Saturday, October 18, 2008

Barcelona’s bid for Miami MLS franchise

MLS announced that Brightstar Corp. CEO Marcelo Cuare , Barcelona FC President Joan Laporta and a number of the Miami-Dade public officials made a formal bid to be granted an MLS franchise as soon as 2010.

But this only put Barcelona into a very crowded playing field.

Simultaneously, MLS has announced that no fewer than seven formal bids were being launched by the perspective ownership groups in Montreal, Ottawa, St. Louis, Atlanta, Portland, Vancouver to go along with Miami’s.


Additionally, informal discussions have been held with other possible suitors in New York (headed by a New York Mets (baseball) proprietor Fred Wilpon and in Las Vegas (multiple investors).

Already, MLS has committed to adding a team in 2009 (Seattle Sounders) and in 2010 (Philadelphia) to take its guaranteed count up from the current fourteen to sixteen.

This is a remarkable turnaround for the league that as recently as few years ago could only scrape up four owners, with the largest of them, Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG ), having a controlling authority over five of the ten existing franchises . AEG’s deep pockets were necessary when the league, without a paying TV deal and weak in-game attendances , was hemorrhaging money and the overall prospects of an organized professional soccer league in the United States appeared rather bleak.

There are several reasons for this turnaround but the most tangible seems to be “OPM”, (Other People’s Money).

Simply put, following the similar success of the professional American football, baseball and basketball leagues, MLS has made a concerted effort to persuade local municipalities into financing what it began to call “Soccer Specific Stadiums” - though, in practice, these smaller than the gigantic NFL stadiums venues are multi-purpose - in order to eliminate a major portion of the costs that were weighing it down.

One must have chutzpah to demand such favors from the tax supported authorities but, during the recently concluded economic boom, the US economy was strong and the local politicians were acting in a carefree manner with the taxpayers money. As the result of such policies, many of these municipalities are facing a severe cash flow and credit problems in the post-bubble environment. It’s highly doubtful however that MLS owners and operators are feeling much remorse for fleecing the taxpayers, especially because the stadiums proved to be a virtual panacea for the league that frequently still struggles to deliver a top quality product.

With $6-$8M in rental costs (organizations running the large NFL stadiums often charged upwards of $200,000 for one match’s rent) wiped off its profit&loss statements, the league has become profitable.

In early September, a well-respected financial magazine Forbes published an article on the values of the various MLS franchises. It estimated that the highest totals belonged to the LA Galaxy. David Beckham’s home team was alleged to be worth $100 million dollars, with its annual revenues running at $36 million a year.

While the Forbes speculative numbers ought to be taken with a huge heap of salt, it made the subsequent math simple. If an MLS club can be worth as much as $100M and the MLS expansion fees (the amount charged to a newcomer with a desire to join the league) in the $40M range, an opportunity to make a buck seems obvious. The only pre-condition to making a small fortune was a “Soccer Specific” stadium where all the revenues flaws from tickets to local advertising to concessions to parking belonged to the owners of the team … well, that and, as was the case of the New York Red Bulls owner Austrian born billionaire Dietrich Mateschitz, gobs and gobs of money and a minuscule aversion to losses.

Barcelona then has that “in” - the club is promised a full use of the cozy 21,000 seat stadium on the grounds of the Florida International University in Miami, Florida.

It also has an additional, rarely spoken, “in”, to MLS’s “marketing arm” Soccer United Marketing (SUM). This commercial entity is designed to handle the TV rights, soccer exhibition matches and the various related to soccer activities that MLS itself wants to keep off its books for a better bargaining position with its players.

With its membership consisting of the MLS owners and operators (one needs to repeat that, unlike the European leagues, MLS is run as a single entity, with the league negotiating players’ contracts and transfers as well as collecting a stipulated percentage from the ticket sales and national sponsors), SUM is capable of distributing whichever income it generates from these side activities directly to the owners and bypassing the league itself.

Barcelona, being a premier global soccer attraction, has dealt with the SUM on numerous occasions. Just in the summer of 2008, the club played two matches on the US soil (vs. Chivas de Guadalajara in Chicago’s Soldier Field and vs. the New York Red Bull in the Giants Stadium in New Jersey). Blaugrana’s matches were a phenomenal success, drawing in excess of fifty thousand paying fans to each match.

And this must, to some extent, explain the club’s daring request to be allowed to join the league for the 2010 season. In the American vernacular, Barcelona’s management must realize that it’s a “rainmaker”, a club that makes money for its partners.

In the business world, that counts for a whole lot.

All it has to hope for now that, if approved, not too much will end up pouring over the heads of its players. In Miami’s subtropical climate, a thunderous downpour is as frequent as Leo Messi’s goal celebration at Camp Nou.(soccerlens)

lionel_messi walpaper

lionel_messi walpaper
lionel_messi_by_kotaiba, originally uploaded by marce_matrix.

action lionel messi

action lionel messi
lionel-messi-6, originally uploaded by vungtroibinhyen1637.

Monday, September 8, 2008

Argentina draws with leader Paraguay

After the conclusion of the seventh round Saturday, Paraguay leads with 14 points, followed by Argentina on 12 and Uruguay on 11. Colombia and Chile have 10 points, although Chile have a game in hand, against Brazil Sunday.

Perennial football giant Brazil trails in sixth place with nine points and is in danger of failing to qualify for the World Cup.

Uruguay beat Colombia 1-0 in Bogota to climb to third place, while Ecuador defeated lowly Bolivia 3-1 to recover from a poor start in the qualifiers, and Peru scored it first victory in seven games with a 1-0 win against Venezuela.

On a cold, rainy afternoon in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Paraguay played what hometown coach Alfio Basile described as "a strange game."

Paraguay's coach Gerardo Martino - an Argentine - attempted to explain the result by suggesting that his men "were afraid to win" the match.

Argentina had the first clear chance, when a free kick executed by ace Juan Roman Riquelme hit the crossbar in the eighth minute.

However, a gross mistake in the 13th minute by defender Gabriel Heinze dramatically changed the course of the game. Heinze failed to head the ball clear, collided with Argentine keeper Roberto Abbondanzieri and finally scored an own goal. Abbondanzieri, with a knee injury, had to be replaced by Juan Pablo Carrizo.

To make matters worse, Argentina - winless in the last four rounds of the qualifiers - was down to 10 men by the 31st minute, after Carlos Tevez got a red card for a violent foul on Dario Veron.

A disciplined Paraguay squad controlled play until the break. However, Basile fielded substitute striker Sergio Aguero, who was very active throughout the second half and changed the pace of the match.

Aguero capitalised on a great pass from Lionel Messi in the 62nd minute to make it 1-1, but he missed at least two good chances to put Argentina ahead.

"The draw is good, because with 10 men it was very difficult to beat them," Aguero said after the game.

Paraguayan striker Nelson Haedo Valdez was also happy with the result. "The draw is more useful to us than it is to Argentina," he said.

Ecuador defeated Bolivia 3-1 in Quito. Striker Felipe Caicedo put the home side ahead in the 20th minute, while Joaquin Botero restored the draw six minutes before half-time. Edison Mendez and Cristian Benitez definitively gave Ecuador the lead in the 50th and 72nd minutes.

Later, a header from Sebastian Eguren was on target in the 14th minute to give Uruguay - the winner of two editions of the World Cup, though both more than 50 years ago - a crucial away win in its effort to return to the main event in the sport after missing Germany 2006.

"Colombia lost control of the ball, I think due to our pressure, but also due to the logical rush of being the host and being down in the score. That has happened to us too with draws in Montevideo," Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez said after the game.

Peru just managed to beat Venezuela 1-0 with a goal from Piero Alva in the 38th minute before a half-full stadium.

Next week, in the eighth round of play, Paraguay will host Venezuela Tuesday, while Wednesday is set to feature the following games: Uruguay-Ecuador, Chile-Colombia, Brazil-Bolivia and Peru-Argentina.

In South America's 10-team World Cup qualifiers, each side plays at home and away with each of the other nine teams. The top four win a place in the World Cup, with the fifth-place team facing a representative of the North, Central American and Caribbean region in a playoff.

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi, originally uploaded by ღNYღ.

-Lionel_Messi

-Lionel_Messi
-Lionel_Messi, originally uploaded by moto_qahr_111.

Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi, originally uploaded by mauricio.castellanos.

Lionel Messi goes over Pepe Madrid v Barca

Lionel_Messi_+2

Lionel-Messi-

Lionel-Messi-
Lionel-Messi-, originally uploaded by lionelmessi.

Lionel Messi Interview

Lionel Messi Interview
Lionel Messi Interview, originally uploaded by nextsoccerstar.com.

messi1280vv6

messi1280vv6
messi1280vv6, originally uploaded by EVIL SHADOW.

Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi, originally uploaded by Katie Nelson.

Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi, originally uploaded by Katie Nelson.

Messi

Messi
Messi, originally uploaded by nextsoccerstar.com.

Leo Messi

Leo Messi
Leo Messi, originally uploaded by juknevij.

Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi, originally uploaded by donfajda.

Barcelona's Argentinian Leo Messi celebrates after scoring his third goal against Real Madrid during a Spanish league football match at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona, 10 March 2007. Match ended in a 3-3 draw.

Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi, originally uploaded by Bo Abdulaziz.

lionel messi

lionel messi
lionel messi, originally uploaded by pedritoronaldo.

messi lionel

messi lionel
messi lionel, originally uploaded by pedritoronaldo.

Leo Messi

Leo Messi
Leo Messi, originally uploaded by juknevij.

Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi, originally uploaded by I'm Niko Fucking Rulz!!.

lionel-messi-argentina-11

lionel-messi-argentina-11
lionel-messi-argentina-11, originally uploaded by abmd_1977.

Amigos de Messi vs Amigos de Ronaldinho

Un partido abierto con estrellas de varias nacionalidades que en apenas cuarenta y cinco minutos convirtieron once goles de bonita factura. En la primera llegada del equipo de Ronaldinho un pase medido a Junior Baiano (m.2) llegó el primer tanto, que definió por arriba en la salida del "Pato" Abbondanzieri. La presión de los brasileños concretó poco después el segundo tanto de Vampeta (m.5), que colocó en la red de los Amigos de Messi el parcial 2-0.

En la siguiente jugada, el delantero uruguayo Sebastián "Loco" Abreu (m.6), de cabeza, descontó para el equipo de Messi. Ronaldinho Gaúcho (m.11), con una exquisita definición frente al guardameta argentino, aumentó las cifras. Abreu llegó a la red a los 15 minutos, pero el árbitro Horacio Elizondo lo anuló por estar en fuera de juego. Junior Baiano (m.16) y el jugador del Real Madrid Julio Batista (m.18), de penalti, anotaron el parcial 5-1. La reacción de los Amigos de Messi no se hizo esperar, con cuatro tantos consecutivos ante el delirio de los casi 35.000 espectadores.

El primer gol lo puso D'Alessandro

Esta fiesta de goles la inició Andrés D'Alessandro (m.26) antes que un aficionado entrara al terreno de juego para abrazar a Messi. El uruguayo Abreu (m.28), de penalti, D'Alessandro (m 29) y Lionel Messi (m.31), sellaron el parcial 5-5. La presión bajó tras la igualdad aunque Messi (m.34) estrelló un nuevo remate en el poste izquierdo de Pesoña. Al final de primer tiempo, un gran pase de Ronaldinho a Julio Baptista (m.45) para que la figura madridista anotara su segundo tanto de la noche.

Comenzando el segundo tiempo, el venezolano Giancarlo Maldonado casi empata para los Amigos de Messi al estrellar un remate en el travesaño. El ingresado delantero argentino Leandro Lázzaro (m.51) logró el tanto del empate 6-6 y dos minutos más tarde, Ronaldinho (m.53) dio la ventaja para su equipo. Con varios cambios en el partido, junto con el reingreso de Palermo y D'Alessandro, nuevamente Lázzaro (m.60), de cabeza, igualó el encuentro.

Los Amigos de Messi presionaron por la victoria donde los venezolanos Maldonado y Arango, con un tiro libre, tuvieron sendas ocasiones para desequilibrar. Ésta fue la segunda edición después de la celebrada el pasado mes de diciembre en San Luis (Argentina), con victoria de Messi 1-0.

Messi shakes and bakes

Messi shakes and bakes
Messi shakes and bakes, originally uploaded by ~ Kianoosh ~.

All defenders keep an eye or two or three on Lio Messi.

MESSI

MESSI
MESSI, originally uploaded by Tadeo.x!.

messi

messi
messi, originally uploaded by Tadeo.x!.

MESSI

MESSI
MESSI, originally uploaded by Tadeo.x!.

Jerom Fans

Jerom Fans
Jerom & Messi, originally uploaded by Pablo Odell.

Messi in the corner

Messi in the corner
Messi in the corner, originally uploaded by ~ Kianoosh ~.

messi

messi
messi, originally uploaded by EVIL SHADOW.

Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi, originally uploaded by mohaimin9aoun.

Messi 4 of 4 (4 seconds in the life of Lionel Messi)

Bojan. Kirkic& Lionel.Messi.

Bojan. Kirkic& Lionel.Messi.
Bojan. Kirkic& Lionel.Messi., originally uploaded by Una culÉ..

Messi 2 of 4 (4 seconds in the life of Lionel Messi)

Brazil vs Argentina - 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics

Messi 3 of 4 (4 seconds in the life of Lionel Messi)

mafik66-messi.jpg

mafik66-messi.jpg
mafik66-messi.jpg, originally uploaded by mafik66.

Messi & Jerom

Messi & Jerom
Messi & Jerom, originally uploaded by Pablo Odell.

Messi

Messi
Messi , originally uploaded by dora.dark.

Messi 1 of 4 (4 seconds in the life of Lionel Messi)

Lionel-Messi-Argentina

Lionel-Messi-Argentina
Lionel-Messi-Argentina, originally uploaded by Bonjovi2007.

1_Messi

1_Messi
1_Messi, originally uploaded by EVIL SHADOW.

HIBS-BARCELONA

HIBS-BARCELONA
HIBS-BARCELONA, originally uploaded by Edmund Jones.

Barcelona's Thierry Henry(right) and Lionel Messi(left) embrace as Hibernian's Paul Hanlon(far right) walks by, following the second goal of a friendly football match against Scotland's Hibernian FC at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh, Scotland

Messi Fans.

Messi Fans.
Fabian con Messi., originally uploaded by anelatina.

Crazy fan

Crazy fan
Crazy fan, originally uploaded by b2tse.

FC Barcelona Wallpaper

FC Barcelona Wallpaper
FC Barcelona Wallpaper, originally uploaded by klingsi20.

This is my favourite team at the moment.
My favourite player is Lionel Messi! My brother made this pic.

Soccer All Star Lionel Messi

Argentinian Soccer All Star Lionel Messi from Barcelona F.C. Photo By Rafael Amado Deras. Mandatory to include credits and notify author.

Lionel Messi attempt

Lionel Messi attempt
Lionel Messi attempt, originally uploaded by b2tse.

lionel-messi

lionel-messi
lionel-messi-0, originally uploaded by EVIL SHADOW.

Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi, originally uploaded by >Don<.

Cristiano Ronaldo Vs. Lionel Messi (2008)