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In the "dugout": the Seattle Sounders (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Heard around the soccer business world:
Soccer outsells baseball. Seriously?
"It’s apples to oranges. [The Seattle Mariners] have had some tough seasons, some tough ticket sales, but the advent of Ken Griffey gives them a renewed vibe in the community." — Gary Wright, head of the Seattle Sounders' business operations [Puget Sound Business Journal].
Don't fret, baseball fans. There's no need to panic. Your game is still America's game.
For now.
News this week that the Seattle Sounders have sold more than 20,000 season tickets one month before playing their first-ever game was perhaps surprising, but the fact the Major League Soccer franchise is outselling the city's Major League Baseball franchise is food for thought.
Of course, comparing the two clubs bears little fruit. The Mariners play four times as many games during the year, so the season tickets seem far more costly. The MLB club says it will sell 14,000 tickets by the start of the season, buoyed by the resigning of Seattle legend Ken Griffey Jr.
The Sounders' 18-game package starts at $288 ($16 per game). An 81-game Mariners' season ticket starts at $1,053 ($13 per game).
The Sounders, however, are well ahead of the game when it comes to sponsorships. The club has inked 20 deals, mostly with companies focused on Hispanic markets and tech-savvy hipsters, reports the Puget Sound Business Journal.
Clearly, the success of the Sounders' marketing effort has once again proven MLS means good business, even in this shrinking economy—given the right market, of course.
Europe wants to be just like us, probably
"I’ve got a very positive reaction from all the people I’ve met, and these people look to the success of MLS with nothing but admiration. And I think there’s a lot of respect for MLS around the world, in terms of the business of sport." — Ivan Gazidis, former MLS commissioner and Arsenal FC chief executive [New York Times].
Gazidis dispels a myth that MLS is looked down upon in Europe, at least when it comes to how the league is run.
And let's not forget, he's speaking from a continent where cash disparities have led to yawningly predictable championships, where players are commanding obscene salaries, where once-massive clubs like Leeds United have collapsed under the weight of their own wage bill, and where top clubs constantly threaten to secede from their domestics to form a European super league.
Even UEFA president Michel Platini believes European soccer is far from immune from the current cash crisis, and looks to American sports as a model of financial stability.
So stay the course, MLS. You're on the right track.
The Portland Timbers Army brings the noise, but what about jobs?
The Timbers Army cares about jobs
"I look forward to buying my beer, peanuts, popcorn and Cracker Jack from someone who makes a living wage." — Eric Berg, a Portland Timbers Fan and Jobs with Justice Member [The Oregonian].
MLS will next month select two cities in which to expand for the 2011 season, and the Timbers Army turned up in droves to a meeting of the MLS Task Force in Portland, Ore., Tuesday night to show support for a bid proposed by Merrit Paulson.
Paulson is the owner of the current Portland Timbers, which plays in the United Soccer Leagues and is one of the USL's—if not the nation's—most passionately supported soccer clubs.
Paulson said he'll pony up the $40 million MLS franchise fee, but will ask the city to provide the $85 million in general fund money needed for construction projects, which would be in the form of bonds and paid back with team revenue over the years.
A renovated soccer-specific stadium and a new baseball park are part of the deal, and that could mean new jobs if the new franchise is approved.
However, there is still plenty of resistance to the potential of dipping into public funds to go major league.
"The Chinese build industrial parks, we build ball parks. And we wonder what's wrong with our economy?" — Comment left by "phosphorus" following an Oregonian editorial.
This week I'll begin previewing the upcoming MLS season, team by team, with scouting reports from bloggers, analyses and predictions. Stay tuned.
Comments
There was never a request for general fund money for the stadium upgrades Portland. Never. It was always a request for the city to issue bonds to 1) Renovate a stadium it owns into a soccer/gridiron-specific stadium and 2) either upgrade and existing baseball park or build a new one on the site of an underused hockey arena. No existing funds or tax streams will be employed in the deal. And the Paulson family are personally backing the bonds regardless of team performance.
Just a little factual protein to mix into your meal.
Shawn: thanks for the comment and the clarification. You're right that the Paulson family are backing to bonds if all should fall apart.
To say the MLS is the envy of Europe is just pure BS. If you want anyone to take your endeavor seriously keep it relevant
Wow, congratulations on not giving him any benefit of the doubt on what he wrote. I believe he meant that the league structure is envied by people who own clubs in the top flights because it reduces their investment risk.
Merritt Paulson was In Salem on Tuesday lobbying for Passage of House Bill 2531 which would provide up to $125 million in General Funds money, on top of all the other tax subsidies he is requesting.
The idea he is pitching is that People who work for his company and their spouses should not have to pay state taxes, so any tax they pay into the general fund to go to Fund Merritt Paulson's sports business.
David, good work here. It's been noticed on a blog over at BigSoccer: www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=4032
@yeahright: If you want us to take the endeavor of your comments seriously, don't post under an alias and make a contribution to the discussion.
Thanks for all your comments.
Ed: Great link; it was good to see someone expand on what I'd posted.
I meant for the posting to be a round-up of what people in the soccer industry have been talking about this week. And yeahright: there was a certain amount of tongue-in-cheek when I used the word 'envy' -- however, I do believe the US sports business model, and that of the MLS, is a more realistic and, well, sensible, alternative to how clubs in Europe are run. The top clubs, the Real Madrids and the Man Utds, will likely always be fine financially and win titles, but the second tier and below will struggle to keep up or even survive. That will simply never happen here in MLS, so long as the MLS is okay.
It's a good discussion, though.
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