLS was successful enough to attract English superstar David Beckham, arguably the most popular soccer player in the world. Beckham didn’t come cheap – he received a $6.5 million base salary plus a cut of LA Galaxy revenues – but the designated player rule that was formed to facilitate his entry has since helped MLS add other global superstars like Thierry Henry and Robbie Keane. As of 2013, nine MLS players make more than $1 million per year.
That’s a long way to come, and the lights are about to get brighter. MLS’ current TV deals with ESPN, NBC and Univision, worth a combined $30 million annually, are up at the end of next season. Negotiations for new deals are currently underway. Previous reportshave pegged the league’s goal at double its current rights fees, but with networks clawing for live telecasts MLS should easily be able to exceed that.
And when it does, the league’s teams will enjoy an instant windfall. Team owners, after all, are actually investors in MLS’ single-entity structure. In other words, the MLS teams are all part of a single company, with team “owners” actually controlling each franchise’s operating rights. League TV revenue, for instance, is funneled through Soccer United Marketing (SUM), the media and marketing arm of MLS, which then pays out dividends to the investors. SUM is the first key investment that Abbott points to when asked how the league’s dynamic growth, and a recent outside investment proves his point.
Providence Equity Partners, a private equity firm founded by billionaire Jonathan Nelson, reportedly bought 25% of SUM in 2011 for around $150 million. The investment provided the league some cash and, considering Providence’s $29 billion or so in assets, a bit of financial security. But more importantly, that investment by Providence, which is also an investor in MLS’ Spanish broadcast partner Univision, signals just how strong the league’s business has become.
Yet as important as central revenue may be, it doesn’t come anywhere close to what teams have to do on their own to succeed. In fact, of the $26 million the typical team generated in revenue in 2012, we estimate that over 90% came from in-stadium revenue streams like tickets, sponsorships, luxury seating and non-MLS events.
At home, MLS teams rely on attendance and sponsorships to drive revenue. For leading teams like the Sounders and their rivals in Portland – the Timbers rank third at $141 million – frenzied fans make doing business easy. Seattle dwarfs the league in attendance, attracting over 44,000 fans per game on average; Portland ranks third at nearly 21,000 fans per game. That fan support is key because MLS teams are particularly reliant on revenue at the gate and from sponsors; soccer’s continuous action makes it difficult to sell merchandise and concessions during games.
And while revenue is surging, expenses like player costs are heavily controlled. Whereas a typical NBA or MLB team might sink tens of millions of dollars into payroll expenses each season, MLS’ single-entity structure ensures player costs are minimized. Each player’s contract is signed with and paid by MLS. Though capital calls made by the teams provide some of the funding, a $3 million salary cap ensures teams won’t bleed dry from salary budget players. The only exceptions are designated players, whose salaries can exceed cap restrictions, with the extra money landing on the team’s books. For most teams, designated player costs are minimal or nonexistant.
The new wave of soccer-specific stadiums have increased operations costs, but those are often easily covered with revenues generated from stadium naming rights deals and non-MLS events that teams operate. Some teams, like the Galaxy, Red Bulls and Crew, own their stadiums outright, meaning minimal, if any, debt and annual rent payments to local government. Other teams, like Sporting Kansas City and the Chicago Fire, were able to land stadium financing deals that were entirely funded with public money.
Of course, not every team has a great stadium situation. DC United and the Vancouver Whitecaps both play in government-owned buildings, which limits their ability to leverage the venues for non-MLS events. The San Jose Earthquakes play in Santa Clara University’s Buck Shaw Stadium, which is far from ideal considering the stadium limits sponsorship opportunities and lacks any sort of luxury suite option. (Fortunately for the Quakes, the team will soon be moving into a new, privately financed stadium in San Jose for the 2015 season. Luxury seating options there are already sold out.)
And though the league’s TV contracts are expected to explode in value, MLS has a serious problem regarding its TV ratings. Namely, they have lagged badly. This year, viewership of ESPN’s regular-season telecasts was down 29% to an average 220,000 per game, while NBC’s MLS audience fell 8% to 112,000 per game, ranking MLS beneath the WNBA in TV ratings. A new TV deal may grant the league a set broadcast window or consolidate telecasts to a single network, making TV viewership an easier task for fans, but a dearth of eyeballs watching from home could pose serious issues for a league hoping to expand to 24 teams.
But there’s no denying that MLS is barreling forward and showing few causes for concern. Given the success, will MLS finally move away from the single-entity structure that makes it unique? No way.
Abbott argues that the current structure is largely responsible for the league’s success, and that other sports leagues are effectively single-entity groups as well. Says Abbott, “the reality is that club owners [in any sport] are business partners. You’re competitors on the field, but business partners off of it.” That’s not to say that MLS won’t make significant changes down the line, but Abbott says that those decisions will be made within the current structure.
That structure has certainly been a sound one thus far, so a not-broke, don’t-fix-it strategy makes plenty of sense. As for maintaining the current pace, Abbott naturally points to the upcoming TV deals and player development programs. He also, in a contrast to the league’s big expansion plans, says that there’s a focus on strengthening the league’s position within its current local markets.
And Major League Soccer’s favorite spark plug, the FIFA World Cup, is right around the corner. The roster will not only include Dempsey and Donovan, two of the biggest names in MLS, but also other MLS stars like Eddie Johnson, Graham Zusi and Omar Gonzalez. With the United States ranked 13th in FIFA’s world ranks and poised to make some noise in Brazil, Major League Soccer’s next leap forward may start before the current one even lands.
That’s a long way to come, and the lights are about to get brighter. MLS’ current TV deals with ESPN, NBC and Univision, worth a combined $30 million annually, are up at the end of next season. Negotiations for new deals are currently underway. Previous reportshave pegged the league’s goal at double its current rights fees, but with networks clawing for live telecasts MLS should easily be able to exceed that.
And when it does, the league’s teams will enjoy an instant windfall. Team owners, after all, are actually investors in MLS’ single-entity structure. In other words, the MLS teams are all part of a single company, with team “owners” actually controlling each franchise’s operating rights. League TV revenue, for instance, is funneled through Soccer United Marketing (SUM), the media and marketing arm of MLS, which then pays out dividends to the investors. SUM is the first key investment that Abbott points to when asked how the league’s dynamic growth, and a recent outside investment proves his point.
Providence Equity Partners, a private equity firm founded by billionaire Jonathan Nelson, reportedly bought 25% of SUM in 2011 for around $150 million. The investment provided the league some cash and, considering Providence’s $29 billion or so in assets, a bit of financial security. But more importantly, that investment by Providence, which is also an investor in MLS’ Spanish broadcast partner Univision, signals just how strong the league’s business has become.
Yet as important as central revenue may be, it doesn’t come anywhere close to what teams have to do on their own to succeed. In fact, of the $26 million the typical team generated in revenue in 2012, we estimate that over 90% came from in-stadium revenue streams like tickets, sponsorships, luxury seating and non-MLS events.
At home, MLS teams rely on attendance and sponsorships to drive revenue. For leading teams like the Sounders and their rivals in Portland – the Timbers rank third at $141 million – frenzied fans make doing business easy. Seattle dwarfs the league in attendance, attracting over 44,000 fans per game on average; Portland ranks third at nearly 21,000 fans per game. That fan support is key because MLS teams are particularly reliant on revenue at the gate and from sponsors; soccer’s continuous action makes it difficult to sell merchandise and concessions during games.
And while revenue is surging, expenses like player costs are heavily controlled. Whereas a typical NBA or MLB team might sink tens of millions of dollars into payroll expenses each season, MLS’ single-entity structure ensures player costs are minimized. Each player’s contract is signed with and paid by MLS. Though capital calls made by the teams provide some of the funding, a $3 million salary cap ensures teams won’t bleed dry from salary budget players. The only exceptions are designated players, whose salaries can exceed cap restrictions, with the extra money landing on the team’s books. For most teams, designated player costs are minimal or nonexistant.
The new wave of soccer-specific stadiums have increased operations costs, but those are often easily covered with revenues generated from stadium naming rights deals and non-MLS events that teams operate. Some teams, like the Galaxy, Red Bulls and Crew, own their stadiums outright, meaning minimal, if any, debt and annual rent payments to local government. Other teams, like Sporting Kansas City and the Chicago Fire, were able to land stadium financing deals that were entirely funded with public money.
Of course, not every team has a great stadium situation. DC United and the Vancouver Whitecaps both play in government-owned buildings, which limits their ability to leverage the venues for non-MLS events. The San Jose Earthquakes play in Santa Clara University’s Buck Shaw Stadium, which is far from ideal considering the stadium limits sponsorship opportunities and lacks any sort of luxury suite option. (Fortunately for the Quakes, the team will soon be moving into a new, privately financed stadium in San Jose for the 2015 season. Luxury seating options there are already sold out.)
And though the league’s TV contracts are expected to explode in value, MLS has a serious problem regarding its TV ratings. Namely, they have lagged badly. This year, viewership of ESPN’s regular-season telecasts was down 29% to an average 220,000 per game, while NBC’s MLS audience fell 8% to 112,000 per game, ranking MLS beneath the WNBA in TV ratings. A new TV deal may grant the league a set broadcast window or consolidate telecasts to a single network, making TV viewership an easier task for fans, but a dearth of eyeballs watching from home could pose serious issues for a league hoping to expand to 24 teams.
But there’s no denying that MLS is barreling forward and showing few causes for concern. Given the success, will MLS finally move away from the single-entity structure that makes it unique? No way.
Abbott argues that the current structure is largely responsible for the league’s success, and that other sports leagues are effectively single-entity groups as well. Says Abbott, “the reality is that club owners [in any sport] are business partners. You’re competitors on the field, but business partners off of it.” That’s not to say that MLS won’t make significant changes down the line, but Abbott says that those decisions will be made within the current structure.
That structure has certainly been a sound one thus far, so a not-broke, don’t-fix-it strategy makes plenty of sense. As for maintaining the current pace, Abbott naturally points to the upcoming TV deals and player development programs. He also, in a contrast to the league’s big expansion plans, says that there’s a focus on strengthening the league’s position within its current local markets.
And Major League Soccer’s favorite spark plug, the FIFA World Cup, is right around the corner. The roster will not only include Dempsey and Donovan, two of the biggest names in MLS, but also other MLS stars like Eddie Johnson, Graham Zusi and Omar Gonzalez. With the United States ranked 13th in FIFA’s world ranks and poised to make some noise in Brazil, Major League Soccer’s next leap forward may start before the current one even lands.
FFC Mariner
Well-Known Member
Bril
Lol how refreshing. Do you have a ny idea how much a properly developed CoE will make him? Do you think for one second that he would have got involved without that development opportunity?
It's about the money, it's always about the money.
Lol how refreshing. Do you have a ny idea how much a properly developed CoE will make him? Do you think for one second that he would have got involved without that development opportunity?
It's about the money, it's always about the money.
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