Twilight of the Gods
MLS Issues Official Statement Lie on Contraction:
Commissioner Garber said, "Contrary to published media reports, Major League Soccer has not finalized any decisions regarding how many teams will compete in the league during the 2002 season. At the present time, there are no announcements planned. MLS is continuing the ongoing process of evaluating all team markets, and as previously stated, will announce any changes prior to the end of the year."
Garber didn't deny it, he just said they haven't announced it -- a tap dance of Clintonesque proportions.
internetsoccer.com columnist Paul Oliu thinks MLS won't exterminate any teams, because of the financial stakes involved. Quite correctly, he pointed out that although the league would save money by axing a few teams, it would incur additional expenses and lowered revenues by doing so: "What does the league do with staff, players, suppliers, local sponsors, fans, stadium contracts and whole host of other financial obligations? Suddenly contraction is a quagmire rather than a solution to the problems that face the league." Thus, he thinks, exterminating teams is just talk like it was last year. That credits MLS with more common sense than it has so far displayed.
TotW's Tampa Bay correspondent Erich Gipson agrees with Oliu, that the exterimination talks are "still rather overblown":
If I was losing money like MLS, I'd certainly look at all my alternatives, but contraction would be way down the list. I'd first look at my marketing (which is almost nonexistent here), and then single entity. Supposedly the Glazer family, who own the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, want to buy the Mutiny but negotiations have stalled over the amount of control they'd have over the team. I think that's a big problem. The Glazers couldn't really buy the Mutiny -- they'd only buy a stake in MLS and would have limited control over how that money is managed. Egomaniacal billionaires don't want someone else running their team. Single entity is actually driving investors away rather than attracting them. Personally, I hope Anschutz just buys the whole league.
To be honest, I'm still holding my breath. I've heard so many rumors one way or the other I'm still not going to believe anything until it happens. I'm sending my check to renew my season tickets. If they fold my team, I'd better get my money back or else there may be a few broken kneecaps at MLS Headquarters. I could then fulfill my dream of being mentioned in TotW's weekly blotter.
I do think it's funny that they're looking at a new class of investor, one who would have more control over the team. I think of it like Glasnost. MLS has run the league as a communist nation under the control of the State ... sorry, the League. Slowly, they're realizing they will have to give more freedom to the peasents -- I mean investors -- in order to survive. What we can expect if we use Russia as our case study is open revolt by the serfs, followed by organized crime moving in to fill the power vacuum. This would be good in the long run since the Mob could certainly bankroll the league and couldn't possibly be more dirty in their player trades and acquisitions than MLS has been. Mafia League Soccer: think about it.
Erich may get his wish -- for an Anschutz-owned league, not Mafia League Soccer -- sooner, rather than later. AEG, Philip Anschutz's umbrella organization, already operates five MLS teams: LA Galaxy, Chicago Fire, DC United, Colorado Rapids and the newly acquired MetroStars. Besides being linked with the cheese pimp-owned NE Revolution, this week AEG was rumored to be taking over operation of MLS champion SJ Earthquakes. Though Colorado are always mentioned as one of the teams facing the firing squad, it hardly seems likely given that Anschutz owns them. If MLS pisses him off, they got no league.
Like figuring out who's going to survive a prison riot, look at who has alliances: The previously mentioned LA, Chicago, DC, Colorado and MetroStars, plus Lamar Hunt's Columbus and Kansas City. The less stroke a team has, the shakier their investorship, the less protection they have, the more likely they are to get fucked in the ass. San Jose has a caretaker operator, plus AEG's interest, and are defending champions. Even MLS (hopefully) would not be stupid enough to exterminate its champion. New England has an operator, but he wants out. Miami has an operator who wants out even worse. Dallas has nothing, though Hunt supposedly is interested in acquiring them. Tampa Bay is just totally screwed.
Apparently the Mutiny are not alone in their misery. The fact is that despite all denials, MLS has already told Miami players and staff that they are being let go: "It's been like a morgue around our office; we are just devastated," an anonymous Miami Fusion employee told the Miami Herald. "After all we did last year, it's hard to believe they'd cut us adrift." The South Florida Sun-Sentinel and the Washington Post confirmed the sack, primarily due to Fusion operator Ken Horowitz dropping $40 million on the team in four years. Last week MLS said Miami was losing $3 million a year, now it is $10 million a year ... quite a difference. But then it has always been hard to get any straight information out of the league. Ellen DeGeneres is straighter than MLS (dis)information chief Dan Courtemanche.
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