Any interest in Beckham’s assertion that he’ll buy an MLS franchise when he retires? I reckon if he says it, he probably means it. Doubt even he could fund it on his own, though.
I read that article, though, and I think, “bloody hell, a forty million dollar franchise fee following a $100m dedicated stadium requirement? You could buy a Premier League team for that.”
Not the whole thing, but certainly controlling interest. Randy Lerner bought about 60% of Aston Villa in 2006 for 62 million pounds… or about $124 million at the exchange rate at the time. Of course, that includes Villa Park, which is nearly three times the size of any of the proposed/under construction dedicated MLS stadia.
Remember, though- assuming that MLS remains viable, MLS franchise ownership guarantees you something that owning a Premiership team doesn’t- that is, permanent MLS membership.
A Premiership team can be sent down at any time. Can’t happen here.
I didn’t read the article. Is it an expansion team or an existing team? IIRC, AEG and HSG still have ownership interests in two teams each, AEG with Galaxy and Houston and HSG with Columbus and Dallas. I wouldn’t be surprised if the agreement was to get a controlling share of Galaxy, Dallas, or Columbus, much like Oscar DelaHoya has with the Dynamo.
I take your point, but I’d argue that relegation is not the same as consignment to oblivion, which is the risk a franchise owner runs should MLS go tits up. You’ve got to work really quite hard to completely destroy a top English side’s profitability, while an MLS side runs the risk of having the rug pulled from beneath it no matter how well the team is run. And at least with relegation you’ve probably got no-one to blame but yourself (ignoring the recent Sheffield/West Ham saga).
This is not to knock the MLS setup, by the way - you can’t magic into existence overnight (or even in 14 years) a league structure with the depth of England’s. But purely from a business standpoint, a $40m non-returnable fee for an MLS franchise is a bit of a punt.
Lets hope. I’m not sure some of the top flight teams’ finances aren’t worse off than AIG.
I think MLS has reached the point where its viability is no longer a concern. Things were pretty touch and go for a while there in there in the early part of this decade. However, MLS’s leadership, despite the many legitimate gripes, have done a good job steering the league toward firm financial footing.
Well, sure… I did say “assuming MLS remains viable”.
As I recall, Crystal Palace were in receivership in 1998, weren’t they?