MLS 2016 Season Thread

[varsaku]

I heard that they just banned paper tickets and never told anyone



This is MLS - he'll go to some crappy market to sell tickets and MLS will cover some of his salary cost.

Podolski rumour isn't true but I do think Altidore will be gone by the summer window

I was one of the people with paper tickets, luckily they started allowing people in with paper tickets since there were too many people like me.


I am sure a team like the Rapids would be willing to take in Altidore. They have been trying hard to become relevant again and finally decided to spend money.

I'm astonished that someone in an MLS front office thought Altidore would be worth that kind of salary.

Giovinco on the other hand is worth every penny. Proved it again yesterday.

I think at this point MLS should go after those players who are stuck on the bench in some of the best leagues.

 

[IHaveNoCreativity]

What's Altidore's salary lol ?

 

[Dominator13]

What's Altidore's salary lol ?

4.5 mil a season IIRC.

But he's a USMNT member, so someone will take him guaranteed just for that.

 

[theaub]

$4.75M

Bradley makes $6.5M lmao

 

[IHaveNoCreativity]

Giovinco gets 8M ?

Bradley is a tad overpaid.

I thought Jozy was getting like 6M so, 4.5 isn't as bad but he should be at 2.5-3M.

 

[theaub]

Seba is a bit over $7M and is probably underpaid.

 

[Scandale du Jour]

Seba is a bit over $7M and is probably underpaid.

The guy is the best player in the league, no doubt, but he is not "underpaid" at all. TFC still paid WAY too much for him considering market value. Just like they paid WAY too much for Bradley and Altidore. Their respective performance don't change that fact.

 

[theaub]

Seba is a blank cheque player

Market values in MLS are completely different than anywhere else in the world.

I would rate Gilberto over Altidore. Bradley would be worth the money but Vanney completely misuses him.

 

[Scandale du Jour]

Seba is a blank cheque player

Market values in MLS are completely different than anywhere else in the world.

I would rate Gilberto over Altidore. Bradley would be worth the money but Vanney completely misuses him.

A player that doesn't have a "brand" (Beckham, Messi, Ronaldo, Zidane, you know) can't be considered a "blank cheque" player as he doesn't automatically bring additional revenue. Giovinco was a risk, a HUGE risk, at that price. It "paid" off, but it was still a stupid way of doing business. But, hey, TFC was going to hit a homerun at some point with that number of swings they took.

Bradley is a very good player, but he isn't worth 4,5M a year.

Market values are not "different" in MLS. MLS has to go over market value to get some players. Toronto and Seattle are particularly good at this. Good thing they never win anything.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

Seba absolutely is not a blank check player for the reasons pointed out above.

Altidore would land somewhere if TFC decides to move him. His name has brand value in the US, at least to the casual fan. I'd say it'd make a ton of sense for Colorado to make a move for him, but I think my head would explode if Colorado was not only willing to spend that kind of money, but to do so after spending money on multiple players over the off-season.

Bradley's contract always made me laugh. He's a very good player and deserved a big paycheck far more than Altidore given his actual club play in Europe, but he was never worth that kind of money...especially not to a team based in Canada.

 

[JunglePete]

This is MLS - he'll go to some crappy market to sell tickets and MLS will cover some of his salary cost.

Podolski rumour isn't true but I do think Altidore will be gone by the summer window

Well you're optimistic but no one in MLS will bring in Altidore as a DP for now. Might as well just go to France.

 

[Ugmo]

I thought Jozy was getting like 6M so, 4.5 isn't as bad but he should be at 2.5-3M.

Even 2.5 - 3 million would be way too high for Altidore.

 

[Pouchkine]

The NYCFC field is a complete joke. It's not even close to being big enough under the rules for senior games. That would be like the NFL having an expansion team in downtown LA and since they don't have a real football stadium, having them play on a 80 yards football field...MLS is taking major steps backwards in the past years in too many things. Quality of playing field is one of them with all those dreadful synthetic...

 

[Pouchkine]

TFC are like the New York Rangers of the late 90's early 00's, majorly overpaying for overrated or past their prime players. Bradley is incredibly disappointing and Altidore is AntiScore for real. Dominic Oduro could score 20+ goals a year playing with Giovinco...

 

[Ugmo]

The NYCFC field is a complete joke. It's not even close to being big enough under the rules for senior games. That would be like the NFL having an expansion team in downtown LA and since they don't have a real football stadium, having them play on a 80 yards football field...MLS is taking major steps backwards in the past years in too many things. Quality of playing field is one of them with all those dreadful synthetic...

They're taking major steps backward and absolutely booming. MLS is doing pretty much everything right at the moment.

 

[Pouchkine]

They are missing their chance, you are definitely blind.

 

[Pouchkine]

They have disastrous tv ratings and had many disappointing crowds for opening games. The field in NYCFC is just pathetic, how can they sell themselves as a real genuine top football league with things like that. And most importantly the product-quality of play has taken a major step back with the 20 teams now, imagine if they are dumb enough to add more clubs. 5 years ago I thought that mls was gonna be a real interesting football league now it's just bound to fail because of incompetence of leaders.

 

[1994and2011]

They have disastrous tv ratings and had many disappointing crowds for opening games. The field in NYCFC is just pathetic, how can they sell themselves as a real genuine top football league with things like that. And most importantly the product-quality of play has taken a major step back with the 20 teams now, imagine if they are dumb enough to add more clubs. 5 years ago I thought that mls was gonna be a real interesting football league now it's just bound to fail because of incompetence of leaders.

You are, of course, entitled to your dumb opinions.

 

[chasespace]

They have disastrous tv ratings and had many disappointing crowds for opening games. The field in NYCFC is just pathetic, how can they sell themselves as a real genuine top football league with things like that. And most importantly the product-quality of play has taken a major step back with the 20 teams now, imagine if they are dumb enough to add more clubs. 5 years ago I thought that mls was gonna be a real interesting football league now it's just bound to fail because of incompetence of leaders.

The quality of play has gone up. There's more money in the league which means there's more talent and depth.

 

[theaub]

MLS failed when it valued expansion and cost certainty over building a core group of teams/owners and getting rid of dumb things like the salary cap.

The quality of play has improved mightily over the past 10 years and will continue to do so as the infrastructure and youth coaching improve in the US/Canada, but at this point there is no way that MLS will become the elite world league that it had the potential to become.

 

[Pouchkine]

How has the quality of play and teams improved when the teams constantly get destroyed by Mexican opposition?

It sure is better than in 2000 but certainly not since 2010 when there was 3-4-5 less team

 

[theaub]

Well I'd say that while Liga MX teams are better, the CCL QF is poorly timed, with Mexican teams in the middle of their seasons and MLS teams having barely started theirs (or not started at all). We've seen at least one MLS team in the semis in 4/5 years from 2011 onwards, which while not great is better than before.

There are of course multiple underlying issues as to why MLS will be in very tough to surpass Liga MX in the near future, which would have been rather easy to solve a few years ago but are now increasingly difficult.

 

[Pouchkine]

Excuses Excuses Excuses...The fact is year after year Mls teams are getting destroyed by Mexican opposition. And with too many new teams the quality of play hasn't improved at all since 2010. I watch enough games to know that the playing level is disappointing. Lack of skill, lack of organisation, absolutely comical defending almost every game, referees that are simply put incompetent, not enough real grass field.

The quality of the tv product is also really bad, with plenty of terrible broadcasters and clown analysts. One game recently the analyst didn't even know that there's no offside on a goal kick...

 

[theaub]

Not really sure what you expect out of the TV product considering there's been a real soccer culture (read: non-folding professional league) in the US for like 20 years. Either you deal with the growing pains and try to develop one or just whine and moan and go watch Euro soccer and it never develops at all.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

Not willing to deal with the growing pains? The door is that way. If all you're going to do is come into a thread about a specific league and lay waste to that league...I'd recommend reading up on the rules about trolling, too.

The expansion teams have, largely, greatly aided this league as it's brought in markets that truly care about the sport, rather than just being the largest markets where the sport gets buried. NYCFC is a different story altogether and the stadium situation is a joke, but Yankee Stadium was never supposed to be a long-term solution. The TV coverage stuff...soccer culture is still in its youth in this league and the MLS TV deals are held largely by start-ups that had to staff up from nothing. Obviously ESPN gave us a better TV product, but they also gave us much less of it.