Comments for Pitch Invasion http://pitchinvasion.net Exploring football culture around the world Tue, 16 Mar 2010 21:22:47 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 Comment on Photo Daily: Bezirksliga Nord, Germany by Beispiel 5 | Squattersfinest: Tests only http://pitchinvasion.net/blog/2010/03/16/photo-daily-bezirksliga-nord-germany/comment-page-1/#comment-21874 Beispiel 5 | Squattersfinest: Tests only Tue, 16 Mar 2010 21:22:47 +0000 http://pitchinvasion.net/?p=8567#comment-21874 [...] Photo Daily: Bezirksliga Nord, Germany | Pitch Invasion [...] [...] Photo Daily: Bezirksliga Nord, Germany | Pitch Invasion [...]

]]> Comment on Photo Daily: Bezirksliga Nord, Germany by Beispiel 6 | Squattersfinest: Tests only http://pitchinvasion.net/blog/2010/03/16/photo-daily-bezirksliga-nord-germany/comment-page-1/#comment-21873 Beispiel 6 | Squattersfinest: Tests only Tue, 16 Mar 2010 21:21:02 +0000 http://pitchinvasion.net/?p=8567#comment-21873 [...] Photo Daily: Bezirksliga Nord, Germany | Pitch Invasion [...] [...] Photo Daily: Bezirksliga Nord, Germany | Pitch Invasion [...]

]]> Comment on The Sweeper: The Brits Takeover ESPN for the World Cup by bahns http://pitchinvasion.net/blog/2010/03/15/the-sweeper-the-brits-takeover-espn-for-the-world-cup/comment-page-1/#comment-21871 bahns Tue, 16 Mar 2010 20:31:51 +0000 http://pitchinvasion.net/?p=8548#comment-21871 Um, well, we must be watching different broadcasts then. Um, well, we must be watching different broadcasts then.

]]> Comment on Fan Ownership: A Practical Future? by The Rundown: Best Links Of The Week | http://pitchinvasion.net/blog/2010/03/14/fan-ownership-a-practical-future/comment-page-1/#comment-21870 The Rundown: Best Links Of The Week | Tue, 16 Mar 2010 20:24:09 +0000 http://pitchinvasion.net/?p=8503#comment-21870 [...] 1. Pitch Invasion: Fan Ownership: A Practical Future? [...] [...] 1. Pitch Invasion: Fan Ownership: A Practical Future? [...]

]]> Comment on The Sweeper: MLS Owners Speak Out On Strike by Dave http://pitchinvasion.net/blog/2010/03/16/the-sweeper-mls-owners-speak-out-on-strike/comment-page-1/#comment-21866 Dave Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:54:21 +0000 http://pitchinvasion.net/?p=8571#comment-21866 Here's the question I have -- what exactly are AEG and the other owners going to do if the players do decide to strike? What's they're leverage? Do they suspend union players from the league without releasing them from their contracts? Do they raid the 2nd division and Central America for replacement players to get union members to break rank? Do they cancel the season, which seems like an awfully stupid thing to do in a World Cup year? Seems like the only thing the owners can do is just sit back and wait for the players to run out of money -- and for most players not named Donovan, that might not take very long. Here’s the question I have — what exactly are AEG and the other owners going to do if the players do decide to strike? What’s they’re leverage? Do they suspend union players from the league without releasing them from their contracts? Do they raid the 2nd division and Central America for replacement players to get union members to break rank? Do they cancel the season, which seems like an awfully stupid thing to do in a World Cup year?

Seems like the only thing the owners can do is just sit back and wait for the players to run out of money — and for most players not named Donovan, that might not take very long.

]]> Comment on MLS Soccer Journalists and the MLS Labour Dispute by kingcrison http://pitchinvasion.net/blog/2010/03/16/mls-soccer-journalists-and-the-mls-labour-dispute/comment-page-1/#comment-21864 kingcrison Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:34:52 +0000 http://pitchinvasion.net/?p=8582#comment-21864 "Yet doesn’t this present a problem when many of the country’s best soccer journalists now work for MLS, just when we need insightful coverage the most?" Why sell yourself so short Tom? much love from the newest son of ricky of the TA. just got my scarf at last weeks charity match. “Yet doesn’t this present a problem when many of the country’s best soccer journalists now work for MLS, just when we need insightful coverage the most?”

Why sell yourself so short Tom?

much love from the newest son of ricky of the TA. just got my scarf at last weeks charity match.

]]> Comment on The Women’s Game in Africa: ‘Zanzibar Soccer Queens’ and Other Tales by Nashville Business Brokers http://pitchinvasion.net/blog/2010/03/15/the-women%e2%80%99s-game-in-africa-%e2%80%98zanzibar-soccer-queens%e2%80%99-and-other-tales/comment-page-1/#comment-21862 Nashville Business Brokers Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:09:25 +0000 http://pitchinvasion.net/?p=8534#comment-21862 Fantastic article...I can remember my mother telling me stories about how she used to play netball growing up :) Fantastic article…I can remember my mother telling me stories about how she used to play netball growing up :)

]]> Comment on The Sweeper: MLS Owners Speak Out On Strike by KT http://pitchinvasion.net/blog/2010/03/16/the-sweeper-mls-owners-speak-out-on-strike/comment-page-1/#comment-21861 KT Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:04:12 +0000 http://pitchinvasion.net/?p=8571#comment-21861 I would say, to steal a line from someone else back in the mists, that AEG considers MLS to be too much of a passion to be a business and too much of a business to be a passion. I would say, to steal a line from someone else back in the mists, that AEG considers MLS to be too much of a passion to be a business and too much of a business to be a passion.

]]> Comment on The Sweeper: MLS Owners Speak Out On Strike by chuck http://pitchinvasion.net/blog/2010/03/16/the-sweeper-mls-owners-speak-out-on-strike/comment-page-1/#comment-21855 chuck Tue, 16 Mar 2010 17:10:56 +0000 http://pitchinvasion.net/?p=8571#comment-21855 This it business. Talk of respect - as if the players must suffer eternally for the sacrifices of the owners - is garbage. MLS was a start-up; what large business owner expects to start up a national venture and make money in the first few years? None. Also, MLS was a start up in a new industry (soccer), in which case the expectaction for profit is pushed even futher down the timeline. The ownners knew what they were getting into and made a business decission. Talk that this whole venture could have folded is stupidly stating the obvious. A payer could just as easily say, "Hey, I could have made twice the money getting a "real" job but I busted by butt and sacrifieced to make this MLS thing work, now I deserve some respect." Both made business decissions, life decissions. Neither's decisions deserves any less or more respect than the others. Besides, all this talk of profitability is smokescreen. Businesses often do not want to be profitable. Businesses are taxed on profit and can write off loss. Often, the closer a business is to breaking even the happier the owners are. And in sports, operating with a loss is a time honored tradition. Fewer than half of NBA teams make a profit (http://www.nba.com/2009/news/07/14/stern.profit.ap/index.html). You don't seem them demanding players work for peanuts and shut up and respect the owners for the sacrifices they have made until the entire venture is profitable, do you? So long as an investment is growing (in popularity, market share, revenue, and value), the investors will stomach loss - and often lots of it. Last I checked potential owners were paying $10m for a chance to get into the club and $30m for a franchise. Red Bull paid $100m. Anschutz sold a 50% ownership stake in the Dynamo a few years back for $45m. Forbes valued the Galaxy a few years back at $100m. Either 1) this is a bubble, or 2) value really is increasing, thus owners will stomach operating loss, thus statements that the players must not demand a greater slice of the pie or a more fair system until the league achieves profitability are disengenuous. This it business. Talk of respect – as if the players must suffer eternally for the sacrifices of the owners – is garbage. MLS was a start-up; what large business owner expects to start up a national venture and make money in the first few years? None. Also, MLS was a start up in a new industry (soccer), in which case the expectaction for profit is pushed even futher down the timeline. The ownners knew what they were getting into and made a business decission. Talk that this whole venture could have folded is stupidly stating the obvious. A payer could just as easily say, “Hey, I could have made twice the money getting a “real” job but I busted by butt and sacrifieced to make this MLS thing work, now I deserve some respect.” Both made business decissions, life decissions. Neither’s decisions deserves any less or more respect than the others.

Besides, all this talk of profitability is smokescreen. Businesses often do not want to be profitable. Businesses are taxed on profit and can write off loss. Often, the closer a business is to breaking even the happier the owners are.

And in sports, operating with a loss is a time honored tradition. Fewer than half of NBA teams make a profit (http://www.nba.com/2009/news/07/14/stern.profit.ap/index.html). You don’t seem them demanding players work for peanuts and shut up and respect the owners for the sacrifices they have made until the entire venture is profitable, do you? So long as an investment is growing (in popularity, market share, revenue, and value), the investors will stomach loss – and often lots of it. Last I checked potential owners were paying $10m for a chance to get into the club and $30m for a franchise. Red Bull paid $100m. Anschutz sold a 50% ownership stake in the Dynamo a few years back for $45m. Forbes valued the Galaxy a few years back at $100m. Either 1) this is a bubble, or 2) value really is increasing, thus owners will stomach operating loss, thus statements that the players must not demand a greater slice of the pie or a more fair system until the league achieves profitability are disengenuous.

]]> Comment on The Sweeper: MLS Owners Speak Out On Strike by Tom Dunmore http://pitchinvasion.net/blog/2010/03/16/the-sweeper-mls-owners-speak-out-on-strike/comment-page-1/#comment-21852 Tom Dunmore Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:38:17 +0000 http://pitchinvasion.net/?p=8571#comment-21852 The WPS mention was an aside, and I actually got some pretty heavy criticism for <a href="http://pitchinvasion.net/blog/2010/01/29/la-sol-folds-good-for-the-future-of-wps/" rel="nofollow">giving AEG's side when the news broke</a>. But the point there (and here) remains that this soccer stuff is a business for AEG, in MLS or WPS. Did AEG show passion for the sport when they moved the Earthquakes to Houston? You could argue it a lot of ways, but the ultimate reason was the bottom line of the decision. Now, AEG are free to do business as MLS allows them, but they can't pretend this is some kind of simple philanthropic venture by Phil Anschutz that the players should cut their demands to "respect". What do you think Leiweke's good points are here? The WPS mention was an aside, and I actually got some pretty heavy criticism for giving AEG’s side when the news broke. But the point there (and here) remains that this soccer stuff is a business for AEG, in MLS or WPS. Did AEG show passion for the sport when they moved the Earthquakes to Houston? You could argue it a lot of ways, but the ultimate reason was the bottom line of the decision. Now, AEG are free to do business as MLS allows them, but they can’t pretend this is some kind of simple philanthropic venture by Phil Anschutz that the players should cut their demands to “respect”.

What do you think Leiweke’s good points are here?

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