Commish: MLS expansion will stop at 20

[BigE]

Commissioner Don Garber in person did an interview with Forbes and announced that Montreal should have the 19th spot. You can check it out, click on the clip of the interview. This interview with Garber took place the day after the All-Star break on July 30.

What was also interesting is that Garber said they are not in any advanced negotiations for the 20th team with anyone. Once they hit 20, they will halt expansion for a while - with a possible cap at 20. And, MLS wants to be at 20 by 2012

http://lingows.appspot.com/content/...money/major-league-soccer-game-plan&width=336

 

[Natty]

I'm ready for the Times Dispatch article that reads "SOCCER IN THE BOTTOM???"

I wonder how well the MLS is doing. I haven't gotten into it as much as I would like...I think if they could keep some of the better American players (Altidore, Davies) and bring in a couple of big named foreigners in the twilight of their careers..the league could really pick up.

 

[BigE]

I'm ready for the Times Dispatch article that reads "SOCCER IN THE BOTTOM???"

I wonder how well the MLS is doing. I haven't gotten into it as much as I would like...I think if they could keep some of the better American players (Altidore, Davies) and bring in a couple of big named foreigners in the twilight of their careers..the league could really pick up.

they will eventually, they cannot afford them right now.
Richmond already have a good USL2 team and could move up with USL1 teams going to the MLS.

 

[unitedram]

I think the MLS should keep going to get up to able 30 teams. This would make the competition much greater. The biggest thing US Soccer should do is figure out a way to build up the United Soccer League. The Kickers for example went to USL-2 due to money constraints. If US Soccer could figure out a way to get more money to USL then we could potentially see relegation brought to the United States and make each and every game more important for every team. Because of relegation, you see how teams can really perform under pressure.

That is my biggest complaint with ALL US sports. If they don't win this year, there's always next year and they will still get paid the millions of dollars. Could you imagine the level of play that the US could see if say the NFL relegated the last 2 teams to a lower division and bring 2 different teams. I guarantee that you would not see teams just play like crap season after season.

The MLS is going well and that should be noted by how many teams are being brought into the league. Hopefully the USL will start to add more teams. Both leagues need to bring up to at least 20 teams and expand their seasons to have a more to around 32-35 games.

And here is where I will stop my rants for now...

 

[BigE]

explain how they are going to do both.
the teams that joining are coming up from the USL1
and you want them to go to 30 when they are not sure if there is a 20th team that qualifies.

 

[BigE]

According to the latest information from the Montreal French press Canoë (http://www2.canoe.com/sports/nouvelles/archives/2009/08/20090804-051700.html), MLS Commissioner and Impact owner Joey Saputo could have a permanent deal by end of August for a Montreal MLS entry in 2011. It is expected that all parties (MLS, the Quebec government and the Montreal Impact) are to have a sit down behind closed doors. On top of the agenda for this meeting is the transfer of $25-million dollars coming directly from the Quebec government to upgrade Saputo Stadium. If a deal is reached, construction will probably go ahead through two stages: Winter of 2010 and Winter of 2011.

 

[DickLawRam]

In this economy, I am not sure how successful expansion will be for this single-entity (ie, not traditional franchise), non- big 4 league if it goes to 30. With the announcement of the shuttering of the AFL today, one has to wonder how much internal damage has been done to MLS from the economic situation. They had issues with the folding of Tampa and Miami early on in their existence, so they need to be mindful that they do not collapse the whole league from too much rapid expansion, even if that means there is 'less competition.' I always thought it was quite arbitrary for US leagues to average 28-32 teams as its optimal business model. 20 is just fine for now and will give the league time to keep reassessing their business model moving forward.

 

[BigE]

MLS boss: No Montreal team in 2011
Friday, August 7, 2009

MLS commissioner Don GarberSPORTSNET.CA

Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber was on hand Friday night to watch Toronto FC and Real Madrid in Toronto, where he confirmed Montreal would not receive an expansion team in 2011.

Reports surfaced this week that Montreal Impact owner Joey Saputo was in discussion with Garber over joining the league as soon as 2011, but Garber was quick to dispel that idea at half-time on Friday night.

"It will not be happening in 2011, it will happen sometime after that, but I would like to see three teams in Canada," Garber told the media. "We are in discussion with Joey Saputo and his family, the next step is to work with them to get public support top expand an renovate that stadium."

Vancouver will become the second Canadian franchise in MLS in 2012 when the Whitecaps and a Portland club join the league


http://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/2009/08/ ... expansion/

 

[DickLawRam]

Not surprised...I just don't think it was a good idea to dilute the product in this economic climate. There might be a way to do it safely in the future, but I think the MLS would do well to hold tight with the franchises they have currently.

 

[BigE]

MTL registers two domain names...

Interesting to note that the 2 following internet domain names were registered on August 11th by LES FROMAGES SAPUTO S.E.N.C./SAPUTO CHEESE G.P. :

http://www.montrealmls2011.com
http://www.montrealmls2012.com

Those domain names match the format currently being used by Portland(portlandmls2011.com) and Vancouver (vancouvermls2011.com).

http://www.24thminute.com/2009/08/montrealmls2011com-recently-registered.html

 

[BigE]

Garber visits Montreal to discuss future expansion

NEW YORK -- Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber visited Montreal Wednesday to meet with Montreal Impact President Joey Saputo and government officials to discuss possible MLS expansion into Canada's second-largest market.

Commissioner Garber, who was joined by MLS President Mark Abbott for the meetings, met with Joey Saputo last night and then traveled this morning with the Impact president to meet with Quebec Minister of Finance Raymond Bachand and Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay.

"We continued our discussions with the Saputo family about a future MLS expansion team in Montreal and had very productive meetings with Minister Bachand about securing funding for the expansion of Saputo Stadium," Garber said following his morning meetings. "We've stated many times that Montreal would be a great market for MLS and we look forward to continuing our discussions."

"We are very happy with the visit of the MLS executives in Montreal," declared Impact President Joey Saputo. "The meetings this morning with Minister Bachand and Mayor Tremblay were very positive. It's clear for us, and now more than ever, that the arrival of MLS in Montreal is only a question of time. We are hoping to have news in the first quarter of 2010."

http://web.mlsnet.com/news/mls_news.jsp?ymd=20091209&content_id=7781752&vkey=pr_mls&fext=.jsp