"We need to become more of a selling league," [MLS Commissioner Don] Garber said Friday at a downtown Atlanta hotel.
HE WANTS THE LEAGUE TO SELL OFF ITS PLAYERS! He wants the entire league to become Arsenal. The Miami "Marlins." This is desperation, MLS is going under.
"If something happens in Atlanta, I'm sure they will do whatever they can to have higher attendance and even more popularity next year, even if they sell one of their stars."
Oh yeah! That'll work! See the aforementioned two clubs.
"We've been buying for so long. But as we've gone through the analysis, it's hard to justify the investment we've made in players and the investment we've made in domestic development. We have to have something that turns the model around or it's going to be unsustainable."
There it is: "UNSUSTAINABLE." Which you and I amateurs and others in the sports econ biz have been saying for a long time.
Garber said Atlanta and the Seattle Sounders, both of which share large stadiums with NFL teams, have given the league reason to look beyond its normal model of wanting teams with soccer-only stadiums that seat around 20,000.
Ditto. Dit-Fucking-to.
"Every now and then, you have something that shocks you," Garber said. "What happened in Seattle was the first example of that. What happened here in Atlanta continues to astound me. We're more open to thinking about it. We have two examples of success with large stadiums. But the model is still focused on smaller stadiums."
He just admitted that the smaller stadium business model in unsustainable! He's still focused on it!
Garber said a key to Atlanta's success was making United feel like a joint partner with the NFL's Falcons in $1.5 billion Mercedes-Benz Stadium, a retractable-roof facility that opened last year.
Each team has its own locker room with all the bells and whistles. The stands were designed to accommodate both a football field and the wider soccer pitch. The football lines are removed from the artificial turf for all United games.
"Arthur Blank and his organization have embraced this team and put it on par with the way his family looks at the football team," Garber said of United's owner. "When I walked into the stadium, I saw a giant painting of a United player right next to a giant painting of a Falcons player. They've managed to find ways to share the building, rather than make United a tenant in the building. That's something to look at moving forward."
That is the most coherent thing he has said and that IS the key! You CANNOT become a MAJOR soccer league playing in Division I-AA capacity stadiums. That is exactly what Pitt and the Steelers do at Heinz Field. What MCFC and NYCFC did in teaming up ownership with the Yankees is similar. I am convinced that NYCFC benefits greatly by playing at hallowed Yankee Stadium, even if you've got to shoehorn a soccer field into it. I have always thought just the name, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, sheesh, I think that helps! The NAME says first class. The stadium lives up to its first class name. OR you could continue playing in fucking Dick's Sporting Goods Park, capacity 18,000. Your choice, Don Garber.
Excellent article.
https://www.wsbradio.com/news/local/mls-commissioner-wants-become-more-selling-league/VMu26A63BJjHv0nsnUM7BK/
HE WANTS THE LEAGUE TO SELL OFF ITS PLAYERS! He wants the entire league to become Arsenal. The Miami "Marlins." This is desperation, MLS is going under.
"If something happens in Atlanta, I'm sure they will do whatever they can to have higher attendance and even more popularity next year, even if they sell one of their stars."
Oh yeah! That'll work! See the aforementioned two clubs.
"We've been buying for so long. But as we've gone through the analysis, it's hard to justify the investment we've made in players and the investment we've made in domestic development. We have to have something that turns the model around or it's going to be unsustainable."
There it is: "UNSUSTAINABLE." Which you and I amateurs and others in the sports econ biz have been saying for a long time.
Garber said Atlanta and the Seattle Sounders, both of which share large stadiums with NFL teams, have given the league reason to look beyond its normal model of wanting teams with soccer-only stadiums that seat around 20,000.
Ditto. Dit-Fucking-to.
"Every now and then, you have something that shocks you," Garber said. "What happened in Seattle was the first example of that. What happened here in Atlanta continues to astound me. We're more open to thinking about it. We have two examples of success with large stadiums. But the model is still focused on smaller stadiums."
He just admitted that the smaller stadium business model in unsustainable! He's still focused on it!
Garber said a key to Atlanta's success was making United feel like a joint partner with the NFL's Falcons in $1.5 billion Mercedes-Benz Stadium, a retractable-roof facility that opened last year.
Each team has its own locker room with all the bells and whistles. The stands were designed to accommodate both a football field and the wider soccer pitch. The football lines are removed from the artificial turf for all United games.
"Arthur Blank and his organization have embraced this team and put it on par with the way his family looks at the football team," Garber said of United's owner. "When I walked into the stadium, I saw a giant painting of a United player right next to a giant painting of a Falcons player. They've managed to find ways to share the building, rather than make United a tenant in the building. That's something to look at moving forward."
That is the most coherent thing he has said and that IS the key! You CANNOT become a MAJOR soccer league playing in Division I-AA capacity stadiums. That is exactly what Pitt and the Steelers do at Heinz Field. What MCFC and NYCFC did in teaming up ownership with the Yankees is similar. I am convinced that NYCFC benefits greatly by playing at hallowed Yankee Stadium, even if you've got to shoehorn a soccer field into it. I have always thought just the name, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, sheesh, I think that helps! The NAME says first class. The stadium lives up to its first class name. OR you could continue playing in fucking Dick's Sporting Goods Park, capacity 18,000. Your choice, Don Garber.
Excellent article.
https://www.wsbradio.com/news/local/mls-commissioner-wants-become-more-selling-league/VMu26A63BJjHv0nsnUM7BK/
