So we all know the Forbes study about 2007. We should all know that it did not include the money fromSoccer United Marketing. SUM makes a lot of money. That will be true in recession or not, but recently the Timbers had to publicly declare how they as an MLS side would make money and pay back the city for all those great tax breaks, etc.

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Four Dollar Beers!

The Rapids are really busting out some great ideas. Terraces, 4$ beer, 5$ food, ticketless entry.

But it isn't just Colorado who has decided that they are tired of losing money.

The Revolution are kicking their ticketing buzz up a bit too. They launched a referral program, with a hell of a peak prize - trip to the All Star Game.

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People love sports, people love money, and people love lists. So the good people at Forbes magazine have unveiled the 2010 Forbes Fab 40, a list of the top 10 most valuable sports brands in four separate categories: teams, athletes, events and businesses. The important thing to note here is that the numbers are Forbes [. Click to continue reading...

Forbes has come out with it's latest value rankings of sports franchises and individual athletes. Proving it is a massive worldwide brand, Manchester United of the English Premier League was once again ranked as the most valuable sports team in the world at an estimated worth of $270 million, ahead of the New York Yankees. Click to continue reading...

Fabio and his Foreignchester Friends are in Doha now for a training camp (What? In the bloody middle of the week?! you scream) and the answer is yes. Toño Valencia looks quite confused in that lift and this reminds us of a conversation we had with a futbolita from Ecuador a few weeks ago.

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With MLS having very closed finances, and Forbes only doing a report on the 2007 revenue streams, judging financial impact is rather difficult. The sole set of numbers that can be looked at are attendance. Those that think the DP has an impact might be surprised, as the Beckham effect was big, but everything else is tiny.

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1) Shalrie Joseph for MVP? It seems like all the forces are converging and settling on him after his player of the week performance. Today alone, there were three articles touting his candidacy from Ives Galarcep (Soccer By Ives), Ridge Mahoney (Soccer America), and Kyle McCarthy (Goal.com).
He has a lot of things going for him. Click to continue reading...

In my last post on MLS' future, I postulated that the television rights deals of the future will determine the level of play we will see on the field. I also stated that it is my belief that MLS must offer a better quality product on the field in order to achieve higher fees. Kind of a chicken or egg dilemna.

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Something called World Business --which you could assume is like Forbes for foreigners--does their take on the always popular "Is soccer succeeding in America?"-piece. They never get tired of that one do they? Click to continue reading...

Everybody knows that the fierce rivals from Milano have been sharing the same stadium in the past few decades, which is one of the reason for the low revenues of both clubs. In the last few days Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani and Inter president Massimo Moratti have gone public about their plans for the San Siro/Giuseppe Meazza Stadium.

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TV Rules

The number one item that should be on the agenda for MLS officials should be has to be the preservation of the TV rights contracts.

Why do I believe that TV holds the future of MLS in its grasp? Because it's already saved the league once. And as of now, it could be argued that the contracts might not even be extended at the current price, or not extended at all(unlikely).

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Arsenal have been named the third most valuable sports club in the world by American business magazine, Forbes. They list us as being worth £837 million, while Manchester United and Real Madrid lead the valuation table respectively. Real Madrid are also the second most valuable football club at an astonishing $1. Click to continue reading...

Manchester United have been named the most valuable sports club in the world by highly respected American business magazine, Forbes.

They list us as being worth $1.87 billion (£1.14b) after having increased in worth by 4%.

This puts us above NFL team, Dallas Cowboys, who are worth $1.

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I swear MLS Commissioner Don Garber's mug is everywhere these days. Talking with this guy and then with another about the league. Today we get another Forbes interview with The Don.

Hat tip to SF over at The Offside Rules for the video.

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The Don has been hanging around the likes of Forbes, Fox Business News, Sports Business Journal and Wall Street Journal a lot lately. Dude is gonna get the league eyed up by more rich guys than a thin, gin-soaked blonde with fake t*ts and a penchant for gold-digging at a Jimmy Buffett concert. Click to continue reading...

Today's Ottawa Citizen is reporting that Senators owner Eugene Melnyk's bid to bring a Major League Soccer franchise to Ottawa took another hit with news that the Montreal Impact appear destined to become the league's 19th team -- probably in 2011 or 2012.

MLS commissioner Don Garber made things clear during an interview with Forbes last week.

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Our own beloved Donny the G had a sit down with Forbes and as usual he's talking expansion:
The biggest hard news item in the interview is that the league intends to grow to 20 teams in the short term and then stop expanding "for the forseeable future".
Of course, being Don, it may be that he's doing the old "the train is leaving the station" routine for the benefit of expansion candidates who might prefer to wait until the economic climate is more, shall we say, favorable, before writing out one of those big old checks the league seems to live for lately. Click to continue reading...

According to Don Garber's recent interview with Forbes, Montreal could be joining our league as soon as 2011. Click here for MLS Rumor's report and video of it.
This league needs more soccer markets, and the Montreal Impact supporters have proved time and time again that their city is indeed a soccer market. Click to continue reading...

MLS Commissioner Don Garber in person did an interview on FORBES.COM and announced that Montreal should have the 19th spot into the MLS by 2011. You guy's can check out, click on the clip of the interview, he talked about it after the All-Star break.

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Yeah another interview with MLS Commissioner Don Garber, this time with Forbes.

The big reason why I posted this one, it talks Montreal up a bit.

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He's on ESPN. He's on the award-winning Kyle y Javi show. He's on the Forbes Video Network for Guys That Are So Rich You Have to Call Them Wealthy™. Who does this guy's booking? Ari Gold? Click to continue reading...

With J Hutcherson -- See, it's the money that has to be the problem. Forbes let us know last night that Manchester United is worth more than any club in pro soccer, yet this morning multiple outlets were going through the math to figure out just how much debt it takes to be that great. Brief version, a lot. Click to continue reading...

With J Hutcherson -- See, it's the money that has to be the problem. Forbes let us know last night that Manchester United is worth more than any club in pro soccer, yet this morning multiple outlets were going through the math to figure out just how much debt it takes to be that great. Brief version, a lot. Click to continue reading...

Forbes announced its annual list of the richest clubs in World soccer, and surprising no one Manchester United is at the top. The complete list is available here. In all, nine of the top 25 are from the English Premier League, six from Germany, four from Italy, two from Spain, two from Scotland, and two from France. Click to continue reading...

Forbes released its list of the world's 10 most valuable sports "franchises" (in quotes because I've never liked that word) last week. It's mostly American teams - six from NFL, plus the Yankees - but there are three European soccer teams in there too: Man Utd, Real Madrid and.. Arsenal? Yep. Despite the fact that they [. Click to continue reading...