European soccer is billions in debt

[DukeN]

I give the NBA 10 years before they go out of business. Viewership and attendance are down, ticket prices are up, the teams are losing money left and right and the style of play is boring.

You might want to stick those numbers back up your rear.

Viewership is up, but attendance is down. Take away a couple of extreme cases (like the Nets who had a whole 1016 people show up to a game last night) and the league is doing fairly well, especially compared to farces like the NHL. The marquee matchups have been getting record setting numbers for the last year or so compared to the same events previously, so not sure where you're getting the "viewership is down" angle.

Some of the teams 'losing' money still have positive cash flow, and there are still people vying to buy even shitty teams like the Nets. Why? Because they make money, and the franchises appreciate in value- not to mention bonuses such as building of assets like arenas with public finds.

The league that's in trouble is the NHL which thrives in Canada currently but majority of the US markets are in shambles. The next crisis though could be MLB with ridiculous, uncapped salaries and huge rosters.

 

[DukeN]

Players in soccer/nba/nfl/mlb get paid too damn much!

Not really - you have millionaire players making their owners dozens, sometimes hundreds of millions over a few years. As the kids say - don't hate the player, hate the game! As an example, the Knicks despite paying over $100 in payroll as the worst team (which by the way is near half of the Yankees payroll) still made a stupid amount of money. So what if they overpaid Eddy Curry and other lazy dudes, they are still raking in the moolah.

 

[rockyct]

can't find a link to Chuck Klosterman anti soccer essay in his book Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs.

hilarious stuff though
http://books.google.com/books?id=8b...A#v=onepage&q=chuck klosterman soccer&f=false
most of it is there🙂

That was pretty funny but I think soccer is sort of used as a sports primer. The instructions are incredibly simple: 1) get the ball in the far net, 2) don't touch the ball with your hands, 3) don't hit anyone. The rules of baseball, football, and even basketball are quite a bit more complex.

 

[zinfamous]

Ads for 3 hours and 10 minutes of gameplay.

Futball fans would shit a rick!

 

[zinfamous]

Players in soccer/nba/nfl/mlb get paid too damn much!

not really. b/c they play games? if were that simple, then yes, they do get paid too much.

but the hall-of-famers represent a certain value to each franchise in terms of ticket sales, merchandise, and well...championships. If people stopped buying Lebron's shoes or went to see him play, then he wouldn't get paid nearly as much.

I'm all for reducing player salaries, btu as the market currently stands, that would just lead to exploitation. How would you feel if someone was making millions off of products with your name stenciled on it, or your company was making billions based on a majority percentage of your talent, and you only receiving some 1% of that take?

I remember when Michael Jordan retired, there was chart showing how his name and image was so valuable, that it actually registered as a percentage of the entire US GDP. (not hard to realize when you think about his endorsements: Air Jordan's made Nike; the success of Gatorade, Hanes, the international popularity of the Bulls, and well....basketball in general).

Was Jordan ever paid too much? Hell no.

 

[TurtleCrusher]

Good. Only because soccer sucks.