Stadium Discussion

We know by now that the team won’t lead the league in any category of spending. Training center, (lack of) USL, DPs. We don’t have to guess about this.

So some of @Jon’s suggestions strike me as pretty much fantasy.

We should count ourselves lucky if we get a stadium at all! Never mind the bells and whistles. Potentially achievable amenities may include: (1) good, accessible location (Lord willing); (2) roof like LAFC’s to keep out the heat and the rain but let light in; (3) safe standing in the SS; (4) stands close to the pitch and on a steep angle; (5) don’t fuck up the tv camera like DC; and hopefully (6) wide concourse that won’t get jammed at the half and whatever counts as a decent stadium bathroom.

Cheap concessions and better ticketing/resale tech would be amazing. If I were king (/sheik) I’d prioritize that sort of thing on the theory that a packed house is its own reward, in addition to creating a virtuous circle of drawing in fans and reinforcing fandom. But I highly doubt we depart so totally from our set, antiquated strategy of high price points, low amenities, general stinginess, and taking the hit on atmosphere and goodwill. It’s “good enough,” right?

(And I say this being very happy with Dome and, in general, our sporting side.)
We may never LEAD the league in such things, but aren't we always one of the highest spenders regardless?
 
We know by now that the team won’t lead the league in any category of spending. Training center, (lack of) USL, DPs. We don’t have to guess about this.
Just want to clarify two things on this:
  • USL - its not as simple as just buying a team and putting them in USL. There is much fair criticism IMO in our USL partnerships and the lack of having our guys get minutes there (and part of that IMO is the lack of older players in our academies that can play at USL squads)
  • DPs - Without looking at the data, I would guess that this is the first year we are probably outside the top 5 in terms of spending on DPs. 2015 and 2016 we were tops. Yes, I know that wasn't the best use of money, and other DPs would have been more useful. But we did spend.
 
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Just want to clarify two things on this:
  • USL - its not as simple as just buying a team and putting them in USL. There is much fair criticism IMO in our USL partnerships and the lack of having our guys get minutes there (and part of that IMO is the lack of older players in our academies that can play at USL squads)
  • DPs - Without looking at the data, I would guess that this is the first year we are probably outside the top 5 in terms of spending on DPs. 2015 and 2016 we were tops. Yes, I know that wasn't the best use of money, and other DPs would have been more useful. But we did spend.
I’d chalk our 2015/16 DP spending purely and solely to the Marketing budget, not sporting budget. Lampard and Pirlo were high priced butt-in-seat-getters. To a certain extent, Villa was too since the first player signed HAD to be a giant name, we’ve just been absolutely blessed he’s held out as a top player in the league for all three seasons and he gives a damn. Since L&P, we’ve seen the team slide with their spending. If they don’t match what they spent on Villa with his replacement, we’ll definitely have our answer.
 
I’d chalk our 2015/16 DP spending purely and solely to the Marketing budget, not sporting budget. Lampard and Pirlo were high priced butt-in-seat-getters. To a certain extent, Villa was too since the first player signed HAD to be a giant name, we’ve just been absolutely blessed he’s held out as a top player in the league for all three seasons and he gives a damn. Since L&P, we’ve seen the team slide with their spending. If they don’t match what they spent on Villa with his replacement, we’ll definitely have our answer.
That's fine. But it's still DP spending.

And the jury is still way out on Medina, and even though I think he can turn into a nice player, I'm not certain I see him turning into a top player.

That said, I will gladly take us spending only $2m on a DP, if we get Maxi-like production that we are seeing this year.
 
That's fine. But it's still DP spending.

And the jury is still way out on Medina, and even though I think he can turn into a nice player, I'm not certain I see him turning into a top player.

That said, I will gladly take us spending only $2m on a DP, if we get Maxi-like production that we are seeing this year.

The problem isn't unwillingness to spend money on a big name European DP, it's finding a big name European DP that's willing to take a pay cut, come to MLS, and is still young enough to contribute.
 
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That's fine. But it's still DP spending.

And the jury is still way out on Medina, and even though I think he can turn into a nice player, I'm not certain I see him turning into a top player.

That said, I will gladly take us spending only $2m on a DP, if we get Maxi-like production that we are seeing this year.

The problem isn't unwillingness to spend money on a big name European DP, it's finding a big name European DP that's willing to take a pay cut, come to MLS, and is still young enough to contribute.
 
The problem isn't unwillingness to spend money on a big name European DP, it's finding a big name European DP that's willing to take a pay cut, come to MLS, and is still young enough to contribute.
Ok, though I’m not sure how that relates to my post
 
The problem isn't unwillingness to spend money on a big name European DP, it's finding a big name European DP that's willing to take a pay cut, come to MLS, and is still young enough to contribute.
Giovinco made more money here than he did in Europe and, amazingly, at one point while with Toronto was the highest paid Italian player in the world.

Don't confuse transfer fees with salaries. N'golo Kante would be the 6th highest paid player in MLS, about equal with Villa. Anyone who makes less than 150k pounds per week makes less than Giovinco.
 
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Giovinco makes 4x now what he made back for Juventus
Exactly. While not every star will come for the money, enough money will entice a lot of very very good players, even those in their prime. CFG has to be willing to open their purse strings for the three players on the squad that can be paid better than what they’d make in Europe.
 
If you took Villa out of the equation, where does our roster investment fall in MLS? Inclusive of transfer fees paid this season.

I ask because Villa’s salary rolls off and there is an argument that was a one time thing.
 
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That's fine. But it's still DP spending.

And the jury is still way out on Medina, and even though I think he can turn into a nice player, I'm not certain I see him turning into a top player.

That said, I will gladly take us spending only $2m on a DP, if we get Maxi-like production that we are seeing this year.

Exactly -- I could care less how much we spend on the DP as long as we're getting a good player. If we're getting a Moralez, I'm happy with the DP. If we're getting a Medina, the jury's out. Listen, I think our roster management has been really good the last two years or so. The signings we've made have almost universally been outstanding. So at this point I trust our front office to put the best team on the field.
 
If you took Villa out of the equation, where does our roster investment fall in MLS? Inclusive of transfer fees paid this season.

I ask because Villa’s salary rolls off and there is an argument that was a one time thing.
If you take Villa out, it's only fair to take every other team's top earner out of your going to make comparisons.
 
Giovinco made more money here than he did in Europe and, amazingly, at one point while with Toronto was the highest paid Italian player in the world.

Don't confuse transfer fees with salaries. N'golo Kante would be the 6th highest paid player in MLS, about equal with Villa. Anyone who makes less than 150k pounds per week makes less than Giovinco.

Giovinco's salary is higher than the average at all but three clubs in the world, and an average player at any club on this list would burn MLS to the ground. Whichever team is the first to move past buying players to sell them on or to fill seats and starts buying players to win games will have so much European depth to recruit from any time a contract runs up.

wQPOEOV.png
 
Giovinco's salary is higher than the average at all but three clubs in the world, and an average player at any club on this list would burn MLS to the ground. Whichever team is the first to move past buying players to sell them on or to fill seats and starts buying players to win games will have so much European depth to recruit from any time a contract runs up.

wQPOEOV.png
United finally finishing above City in something wow.
 
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If Villa leaves, y'all really underestimate how needed a big name will be, especially with season ticket numbers decreasing hard. I fully expect them to add a "name" versus a younger talent.
 
If Villa leaves, y'all really underestimate how needed a big name will be, especially with season ticket numbers decreasing hard. I fully expect them to add a "name" versus a younger talent.
Yep, they’d be doing it for marketing purposes more than sporting. I’m gonna be really curious to see what kind of loss the club takes on STH this year, and without a marquee name, it’ll be worse.