HITER ORIS LIGE MLS - MALO V BESEDAH, MALO V ŠTEVILKAH

Konec tedna se je začela nova, 23. sezona ameriške nogometne lige MLS (Major League Soccer). Če sta lani slovensko zanimanje za ligo vsaj malce pospešila Antonio Delamea Mlinar (New England revolution) in Andraž Struna (New York City FC), bo letos barve Slovenije zastopal le Delamea Mlinar.

Temu uvod v sezono ni posebej uspel, saj je zasluženo pordečel že v 24. minuti (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-y9kybb79zI). Za nameček je domača Philadelphia Union slavila z 2:0.

Pred sezono so v ZDA za favorite napovedovali branilca naslova Toronto, podprvaka Seattle Sounders in tudi lanskega prišleka Atlanto United ter oba newyorška kluba. New England so postavili na 21. mesto med 23 ekipami. A to ne pove še ničesar, saj je že prvi krog prinesel precej presenečenj.

Denimo, izgubila sta tako Toronto (proti Columbusu z 0.2) in Atlanta proti Houstonu z 0:4, povrh vsega pa je novinec Los Angeles FC v gosteh premagal Seattle Sounders z 1:0.

Kakor koli - MLS v Sloveniji verjetno ne bo našel prav veliko oboževalcev, meni pa povsem zadovoljivo zapolni primanjkljaj ob odsotnosti lige NFL ob nedeljskh večerih/nočeh. Nogomet resda ni na takšni ravni kot v boljših evropskih ligah, a se tudi to spreminja.

Ob tem pa je na drugih področjih MLS pred številnimi bolj uveljavljenimi ligami, kar bodo v grobem pokazale tudi nekatere spodaj navedene številke iz lige MLS.


Rast povpečne vrednosti ekip v MLS:
2008: 37 mio USD
2013: 103 mio USD
2015: 157 mio USD
2016: 185 mio USD
2017: 223 mio USD

Najvrednejši klubi v MLS v letu 2017:
LA Galaxy            315 mio USD
Seattle Sounders 295
Toronto                 280
NYCFC                275
...
New England       225
...
Columbus Crew  130 mio (najmanj).

Leta 2017 je salary cap znašal 3,845 milijona po ekipi. Največjo povprečno plačo so imeli pri Torontu (777.660 USD), sledita NYCFC (603.600) in LA Galaxy (485.630). New England je imel povprečno plačo 288.320 USD, najmanjšo pa lanska novinka Minnesota FC s 191.780.

Po podatkih globalsportssalaries.com je bila MLS s povprečno plačo 313.438 USD na 13. mestu med vsemi (ne le nogometnimi, tam je nekje na šestem ali sedmem mestu) ligami sveta.

Največje letne plače nogometšev v MLS v letu 2017:
Kaka (Orlando)                                                   7,17 mio USD*
Sebastian Giovinco (Toronto)                              7,12
Michael Bradley (Toronto)                                    6,50
Andrea Pirlo (NYCFC)                                         5,92*
David Villa (NYCFC)                                            5,61
...
Antonio Delamea Mlinar (NE Revolution)        400.008 USD
Andraž Struna (slabe pol sezone pri NYCFC)     75.600 USD

* - ni več aktiven

V zadnjih letih vsi klubi prodajajo sponzorski prostor na dresih. Pri tem ima najboljšo pogodbo Los Angeles Galaxy, ki od Herbalifa dobi 4,4 mio USD letno. Sledijo kanadske ekipe s po 4 mio USD na leto.


Galaxy prednjači tudi pri delitvi sredstev televizijskih pravic (5,5 mio USD letno) in pri prodaji imena stadiona (10 + mio USD letno).

MLS sicer dobi 90 mio USD od broadcasting partnerjev, 27 mio na leto več kot v prejšnji pogodbi.

Velik dotok denarja si je MLS zagotovila tudi s podpisom oziroma podaljšanjem pogodbe z Adidasom. Šestletno podaljšanje bo ligi prineslo 700 mio USD oziroma približno 117 mio USD na leto.

Po prihodkih je bil leta 2016 najboljši LA Galaxy s 63 mio USD, sledita Seattle s 53 in Toronto s 46.  New England je imel 27 milijonov prihodkov.

Pa še nekaj drugih številk:
<sup>- največ golov v ligi: Landon Donovan 145; od aktivnih najbližje tretji Chris Wondolowski (san Jose Earthquakes, 134);
- največ podaj: Landon Donovan: 136; od aktivnih deseti Sascha Kljestan (Orlando City, 84);
- največ tekem:; Nick Rimando (452), Kyle Beckerman 432 (oba Real Salt Lake);
- največ naslovov: LA Galaxy 5, DC United 4. 
- najdražji prestop: Ezequiel Barco (pred to sezono iz CA Independiente v Atlanta United za 15 mio USD);</sup>

Povprečen obisk tekem v ameriških ligah 2016/17:
NFL 67.405
MLB 30.023
MLS 21.692
NBA 17.884
NHL 17.500

Povprečen obisk drugih večjih nogometnih lig po svetu (2016/17):
nemška liga    41.510
angleška liga   35.280
mehiška liga    27.830
španska liga     27.630
italijanska liga  22.160
MLS                 21.660
francoska liga  21.030

^{V ligi MLS sicer tekmuje 23 klubov. Vsak lahko ima na seznamu prvega moštva 28 igralcev. Najverjetneje v sezoni 2020 se bosta ligi pridružila še Miami Davida Beckhama in Nashville. Ligo si želijo razšitiri na 28 ekip. Začela je leta 1996 z desetimi. Za pridružitev ligi mora franšiza po novem plačati 150 milijonov USD, še pred petimi letimi je morala odšteti 40 milijonov USD.}

* Viri: Wikipedia, statista.com, Forbes, globalsportssalaries.com, youtube.com. 

MLS - 'FILLE DE JOIE' LOOKING FOR REAL LOVE

Eighteen years ago the USA hosted FIFA World Cup. As a part of the US' bid to land the most important sporting event in the world they came up with something they called Major League Soccer. Being 15 at the time, along with the fact that internet here was as rare as honesty in politics, I didn't really know what to think about it. They can't be serious across the pond, I thought in 1994.

Football - as I prefer to call the beautiful game - in the land of the free was not exactly Julia Roberts in Pretty woman. Everybody loved her (despite doing the world's oldest job), (almost) nobody loved football despite being No. 1 practically everywhere else. "Richard Gere" rather spent his time with other ladies, like the NBA, MLB, NFL, NHL even. And he still does it today.

Regarding reputation of the MLS, little has improved since the first season in 1996, despite the "boom" after successful USA team at the World Cup 2002. It still gets a lot of stick from "traditional" football countries, and die-hard-Americana-influenced sports fans in the US.

But it's getting better. Gradually.

The doubters might be right in some aspects. But wrong in some, too. There are quite a few good points for following the MLS. I'm not saying I'm in love with it, I'm watching it here and there, but I respect what they're doing.

Living in a global village means that even the MLS finds the way to the most remote corners of our planet. TV and media coverage are improving, live matches can be seen wherever you want. And, frankly, it is quite a pretty sight.

There are many leagues across the world that have really poor infrastructure. This is not the case in the US. Stadiums are (mostly) quite good, and what's more important they're nicely filled. The average attendance in 2011 was 17,872, what is just a bit lower than in the Dutch Eredivisie or French Ligue 1 and about the same as the NBA and NHL.

It has to be said that technical and tactical quality of the football in the MLS cannot be compared to the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga, but it's improving. Some of the American talents that play there, like Brek Shea, Juan Agudelo etc., could soon make themselves interesting for some European clubs. Like Tim Ream that joined Bolton couple of months ago.

Another aspect is money. Players in the MLS earn from 33,750 USD to 4,600,000 USD per year. And, frankly, those amounts of money (that can be upgraded with sponsorship money) have attracted quite a few famous footballers. Let's put aside the fact that they've come there mostly to earn a buck or two before ending their respectable careers.

For example, there are Arne Friedrich (Chicago Fire), Hamdi Salihi (DC United), "golden balls" David Beckham, Robbie Keane (both LA Galaxy), Marco Di Vaio, Matteo Ferrari, Alessandro Nesta, Bernardo Corradi (all Montreal Impact), Rafa Marquez, Teemu Tainio, Thierry Henry, Tim Cahill (all NYRB), Kris Boyd, Steven Smith (both Portland Timbers), Danny Koevermans, Torsten Frings (both Toronto) and Kenny Miller (Vancouver).

When New York Cosmos joins the MLS, I'm pretty sure there will be more of the "big-calibre" footballers there. It is rumoured that even Kaka wants to play in NYC.

Conclusion? There's too much going on in the MLS to completely ignore it. Of course, it's not the first choice but it's surely good enough to occasionally quench football thirst.

P. S. In the current season, the best teams in the MLS by points are San Jose Earthquakes, Real Salt Lake, New York Red Bulls, Sporting Kansas City, Houston Dynamo... On the top of the scoring chart there is Chris Wondolowski (San Jose) with 17 goals followed by Kenny Cooper (NYRB/13) and Alvaro Saborio (RSL/11), while the kings of assists are Dwayne De Rosario (DCU/10), David Beckham (LA/9) and Marvin Chavez (SJ/9).