MLS Starter

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you know by now that Manchester City of the EPL and the New York Yankees of MLS have partnered up to be the 20th franchise in MLS.
I’m not going to link to any of the gazillion stories that have flooded the soccersphere, just do a search and you’ll find all you want to know, and more.
I will, however, give you my two cents on this announcement. It’s good. Having grown up in the New York metro area, I can say that the Red Bulls are a New Jersey team. Period.
Money is the driving force in a league that still has too many teams that struggle to achieve financial stability. Television is the cash cow that the league has yet to milk and another team in the #1 media market with owners of deep pockets is the smart way to go. I have written several articles over the years about the need for MLS to tap national TV revenues more deeply in order to achieve the level they aspire to and this is the best way to try and gain appreciable levels of TV rights fees increases when all of the contracts expire in 2014.
That’s it from me. Writers like Grant Wahl, Steve Davis, Drew Epperly and others have written some good pieces on the expansion. I’d advise you to peruse them if you want more opinions. And for a good laugh, read the comments or the twitter stream of #MLS for the usual moronic postings from the ignorant mob.

MLS

Read the rest of this entry »