Sporting Kansas City

[bobbyhawks]

The MLS is still trying to figure out where American-style sports models help and where they hurt. While relegation is fun for (some) fans, I think it may be wiser for the MLS to opt against that model. Unless the MLS wishes to eliminate the salary cap and allow for late-90s MLB-style payroll disparities (and for establishment of a very predictable ruling elite ala Man U., Man City, Chelsea, Arsenal, etc.), franchise owners could spend the maximum allowed on players and still fall into relegation due to the very parity that makes many US sports exciting and unpredictable. Attracting the next franchise owner, and attracting the next big name player will be much easier if there is no prospect for relegation.

I think finding the righ mix of American ways to manage the league is important, and I actually think that things despised by some traditionalists can be huge selling points moving forward. The playoffs, the stability of franchises, the salary cap and ability of bad teams to become great, the draft, and our way of signing players to contracts can all be positive distinguishing factors if the MLS isn't trying to duplicate the EPL.

[Unknown JimmyD]

good discussion here guys.

about the salary cap, almost everyone, except maybe robert kraft, agrees that the salary cap needs to go up. the cba expires at the end of this year, i think, so it will be interesting to see how much it goes up considering that new tv deal starts in 2015 as well. regarding the tv deal, yeah, it's a massive increase from the old one, but it's still hardly more than a drop in the bucket in terms of what other top leagues are bringing in.

my concern with raising it so that the minimum salary triples is that the average salary won't go up proportionally. if you raise the salary cap to... say, $5M, most of that is going to be spent on the top 10% of the players on the teams. to get the minimum salary to $100k, you're probably looking at a salary cap of $10M+... and even with the new tv deal, i don't see that as feasible yet. now, of course, that's just me guesstimating, so maybe i'm way off and i'm the one sitting in the corner with a cone on my head.

it's also important to remember how the league is set up. skc is one of the success stories now in the league and helps the bottom line and can probably afford (because sporting parks sells out every game) to have a higher cap. there's many other teams that are on the other end of the spectrum that pull it back down, though. because the league is a single entity, everything is shared in the end. individual teams aren't responsible for their own team's payroll (outside of dp's). for instance, if skc has a player payroll that hits the salary cap, and new england has a payroll that's $1M less than the cap, the new england franchise will still be paying the same amount in player salaries as skc will at the end of the day. all salaries (again, minus dp overages) are divided up equally between all owners in the league. hence, it behooves all the teams to get as close to the cap as possible. technically, when skc signs a new player, that player's contract is with mls, not skc. the players are merely "allocated" to each team. it's all very confusing and quite messy at times.

as for promotion/relegation coming into the league... there's no way. no owner is going to allow for the possibility of such instability that relegation would provide.

[KCMax]

19 this year and 21 next year (Orlando City SC and NYC FC), with Atlanta set to join in 2017 and the Beckham-owned Miami team sometime in the mysterious future around or after that.

24 teams is likely the maximum size for MLS for some time to come; it's also the max you'll see for a top-level soccer league elsewhere (20 or 22 are more common league sizes, however).

Those final two teams, after 22, are going to go for a pretty penny. Once they get to 24, I think they will stay there for a long time and if a city doesn't get one of those final 2, they could be waiting for a long time.

Chivas is a good relocation candidate too.

Who is most actively still trying to get a franchise? St. Louis is. Minneapolis, Phoenix, San Antonio were some other cities I recall active reports on. But there aren't a ton of great markets left.

[kboish]

Heineman did a fan forum the other day. It always impresses me how open and honest they are willing to be. Not only that, but 2-3 of the questions/suggestions he flat out says off hand that they hadn't thought about and are willing to implement.

Its worth the 20 minutes if you want to know what their goals/strategy are for "off the field" items (ie not player acquisition related) over the next year...though he does touch on players for a few minutes at the start.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trzMhLDw_bY

[bobbyhawks]

my concern with raising it so that the minimum salary triples is that the average salary won't go up proportionally. if you raise the salary cap to... say, $5M, most of that is going to be spent on the top 10% of the players on the teams. to get the minimum salary to $100k, you're probably looking at a salary cap of $10M+... and even with the new tv deal, i don't see that as feasible yet. now, of course, that's just me guesstimating, so maybe i'm way off and i'm the one sitting in the corner with a cone on my head.

I think that is only if you eliminate the designated player, but you actually get way more with the cap raises if you keep the DP. If every team maxed out the individual salary levels of the top 20 players on their roster, the highest cap number possible at $387,500/player is only $7.75 million. The two or three designated players can make as much as you want above that to infinity, and it doesn't count against the cap. In reality, there aren't close to that many $387k caliber players in the MLS or immediately available, but you could easily afford a $150k 20 man roster minimum today.

If I were in charge, I'd push the player salary limit to 500k and move the 20 man roster minimum to 100k next season with an expectation to increase over time. Even then, a maxed out team would only have a $10 million cap number (every player @ $500k), though the reality is that no team will pay every player a max salary. Therefore, the cap number would, in this scenario, still be closer to $6.5 million. That would mean an average non-designated player salary, given a team with 3 designated players, of $294k. If you paid 3 designated players $3 million each, then the team average salary would be $700k. Then, we are in territory where poaching good players at earlier ages becomes more feasible.

[TheBigChuckbowski]

Heineman did a fan forum the other day. It always impresses me how open and honest they are willing to be. Not only that, but 2-3 of the questions/suggestions he flat out says off hand that they hadn't thought about and are willing to implement.

Its worth the 20 minutes if you want to know what their goals/strategy are for "off the field" items (ie not player acquisition related) over the next year...though he does touch on players for a few minutes at the start.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trzMhLDw_bY

It's so annoying how they're still not talking about shuttles/busses to different points in the city as an option to relieve parking issues.

[KCMax]

Sunderland and Fulham are reportedly after Besler, ten clubs in all are pursuing him:

Sporting Kansas City have been preparing to lose Besler, with team president Robb Heinemann saying there was a "strong possibility" the defender would be sold to a European club, but they won't let him go on the cheap. Sporting's price for him would set a record price, according to Seltzer, which means about $6 million.

Decision deadline is Monday.

[kboish]

SKC pickup two international midfielders today- Honduran Jorge Claros and Swiss/Filipino- Martin Stueble. Somehow Heinemann did it w/o paying transfer fees?

I don't know much about them, but the response seems to be pretty positive.

http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2 ... -jorge-cla

[kboish]

Also- from Heineman's twitter regarding the chances of us getting Jermaine Jones

there's been tons of Jermaine chatter. we're so far down the allocation order; teams in front of us have interest; likelihood is low.

[AllThingsKC]

What a win! First time in SKC history to have 4 consecutive road wins.

It's nice to beat the Columbus Crew since it means beating the Hunt family. Now, if I can just get the Hunts to sell the Chiefs.

[TheSmokinPun]

What a win! First time in SKC history to have 4 consecutive road wins.

It's nice to beat the Columbus Crew since it means beating the Hunt family. Now, if I can just get the Hunts to sell the Chiefs.

Hunts sold the team to the Precourt family last year. Only own FC Dallas now.

[KCMax]

It seems like a down year, but someone on Twitter pointed out SKC is actually 2 points ahead of where they were at this point in the season last year.

[bobbyhawks]

It seems like a down year, but someone on Twitter pointed out SKC is actually 2 points ahead of where they were at this point in the season last year.

Quite amazing. We had such a bum stretch for a second there, but these road wins have been gigantic. Dom Dwyer has been huge, and to have weathered the storm with Besler and Zusi gone is all we could have hoped for. We'll see what happens as Toronto catches up in games, but I like our chances to stay on top at the moment.

[KCMax]

Matt Besler prefers to stay with Sporting

That same impression has reached Sporting Club CEO Robb Heineman, who said late Thursday, “We’ve always had a strong sense that we want to have Matt back. Now we’re getting a strong sense that he wants to be back.”

Eddie Rock, Besler’s agent, said his client has not dismissed the possibility of playing overseas, though he said discussions with Sporting KC have reached “an advanced stage” as the two sides look to reach an agreement on a new contract....

Besler said Wednesday that English clubs Fulham and Sunderland have shown interest in him.

A report in the Sunderland Echo on Thursday said the English Premier League club is unlikely to make a formal transfer offer.

Sporting KC coach Peter Vermes said last week that the club has not been offered a transfer fee for Besler worth discussing.

[kboish]

SKC retains both Besler and Zusi on long term DP contracts.

http://www.sportingkc.com/news/2014/07/ ... -contracts

[pash]

.

[beautyfromashes]

Have to worry a bit now about Dwyer. He's their best scorer and is going to want a raise soon. But, they've now used all their designations with Zusi and Besler signing.

[Unknown JimmyD]

good stuff all around yesterday. good win, even if we got some help from the ref, and great news in keeping besler and zusi through at least 2018 now. always good to beat the gals.

Have to worry a bit now about Dwyer. He's their best scorer and is going to want a raise soon. But, they've now used all their designations with Zusi and Besler signing.

i anticipate bieler moving on at the end of this year at the latest and by the end of august at the earliest. that'll open up cap space and a dp slot for maybe collin or dwyer next year. assuming collin and dwyer continue to play well this season, i expect european interest to be there as well for those guys come december/january. my bet is that we'll re-sign one of them and lose one to overseas.

really want to give a thumbs up to the ownership group on their willingness to put their money where their mouth is when it comes to building something and keeping hold of it. we're a much smaller market than most other mls clubs, but we've shown that we'll splash the cash when we need/want to.

[bobbyhawks]

The entire DP status could shift next season, though. If they bump the cap, which I think is expected, then they will also likely bump the max salary from 384k. It could be that Besler and/or Zusi fall out of that category, or that you can pay Collin/Dwyer more than the current 384k without having to declare them as a designated player. Dwyer only makes 80k, so there is significant room under even the current max salary to make him happier. Collin, at 275k, could be more difficult to please. SKC can still give him a ~100k raise without making him a DP under today's cap rules. It is still tough to say that certain guys will not want to answer the call of the EPL regardless of the financial incentive. I could see Dwyer being interested just because of his background, but it would be great if Besler/Zusi, along with a number of other great international grabs by the MLS, signaled a watershed moment in leagues attracting the best young talent.

[KCMax]

Dwyer has said his goal is to get back to England.