MLS commissioner Don Garber appeared at the Sports Business Journal/Sports Business Daily Sports Facilities and Franchises Ticketing Symposium in New Jersey to talk all things MLS. You can read more of his answers to questions about the league here, but below are a couple of his responses to questions about MLS:
On where the league is looking to expand:
"We are focused on New York. It’s a big market. The Cosmos have a great legacy and they have a great soccer history that so far the Red Bulls have not been able to tap into. … The challenge for [the Cosmos] is to build a stadium, and as we all know New York City is not the easiest place to build. And we’ve put a high price on the 20th team. In 2007 we were asking around $7 million, and last year [teams] sold for $40 million. This could be in the $75 to $100 million [range]."
On Livestrong Sporting Park:
"It is a beautiful facility, one of our best. Think of a Midwest version of Red Bull Arena. The ownership is great, they are young, technical-minded guys. They think differently. I think Livestrong was an innovative deal, and with the brand’s recognition in the cancer fight, I think they can do well with that. Clearly they will have something to manage if something does happen with Lance Armstrong. We are hopeful they won’t have to."
A video interview with Garber answering more questions is after the jump:
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What do you think about Garber's comments?
Share your thoughts below.
Gotta chime in for the Southeast. There is a HUGE gap on the MLS map. Please forget Florida, though…will not capture the loyalty of Southeastern fans as a whole and brutal summers will hurt attendance. Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville, Memphis, Birmingham…maybe even Richmond or Louisville. Think of how the Atlanta Braves have the entire SE as a fan base.
Amen to Vegas before a 2nd New York.
Beckham’s agreement prevents him from ownership in NY and LA
note to the out of towners. I find most people in the Metro area call them The Red Bulls. Just like BIG Blue was call the Football Giants, now the NY FootBall Giants.
Going to RED Bull game people are nip-picking I’ve been to the stadium for the opener, Brooklyn, Not far from East River crossing. Easy getting in and out, Concession sucks (sloooooow).
Honestly you folks must know The Red Bulls does not heavily market team in NYC. You’ll see a poster here or there. They needed to claim NYC, Giants Stadium didn’t help.
Attendance has not been bad & I expect it will stay in the 20’s for the rest of teh yr.
Red Bulls is honestly a New Jersey team, New York is for marketing. I think teh plans long ago was for a second team or Red Bulls would have been more aggresive marketing in NYC.
Cosmos great idea. A Stadium next to Citi field will not succeed. The need to be In LIC, Astoria, or Sunny-side. These area have the Manhattan skyline. Flushing stadium bigg mistake.
Did anybody question him about the awful scheduling? MLS has to be the worst of the sports leagues in the US.
There is only 1 as it stands…
San Francisco would be better than Oakland
+1
most are established as Galaxy fans anyway
+1
+1
Cosmos will only cannabalize RBNY…The marquee team in MLS. Miami makes more sense.
yeah, move the quakes to the san fernando valley or riverside.
You don’t know NY. NY needs another rivalry. There are tons of soccer fans. The problem is many of them have chosen to support the premiership. Adding another NYC team along with Philly would simply expand the fan base and not hurt and probably help the NY Red Bulls. Another problem is the lack of media coverage, I believe this would at least get some regular coverage. MLS also NEEDS NYC to succeed. If the TV ratings can increase and you can best get that by increasing NYC, that means more money for the league, higher salaries, better retention of our young talent and more talent to the league, etc..and then higher TV ratings, etc..
Third team in LA, come on, might as well!
You obviously have not been paying attention lately, have you?
The number is correct. Keep in mind the game was on an early Saturday morning, not prime time. If you can get over 500k to watch a game that starts at 6am on the west coast, thats saying something.
Middle eastern owners would turn MLS upside down, as they could pay for any player they wanted pretty much(salary cap a factor though) and still afford to build a team an expensive stadium.
but then tell him that those NY Cosmos can then play Guyana in Concacaf CL and before 9k in San Jose and Dallas, and lets see how he reacts. Besides, there’s no way new Cosmos could sign the names necessary to keep them from being a joke. BTW, anything but the best in the world would make new cosmos a joke. If MLS gets invited to Copa libertadores, then I’d say yeah the venue is there whereby the world would watch. NY Cosmos vs. Chivas USA? No, no one would watch
you do realize that Bay area has 8 mil people and that many many internationally-minded people in San Fran & Oakland (which includes Mexicans, overeducated progressive types, and Euros) are way more prone to not have a car. The A’s, the Raiders, the 49ers, the Giants, and the Warriors all rely on those mass-transit fans. Why not the Quakes? There is currently no train service to nighttime Quakes games (service end prior to 9pm). Why limit yourself by building in the middle of nowhere? Quakes probably do away w/40% of possible fans. Just tell me that no one takes the subway to A’s games.
What is livestrong, is that just Lance Armstrong’s charity?
Buh-zing!
Agree, while it would be interesting to see, who the hell is going to pay $75-100M for that right now (or anytime soon)?
The Wilpons have much bigger fish to fry now and would be wreckless to pull them in at this point. I don’t know where #20 should go… but I don’t see anybody biting on that price.
Is there a reason why the Cosmos group can’t land a rich Dubai group or an Arab prince or something as an investor? You’d think that the prestige own bringing back to life the Cosmos and owning a soccer team in NYC would be as enticing as owning an EPL team (well ok, maybe not as prestigious but at least they wouldn’t have to spend $300m on players every summer window…
You bring the Saudi Prince in and explain to him that for $75m expansion fee + $300m stadium building cost & land + $35m in salaries per year (lets 3 DPs at $6m each + the fee to acquire them + $5m on the rest of your roster) he could own a team for which Pele use to play, the Cosmos brand, yaddi yaddi yadda.
So that’s $410m + $35m a year in salaries, etc.
Looking at the price of gas, not that expensive for a Saudi Prince…
The only team that Oakland supports well is the Warriors. The A’s and Raiders are 2nd to last and dead last in attendance in their respective leagues. And like Tony said San Jose is the 10th largest city in the US. Plus Oakland doesn’t really strike me as a soccer loving crowd and who would own the team? Al Davis? LOL. Oakland A’s owner, Lew Wolff is the the owner of the Earthquakes.
Anyway two teams in the Bay Area would be completely stupid when Earthquakes can’t even sell out their tiny stadium. I mean no disrespect to Earthquakes fans because most of the fans that do go the games at Buck Shaw are a passionate die hards. I’m a Galaxy fan (originally from Sacramento) and I just feel like the front office must not do a good job of marketing the team because a good deal of friends from the South Bay have no idea that they even have a team. Hopefully things get better for them when they open their new stadium at the old FMC plant near the airport. I’m hoping to catch a Galaxy/Earthquakes game there with my cousin with is a ‘Quakes fan.
Yeah, he’s said it in multiple interviews. The league will stop at 20 and stay at 20 teams for a few years before adding more. He’s mentioned up to 24 due to the size of the country.
My money is on Atlanta or Orlando (the dark horse) on getting the next team.
Nobody said NY is a small city and that makes the fact that they can’t sell out a brand new stadium regularly even more disturbing. If a NY fan can travel to NJ for NFL, they can travel there for MLS. No excuses. It’s not like NJ is far from NY, the Home Depot Center is almost twice the distance from the center of LA.
Hahaha pro/rel is a joke. It will never work here and should not even be discussed. Start in state minor league teams like the NBA. The day MLS either switches shedules or adopts pro/rel is the today I’ll give up. They are already getting on my nerves with the all adidas nike is so much better
I live in Brooklyn and I’m a 3rd generation New Yorker, but I don’t think the Cosmos should be resurrected. That was fine for the 1970’s and anyways, when they were in their heyday, they played in NJ.
Plus, if the stadium is not going to be in Queens, near a train, there is absolutely no point. There’s never going to be a Manhattan stadium, so really, in the long shot of long shots, an NYC team is not going to happen. And if the Wilpon’s are involved? FORGET IT! They’ve run the Mets into the ground, what makes them a good fit for soccer ownership?
and lol at everybody talking about which cities deserve to have an MLS franchise and promotion/relegation….keep living in fantasy land yall…maybe youll get that unicorn to ride off into the sunset….if there isnt an ownership group willing to spend…therell be no team…period…its not about fair or unfair
im a born and bred NYer…lived here my whole life…would LOVE to have a team come to NYC proper…but i dont see how the financials work out to bring a team to the 5 boros of NYC short of a billionaire sugar daddy doing it as a vanity project…why? because the real estate and construction costs would be way too expensive for a soccer team (considering the current and foreseeable interest in soccer in this country) to ever see a return in that investment…
second of all…owning a soccer team in this current climate only makes sense if you own the real estate so that you can control all the revenues the building takes in…so getting the municipality to chip in construction costs in exchange for owning the real estate in a non working model…and besides in these economic times that aint happening anyway…so i dont see how this works with a corporate structure such as the cosmos…it would take a wealthy soccer loving person who doesnt mind losing money on the deal
Yeah your plan blows
F*ck FIFA
ha!
Cap MLS at 20 and then start MLS 2 as a second tier league completely controlled by MLS. That way we can expand into new markets and flirt with relegation. Not only that but the Open Cup and reserve league would get better and we would be able to loan players as well.
Teams are city-based. The Red Bulls are a NYC team, just as the Giants, Jets, and the old Cosmos were. A 20 minute subway ride doesn’t take you to a new metro area.
It’s hard for some to understand the ‘NY’ also refers to the city.
The support for the one team NY does have is inconsistent, what makes Garber think two would be better? Cosmos are just a name and a bunch of guys in suits. If he’s using them for leverage, okay. But I see no reason why MLS has to rush into the 20th team.
That is where the league is headed — though it’s iffy as to whether the 24th side would be a 4th Canadian team, or a 21st American team.
Everything you’ve heard is wrong. What Sergio Hernandez wrote is what Garber has said consistently.
Depends on how much MLS wants to corner the baby food market.
I think that’s why Garber mentioned that absurd figure AEG wants its money back from Beckham.
I recall Florida’s MLS teams not doing so well.
Methinks Vegas needs a team first. Plenty of locals with nothing in sports after UNLV’s basketball season, and plenty of tourists who may be looking for something kid friendly.
Wow. Promotion/relegation. I wonder why no one has ever brought that up before for US soccer.