Scholarship table
I never played football. My kids never played it either. But we all watch it. The idea that you have to participate in a sport to be interested in watching that sport on television isn't really accurate.
This is false. If MLS paid like the EPL or La Liga, but the level of soccer is what it currently is, they wouldn’t attract stars. If you’re a top player, you can get paid anywhere. That’s why before MLS you saw top players go to the Middle East or Asia when they lost a step. China is a bit different, cause they weren’t matching salaries for guys like Oscar, Hulk, and others, they were beating it. But otherwise, most top international talent wants to make the money, but also play against the best. They won’t come to MLS, even for the fat paychecks, until that’s the case...or until they are older like they do now.
Best case scenario is MLS combining with LigaMX.
FWIW, saying soccer isn’t culturally significant and won’t be for the next 20-30 years is pretty asinine.
I'll stick with my opinion on Gold. He'll be in foul trouble within the first eight minutes.
My understanding is that the merger with Liga MX would bring in a pro/rel concept between two leagues.
FWIW there are reports that 34 year old David Silva, 33 year old Edinson Cavani, and 35 year old Thiago Silva have all turned down what I can only assume were massive contract offers from David Beckam's Inter Miami. This does not support the narrative that stars will always follow the money.
If you're a club owner who just spent $200 million to get an MLS franchise, why would you agree to this?
No. Stars will follow the money. Thinking that players would reject more money from the MLS because the level of competition is lower flies in the face of sports history (see: AFL, USFL, WHA, etc.). Star players have always followed the money, not the other players. Joe Namath didn't go to the AFL because it was the better league. And certainly not the schedule, not the alignment of transfer windows and not when breaks occur. If the MLS could consistently offer comparable money to the other leagues across the board - not just to a handful of DPs - it would get comparable talent. You really think, all things being equal, many young star athletes would rather live in Dortmund or Liverpool or Naples than LA, New York, Miami or Chicago?
Nobody said this.That said, I'm old enough to remember soccer being hailed as the sport of the future in the U.S. back in the 1970s. The only thing asinine here is a suggestion that some team in the Premiere League or Bundesliga would draw a similar following to the local NFL team.
The MLS has 25 players that make more than $2MM a season, which higher than the average salary for every Bundesliga team not named BVB, Bayern, Leverkusen, Leipzig, or Wolfsburg, aka the Champions League contending teams. Higher than the average salary for every team in Ligue 1 outside of PSG, Monaco, Lyon, and Marseille. Same for Spain outside of the top 4-5 as well.The MLS average is not there, no, but the top salaries, which would be needed to snatch players from top 4 Euro leagues (even if they are not Liverpool or BVB caliber) are sufficient if it was just about the money. and MLS has been very clear that they will fund whatever if the player will come. But the quality of play is nowhere near enough. You move to MLS in your prime from a European league and you can pretty much kiss your chances of National Team selection goodbye.Guys that are DPs and making 2.5/3/4MM in MLS would never sniff those salaries in Europe cause they’d not get slotted on teams that would pay them that. Hell Josef Martinez has been unstoppable in MLS, and he was rumored for a Newcastle transfer...he would likely have had to take a pay cut unless they were ready to make him their second highest paid player.oFluffy literally said it wouldn’t be culturally significant here in his life time.
The MLS has 25 players that make more than $2MM a season, which is higher than the average salary for every Bundesliga team not named BVB, Bayern, Leverkusen, Leipzig, or Wolfsburg, aka the Champions League contending teams. Higher than the average salary for every team in Ligue 1 outside of PSG, Monaco, Lyon, and Marseille. Same for Spain outside of the top 4-5 as well. The MLS average is not there, no, but the top salaries, which would be needed to snatch players from top 4 Euro leagues (even if they are not Liverpool or BVB caliber) are sufficient if it was just about the money.
Guys that are DPs and making 2.5/3/4MM in MLS would never sniff those salaries in Europe cause they’d not get slotted on teams that would pay them that. Hell Josef Martinez has been unstoppable in MLS, and he was rumored for a Newcastle transfer...he would likely have had to take a pay cut unless they were ready to make him their second highest paid player.
I’m not saying it’s taking over the NFL or NBA but acting like soccer is forever doomed to be a sideshow niche sport in the US cause people were wrong in their projections 40 years ago is incredibly short sighted and ignoring the changing landscape.
The average salary in La Liga is $2.95 million. In the Bundeliga it's $1.98 million. You noting that 25 players in the 26-team MLS make more than $2 million - i.e. less than one player per team - hardly makes the case that MLS top salaries "are sufficient." It''s evidence of the opposite.
Can't speak to Martinez in particular, but as a rule it seems false. Let's look at some recent notable MLS to Europe transfers:Miguel Almiron's base salary at Newcastle is between 1.5 million and 1.8 million pounds with bonuses. So $1.8 to $2.2 million. He was earning $1.9 million in Atlanta. Alphonso Davies is getting $5.5 million a year at Bayern Munich. His salary in Vancouver was $72,500. Tyler Adams is getting $1 million a year in Leipzig. His salary in New York was $103,000. Chris Richards is getting $1.5-$2 million from Bayern. He was getting $123,000 in Dallas.Zak Steffen is getting paid more than $1 million by Man City. He was earning $145,000 in Columbus.
MLS wont be competing for those players. They will be looking to bid for guys in their prime that play on mid table teams. So those top salaries are relevant. If its really "just about the money", they can come play for Inter Miami or LA FC and be the star for $3MM a season, which is more than they'd make in La Liga or the Bundesliga. But they don't. We haven't seen anyone do that. European DPs over the years are coming from places like the English Championship, or Danish Superliga, or the Polish league. The league can't attract middle level top 4 level players for their "stars" much less fill a team. Apples to oranges. You're talking homegrown guys who came out of academies in the MLS as low paid players. Almiron came relatively unproven from the Argentine league.
Thats a misrepresentation. Cause as I highlighted, they are wildly skewed by Barca and Real and Atletico who have average salaries of something like $12MM, 11MM,and 8MM respectively.Same as in the Bundesliga with teams like Bayern and BVB.
Apples to oranges. You're talking homegrown guys who came out of academies in the MLS as low paid players. Almiron came relatively unproven from the Argentine league.
Oh, and those 25 MLS players who earn more than $2 million don't wildly skew things here? There are also wide disparities in MLS team payrolls. Toronto's salary payout for this year is more than $24 million. The LA Galaxy's is above $20 million. Vancouver, Houston and Philly all have payroll under $9 million. Why is that any different?But this is all besides the point. The fact remains the MLS revenues - and therefore salaries - are not "sufficient" to compete for top players, despite what you say. It's ridiculous to suggest otherwise. Forget La Liga and the Bundesliga - MLS salaries don't even compete with the Championship or LigaMX.
Excuse me for mixing sports metaphors, but you're shifting goalposts.
Cause this is the league the MLS wants. “Stars” that are paid exorbitant amounts compared to the vast majority of MLS regulars. Yet again, why are you ignoring that countless guys contribute to EPL/La Liga/Bundesliga teams at below average wages. Let’s say $1MM. And they are superior players, earlier in their careers, than DPs getting $2.5MM deals in MLS. Why don’t they follow they money? They don’t care what the average pay is in the league? MLS doesn’t have the cash to compete salary wise with top leagues, of course not, but they happily over pay for DPs. Unless you mean “stars” only to mean guys like Rooney, Gerrard, Zlatan. Guys who are global names and not players who would be “stars” in the MLS based on relative ability and command the highest paychecks. Then we are talking different parallel paths. MLS overpaying for aging stars or castoffs from top leagues is dumb and financially counterintuitive to building better more complete rosters, but I’ve given up on that changing.With all due respect, I never did. I talked about DPs like Josef Martinez from the start, as it relates to their financial options elsewhere and career paths if not MLS. You brought up the young talent that leveled up. If Weston McKinnie or Josh Sargent comes back to MLS, makes $3MM a year as a DP, then vaults back to a European club on a large wage packet. That’s a different story. MLS right now is a dead end for the players that come in as the high paid DPs at an advanced stage of their career. It’s an awesome opportunity for them that they won’t get many other places and it’s usually why they stay until they retire or go back to their home country and/or lower league for a last hurrah
Wags ... it's not a matter of those $1 million players turning down MLS money, it's that MLS doesn't want those players. An MLS club would rather use their rare seven-figure contracts on bigger names, even if over the hill, than a no-name player in his prime. And no, it's not dumb. The league's survival depends on getting casual fans into the stadiums or watching on TV. An effective no-name player from Fulham or Augsburg isn't going to do that. Zlatan and Wayne Rooney will (and attendance and TV ratings support this).Fluffy was right. As a hardcore soccer fan, you're only seeing this from the perspective of a hardcore soccer fan. While I respect that, you're failing to see things through the eyes of the kind of fan the MLS needs to grow.At this point we're far off the subjects, which was the folly of switching to the Euro calendar, so I'm going to drop it.
You’re fine with the MLS being what it is.
Well, Leeds officially win the Championship. Good for them. Bielsa has done an excellent job there.Over the past 24 hours, WBA and Brentford losses to the bottom half of the table miraculously give Fulham a chance of auto-promotion on the final day. It's a very slim chance but I'll take it!
TBF Brentford played out of their mind since before the pause. 10 straight wins in the championship is extremely impressive. Not a side I would want to face in a playoff.
Although I do bet that back to back losses to close the season when it turns out only 2 points were needed to go up is less than ideal, especially with the second coming against Barnsley. Crazy that Wigan are going down with a positive goal differential, while Luton finished 3 points clear despite being -28
You may be aware but Wigan had a 12 point deduction. That's the only reason they are going down. Conflicting reports on whether or not it could be overturned.