IQ - Soccer Wiretap

MLS Teams Worth $223M On Average

Aug 16, 2017 3:27 PM

The average MLS team is now worth $223 million, which is up from 20 percent last season.

The cost of an expansion fee has jumped from $40 million five years ago (Montreal Impact) to $150 million (Minnesota and Atlanta).

The LA Galaxy is now the league's most valuable team with a value of $315 million, a 19% increase from last year. The Galaxy generated $63 million in revenue last season.

The Sounders, now worth $295 million, remain a close second.

1. LA Galaxy: $315 million
2. Seattle Sounders: $295 million
3. Toronto FC: $280 million
4. New York City FC: $275 million
5. Orlando City SC: $272 million
6. Portland Timbers: $268 million
7. Sporting Kansas City: $260 million
8. New York Red Bulls: $245 million
9. Chicago Fire: $240 million
10. San Jose Earthquakes: $235 million
11. D.C. United: $230 million
12. New England Revolution: $225 million
13. Houston Dynamo: $218 million
14. FC Dallas: $185 million
15. Philadelphia Union: $170 million
16. Real Salt Lake: $155 million
17. Vancouver Whitecaps: $150 million
18. Colorado Rapids: $135 million
19. Columbus Crew: $130 million

Chris Smith/Forbes

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Arsene Wenger: Soccer Wages Becoming Like NBA

Aug 3, 2017 5:02 PM

Arsene Wenger was critical of Paris Saint-Germain's $260 million transfer for Neymar.

“For me, it is the consequence of the ownerships and that has completely changed the whole landscape of football in the last 15 years,” Wenger said. “Once a country owns a club, everything is possible. It becomes very difficult to respect the financial fair play because you can have different ways or different interests for a country to have such a big player to represent a country. It can’t justify the investments and looks unusual for the game.

“Apart from that, we are not in a period any more where you think, in some places: ‘If I invest that, I will get that back.’ We are beyond that. The number today involves a lot of passion, pride, public interest and you cannot rationalise that any more.

“It also looks like the inflation is accelerating. We crossed the 100m [euros] line last year and, only one year later, we’re crossing the 200m line. When you think that Trevor Francis was the first £1m player [when he joined Nottingham Forest from Birmingham City in 1979] and that looked unreasonable, it shows you how much distance and how far we have come, how big football has become. It’s beyond calculation and beyond rationality.”

Neymar will earn €30 million per year after tax.

Wenger was asked whether he considered the wage to be obscene. “You don’t look at the numbers in their absolute value any more,” he said. “Football has been for a long time out of normal society and the numbers are like the NBA in basketball, so it’s not comparable to normal life anymore.

“It was already out of context of society so, after, it just becomes a bit extra. You cannot calculate what it brings in anymore. It’s just a number. We still live with rationality. We are not the only ones. I think 99% of the clubs do that but, of course, we cannot compete at that level.

“Today, a player is worth what the club can afford to spend and I would say that the price of a player depends on the identity of the buyer. You cannot put it in the context of the market. It is the financial potential of the buyer that decides the price of the player.”

David Hytner/The Guardian

Tags: Arsenal, Paris Saint-Germain, IQ

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