Quote:
Originally Posted by blueandgoldguy
(Post 8631091)
TFC loses tonnes of money. Approximately $10 million last year. And tens of millions the previous years before that.
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They also operate with one of the highest payrolls in MLS at $22M/season. Compare that to Montreal's $12M or Vancouver's $9M. They also just spent $13M on Pozuelo. I think they'll be ok. :hmmm:
Quote:
Originally Posted by blueandgoldguy
(Post 8631091)
Montreal lost $11 million last year and if the owner doesn't receive subsidies from the city to improve his facility, which is one of the worst in MLS, the team is likely living on borrowed time. Their losses are likely to be worse for 2019 as attendance is down nearly 3,000 per game this year...all this after the owner complained about lack of corporate and season ticket sales which he had hoped to improve this year.
Vancouver loses several million per year. Their gate revenue is likely to drop significantly this year as attendance is already down approx. 1000 per game from last year and will become worse as the season progresses; the team is terrible. Selling off Davies mitigates those annual losses but likely only for next 4-5 years. The issue with the Whitecaps is BC Place for which their revenue streams are extremely limited. They are at or near the bottom of the league for revenues. With all the recent additions of new MLS stadiums now and in the near future, the gap between rich and poor has become significantly bigger.
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The difference between MLS and CFL finances is that MLS teams are plugged into the single entity model via Soccer United Marketing - as long as SUM continues to operate and provide direct business back into soccer and MLS then the teams individually can continue losing money. Think of it like a big boat that all MLS franchise exist on. Team values are speculative, of course, but if groups are willing to spend $200M+ to join the club then the Canadian MLS teams can continue losing a couple million/year on speculation alone. Again, we can also get into issues regarding teams intentionally losing money for the sake of taxes, spending money on infrastructure, and the murky modeling of MLS' finances on the best of days.
I've had previous posts on this topic outlining things like MLS team assets, training facility development, and etc. The Canadian MLS teams are more-or-less fine for the immediate future, regardless of how much Saputo moans about taxes or land deals. ;)
The main difference is that the Canadian MLS teams are more financially stable than the CFL counterparts that they share markets with on the sole basis that their sponsorship and corporate backing is stronger. That's before we get into things like gate receipts, attendances, and,
gasp, TV viewing figures.
Quote:
Originally Posted by blueandgoldguy
(Post 8631091)
Rapid expansion will not abet with 3 new teams set to join in the next 2 years, the likelihood of another 2 the following 2 years and upwards of 32 teams in 5 years. All to establish a footprint in the US with the hopes of receiving a huge tv contract. As I said before, the ratings gains are modest so don't expect that to happen and when the expansion money dries up, team valuations are likely to stabilize and possibly even decline.
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A new TV deal will almost certainly be a big step up over the current $720M deal. The current deal ends in 2022 with the World Cup taking place in North America in 2026, so one building off the other will be easy enough. Given the growth in the NBA and MLB contracts it's easy to assume MLS will see a similar increase in their deal. They're encouraging their teams to sign short-term local TV deals so they can package national and local rights together in 2022 (what this means for the Canadian teams, however, remains to be seen).
Quote:
Originally Posted by blueandgoldguy
(Post 8631091)
Back to Vancouver and Montreal, in the event they are not able to resolve their issues in the medium term, I could see one or both eventually move to a mid-sized American city. Many are in the planning stages for swanky 18 - 20,000 seat stadiums for which the teams would have complete revenue control. This might be an attractive alternative for the Canadian owners should push come to shove.
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There's no reason why Canadian MLS teams should relocate when owners groups in the US are willing to pay for expansion teams. It's also looking likely at this point that MLS will blow past 32 teams and simply continue expanding until 36 or so. After Miami, Nashville, and Austin there's Sacramento, St. Louis, Las Vegas, and Charlotte. Adding in the perpetual Detroit rumours gets the league to 32 fairly easily. I really don't think any of the Canadian MLS teams are at risk of relocation, especially after the amount of effort we saw put into Columbus to keep the Crew in that city.
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