Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Money MLS Could Use

The Associated Press is reporting that Cleveland Browns owner Randy Lerner is interested in purchasing EPL club Aston Villa for its asking price of over $105 million (U.S.).

The 44-year old Lerner is another in a long line of current or former NFL owners that has invested in soccer. Unfortunately, not since Lamar Hunt and Robert Kraft has that money been invested in American soccer. The brass of MLS should be embarrassed that they are unable (or unwilling) to court owners of other sports franchises to invest in the vision of soccer in this country. Clearly, while the single-entity structure (controlling all player contracts and allocating players) has initially been good for stability in the league, some modification must be made for the league to grow.

My feeling is that Red Bull NY will eventually shatter the glass ceiling but unfortunately, in this case, it will be $100 million dollars too late.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why should he or anyone else invest in MLS. Almost no way exists to make money on an MLS franchise and with plenty of European clubs for sale, that is a much better investment. MLS is a joke and anybody worth their salt as an investor would stay far away.

Kartik said...

Saw the Lerner thing last night. He has some serious competition from some Brits to purchase Aston Villa. The fact that American sports owners are interested in second tier EPL clubs means that MLS has some potential franchise owners/investors if they can make the league itself more attractive.

Malcom Glazer from what I have been told (but cannot confirm) was approached about the Tampa Bay MLS Franchise which has since been contracted, largely because of Glazer's indifference to the league.....but Glazer did not like the single entity struture.

I agree that single entity was a must to get this league on solid footing and to also avoid the pitfalls that come with dominant teams as well as weak sisters. Now is the time however to tweak the system to ensure soccer realizes its potential in this nation.

USA2010 said...

Lerner is not going to "make any money" with Aston Villa. If they were such a big money-maker the current majority owner wouldn't be so quick to sell. The fact is, no owner in any professional league in the world made his fortune owning a franchise. They all made their fortune in industry and own teams as a hobby (and to transfer the losses of their club onto the books of their real business).

Hernandez said...

everyone on this site is down on mls. i am not. i know that mls suffers from media bias in europe much like the other leagues of the americas, but mls sides can beat european sides. just a few months ago the german champs were defeated by new york and several other european sides have lost to mls. this week columbus the worst team in mls takes on everton. we will see what happens.

Anonymous said...

Chances are his offer will not be approved.

Kartik said...

Rafael, I'm not sure MLS has ever spoken to him.

Anonymous said...

Here are some links that I believe will be interested

Anonymous said...

Here are some links that I believe will be interested

Anonymous said...

Hmm I love the idea behind this website, very unique.
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