Only just removed from the era where players like Claudio Reyna and DaMarcus Beasley were in the first team, Manchester's second club is now set to simply spend more than everybody else.
By J Hutcherson
WASHINGTON, DC (Sept 2, 2008) USSoccerPlayers -- With Manchester City currently on track to make Real Madrid's Galactico era look like an exercise in fiscal prudence, the working definition for super club is about to get tweaked.
If the early hours press statements prove accurate, European soccer has what it didn't really need. An ownership willing to spend whatever on a world all-star team in a league with no cap, no luxury tax, and before any tinkering on required domestic players.
It's a true free market with no financial controls past the transfer windows and other teams' willingness to sell. In other words, Major League Soccer's worst nightmare.
MLS remains a club only willing to sell. They've established that holding onto players is an option, but if the price is right and the window is open, they'll take the season hit of moving talent. What they won't do is pay equivalent transfer fees to bring talent into the League.
At the same time, at least a handful of MLS clubs market themselves as something more than the League where they play. Los Angeles considers itself super, and other clubs have pushed the idea that they're more than just the local outpost in a single-entity system. When was the last time you heard anybody stress "investor/operator" over "owner"?
LA remains the recent example, with the Galaxy announcing earlier today that they'll be taking their show on the road once again. Yep, it's another tour of Oceania with our heroes taking on an All-Stars Invitational Team at Auckland's Mt Smart Stadium on December 6th.
Though it's not the kind of thing that would likely end up in an official press release, we already know the why. The New Zealand Herald puts the Galaxy's appearance fee at $1.2 million dollars.
A quick lesson in media management already tells us that if they're a buck off in either direction then we've got plausible deniability. The point still holds. At least one MLS club is set to re-create the model exploited in the United States by turning into an off-season travel club, and they've found a place willing to spend.
Schedule a few more of those and LA could meet their League-leading payroll of $7,975,916.58 without playing a competitive game.
Considering what happened with the SuperLiga and the controversy surrounding that supposed million dollar game, it's interesting that any MLS team is allowed to throw one-off friendly parties that pay eight times what the win bonus is for MLS Cup.
After all, that raises questions that Major League Soccer has no intention of ever answering. There's a difference between a competitive league and a promotional exercise.
MLS currently spends considerable effort booking any and all games in and around the League schedule. It's the same "take advantage" mentality they use with the transfer system. The League schedule will not be interrupted for the international calendar, but teams and players should expect to be inconvenienced for the sake of the League's own tournaments and friendlies.
Feel free to enjoy the promotional irrelevance of being listed as "presenting" when they put bigger teams in your city, if not your soccer-specific stadium.
It's not a question as to whether or not this pays the bills. Instead, it's what bills they're actually paying. MLS doesn't spend enough on payroll, coaching, and scouting. They certainly don't spend on transfer fees.
The top of world soccer is now openly returning to their established model. The one that gives the acolytes of single-entity nightmares and was in place for the decades leading up to the sports as business era.
Simply put, the easiest way to lose a chunk of millionaire and billionaire money is to buy into professional soccer. Spend for pride, ego, or community, but expect to spend past revenue. When your benefactor runs out of enthusiasm, find another.
The result is sports not as business, not even close. The impact is that those willing to pay to play don't care. There's a bigger point to prove, and it's one that will leave a League as an exercise in financial management far behind.
