I was able to sit down with Bill Manning today and can pass along a few updates:
All-Star Game:
One thing I did not realize is that the All-Star Game opponent is actually chosen and negotiated with by the team hosting the event. I assumed that the league was the one driving this, but it's Bill Manning and team.
There are actually still two teams in the mix for this. One team was close to being contracted, but there have been issues regarding TV rights. If these cannot be worked out, then there is a second option. Both teams are top tier European teams, but neither are one of the "Top 5", simply because those teams are too expensive.
Real Madrid Relationship:
This is currently in limbo because of the resignation earlier this year of Real Madrid's President Ramon Caulderon. Real Salt Lake owner Dave Checkett's had a very good relationship with Caulderon, and his departure was likely an initial blow to the team. However, Checkett's also has a relationship with various board members of Real Madrid, and as soon as a successor is in place discussions about the relationship will likely resume.
Ogden Outlaws Relationship:
Real Salt Lake will have a close working partnership with the Ogden Outlaws this season and beyond. RSL Coach Jeff Cassar will be involved with scouting and mentoring players during the season. The team will provide some sponsorship to the PDL club, and also helped the Outlaws land former Dallas Burn player Ted Eck as their Head Coach. Also look for young RSL prospects such as James Rogers to potentially play with the team as a way to further enhance their soccer training in an effort to get them ready to take the step up to Major League Soccer. Update: Here is the press release on the Outlaws/RSL relationship. And another one on the hiring of Ted Eck.
Austin Aztex:
As was widely speculated, the rumored USL-1 opponent for the March 21st exhibition match will be the Austin Aztecs. Contract was recently finalized and this has been confirmed.
Season Tickets:
Season ticket sales died during the Dec/Jan period after a strong renewal surrounding the stadium opener. However, new sales have picked up in recent weeks. The team is expecting to be at 7,000 season tickets sold (outside of corporate sales). Comparing to previous years is a bit difficult as they previously counted corporate/sponsorship tickets in the season ticket count. Now especially with the suites it's important to break these out. Either way this represents a healthy increase over 2008. The team also is projected to be 3rd in the league for ticket revenue (behind Seattle and Toronto presumably).
Charleston Tournament:
This upcoming Charleston Tournament is crucial for Luis Escalada who has reportedly lost 10 pounds and has improved his fitness. He is a back to the goal player who stays primarily in front of the goal. He can knock the ball down and distribute. If he can get into proper form and fitness the team feels that he would potentially be a good complement to either Yura Movsisyan or Robbie Findley on the pitch. This upcoming tournament will be a key to see where he is at.
The tournament is also important for Clint Mathis who showed last season that he has the ability and will put in the effort. He was shut out from scoring last season, but that doesn't necessarily deter the RSL staff from relying on him. However, this Charleston Tournament may bring to light how Mathis may fit in during the upcoming year.
I was also able to get some insight from Manning on the current economic environment and the impact on RSL, and the rest of the league. I will share those thoughts in the near future.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Friday Real Salt Lake Updates
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Speculation on All-Star Game Opponent
As most of you know, Rio Tinto Stadium will host this year's All-Star Game which will feature the best of the league against a yet-to-be-named international opponent. The last two years have featured West Ham, from the English Premier League and Celtic from the Scottish Premier League.
If the past is any indicator an announcement will likely come within the next 30 days. My bet is that it will not be an English club, just to add variety to the mix. So who will it be this year? Here are a few intriguing prospects:
Real Madrid
The initial speculation after the announcement of Rio Tinto being the 2009 home for the MLS All-Star Game went straight toward the team that calls the Bernabeu home. The tie-in is obvious as Real Salt Lake and Real Madrid announced a partnership that brought the Spanish club to Salt Lake in 2006 and saw RSL travel to Spain in 2007. The La Liga juggernauts were supposed to also make an appearance in Salt Lake last year, but backed out citing financial reasons. My hunch is that the Real Salt Lake brass would prefer that the All-Star game opponent is NOT Real Madrid, and they would prefer to have them return for a friendly during 2009 to make up for the void that was created last season. This would allow the team to market a top-notch team for the All-Star Game, Real Madrid for a friendly and a WCQ against El Salvador. That would surely sell some additional season tickets.
Barcelona
Of course, Barcelona is another powerhouse in La Liga and has quite a following world-wide. The team features Lionel Messi one of the most exciting young players in the world. In addition, Barcelona has been vying (and is rumored to be close to being awarded) an affiliated team in MLS, located in Miami. So could the league arrange a match with them against the All-Stars in conjunction with an announcement of their Miami affiliate being accepted in the league?
AC Milan
A powerhouse in Serie A, who after a team of lawyers and about $20M, will likely be the proud owner of David Beckham on their roster - is an obvious potential choice. Beckham's time with the LA Galaxy and the fact that he is such a great ambassador for the game would make this a solid opponent. The team ain't that bad either.
Bayern Munich
Although Bundesliga teams don't carry quite the following in the US as EPL and La Liga teams, all MLS fans are sure to recognize this team. Especially after the expected departure of Landon Donovan finds him on the roster of this top-flight European team. MLS fans would be sure to be drawn to this match, and Donovan's appearance for the foreign team would turn on TV sets.
While those would be the most obvious choices, there are others that would be of interest:
AS Monaco
This French side may be middle of the pack in Ligue 1, but they feature former Real Salt Lake midfielder, and US National team member Freddy Adu. And of course when I say feature, I mean rarely plays. I assume that would be a different story if Monaco came to town on July 29th.
Lyon
Another French-side, this time a top-flight one. Lyon has been on a torrid streak and has left victims in their wake all across Europe. The interesting connection is that the team had reportedly agreed to play Real Salt Lake last season to fill the void left by Real Madrid. Apparantly they had an opt-out clause in the contract and exercised it prior to the match being announced.
Boca Juniors
The storied history of this club in Argentina is a strong one, as it has been the breeding grounds for soccer legends that went on to play all around the world. Real Salt Lake faced off against them in an exhibition in 2007, but nobody would complain about a return visit.
C.F. America
This Mexican side is the former club of last year's MLS ALL-Star MVP, Cuahtemoc Blanco. This would create an interesting story and the soccer fanbase in the Salt Lake area would eat this one up. As they would for many top-flight Mexican teams: Santos Laguna, Cruz Azul, etc.
Who is your pick? Who do you think it would be? And who do you want to see?
Monday, May 19, 2008
A Real World Review: Monday May 19, 2008
A Review of Week 8 for RSL
(Courtesy of Realslfan)
This Weeks Results: 2-0 Loss against Colorado
Record: 2-4-2
Points: 8
Key Developments: The midfield looks extremely anemic. Sturgis still out. Talley traded. Morales hurt. Cutler a starter? Where is Cordoba? Announcement that Real Madrid is not coming.
What's right in the Real World: Unfortunately, it’s getting harder to find positives, but here’s my best shot: First, we’re due for a road win. Second, we have generally been competitive in every match we’ve played. The second half of the Colorado match was hopefully an exception. We have looked extremely good for long stretches but still do not have the consistent quality that we need to be a top tier team in this league. We have still scored enough goals to this point in the season to put us in the middle of the pack for goals scored. We are still not out of contention in what is shaping up to be a weak Western conference.
What's wrong in the Real World: Would it surprise you to learn that this is a little easier to talk about? Problem #1: Personnel. To me it’s becoming obvious that we have several weaknesses on this club. It does not appear that these can be addressed by current players. Outside back is proving to be a weakness. Ian Joy has yet to perform up to MLS standards. He has not shown the ability to push forward effectively, has been caught out of position and appears to be quite late on many tackle attempts. Tony Beltran has good pace, and high energy but has been beaten frequently and has made several poor clearance attempts. The midfield has some talent, but as a group they are lacking several important qualities. This group does not possess much speed. There are no true wide midfielders on the roster other than Matias Cordoba who has not seen much action. This makes us look very limited on a wide pitch. Without (and sometimes even with) Javi Morales in the lineup this group looks lost, either unable to possess the ball or unable to convert the possession into danger. The forwards are equally ineffective yielding 5 goals, but missing numerous opportunities. None of the forwards have stepped forward to any great degree although Espindola and Deuchar generally give the most confidence. Problem #2: Tactics. This has been a problem in at least 3 matches this season. Against Toronto, Kreis accepted the blame for having the team pull back and accept Toronto’s attack in the first half of the 1-0 loss. Against Dallas, despite the 2-1 victory Kreis admitted that the 3-5-2 was not a good match against the 3-4-3 that Dallas opened the match in. Surprisingly a change was not made until the 40th minute. Finally, the midfield did not hold it’s ground against Colorado in the 2-0 loss. The 3-5-2 that Colorado played in overwhelmed our lackluster 4 man midfield, and no adjustments were made to meet that mismatch.
A brief look at the week ahead: RSL @ FC Dallas. We beat them 2-1 at RES just a little over a week ago. Since then Dallas seemed to have a meltdown against the Galaxy in a 5-1 loss with Serioux picking up a red card. Word is that there are some serious problems in the lockerroom at Dallas. Might this be a good opportunity to steal a road victory?
Final thoughts: We are reaching a critical stage of the season. Players such as Cordoba, Yura, Deuchar, Findley, Joy and Morales need to step up and show what they are made of or they may find themselves either deep on the bench or on the way out the door. The same may go for the coach. We were told that it would take a while for this team to gel. It should be now that we are coming together, but I’m not sure that is really happening.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Real Madrid Financial Troubles?
On the heels of yesterday's announcement that Real Madrid is not coming to Salt Lake this summer due to financial reasons, this news that Real Madrid is in "financial strife" was pointed out. Note that the article is actually from early April.
"Real Madrid was forced to ask a bank for 30 million euro ($A51.73 million) in credit to cover day-to-day costs, the EL Mundo newspaper reported today." -> Live News
Real Madrid's financial health has also been called into question this week in relation to the pursuit of Cristiano Ronaldo (reportedly set to become the world's first £100M athlete). Although the pricetag is high, the Spanish club appears to be searching for a marketable player to replace the revenue stream lost by the departure of David Beckham.
'Real Madrid have the solvency and the financial liquidity to be able to take on a signing of the magnitude of Cristiano Ronaldo,' Arroyo said. 'It would be economically beneficial due to the merchandising that would arise from it. -> ESPNSoccernet
A summer move to Real Madrid for Cristiano Ronaldo is unlikely and financially impractical, according to the agent who was at the centre of David Beckham's move to the Spanish club in 2003. - Daily Telegraph
Friday, May 16, 2008
BREAKING NEWS!!! NO REAL MADRID THIS YEAR
Real Salt Lake: Real Madrid backs out of RSL game -> Deseret News/James Edward
Citing finances, Lagerwey said Real Madrid is no longer honoring the contract and instead will be in Colombia the first week of August followed by a visit to Germany the following week.
It's estimated that RSL was supposed to pay Real Madrid $1 million to make a visit to Utah in 2008. With the U.S. dollar so weak right now, that only translates into about 640,000 Euros. Real Madrid has decided it can earn significantly more taking its globally renowned brand elsewhere. Lagerwey couldn't help but admit that from the business side, it made sense for the European super club.
OPINION: Is this really due to the weakening dollar? This deal was announced in March. The average exchange rate for March was 1.55 USD to the Euro. The current exchange rate - 1.56 USD to the Euro. Even if this deal was struck in December when the rumors about it started, there has only been about 6% movement in the exchange rate. The big decline in the dollar that we have all heard about occurred primarily in 2007. I assume that they first would have asked for an additional fee. If the team is citing finances, is this more a case of us backing out and not being able to afford the $1M fee? The currency explanation just doesn't make sense. Somebody is using this as an excuse. Whether it's Real Madrid, or Real Salt Lake is not obvious. But somebody is not telling the truth.
UPDATE: I have learned that the currency explanation in fact doesn't make sense as originally explained in James Edward's article (and I believe that he has revised it). Also, it sounds like this was more of a joint decision by Real Salt Lake and Real Madrid even if initially brought up by the Spanish side. Instead of $1M it appears that the deal was 1M Euro's. This would seem to indicate that the contract was in Euro's and therefore any currency fluctuation would not affect how much Real Madrid received, but instead it would impact how much in US dollars this is costing Real Salt Lake. In fact, RSL would likely have been paying at least 20% more in US dollars to have Real Madrid appear this season versus 2006 simply because of the exchange rate.
In addition to the appearance fee there is also a significant amount of cost to bring the La Liga team to the United States. This can be extremely steep as the Spaniards are used to doing everything in first class. Just the cost of a charter flight can be quite staggering. These costs can be minimized by having more than one stop in the US and having other promoter's share in these fees. With the exchange rate, it is more difficult to get a US promotor (MLS team or otherwise) who is willing to pay the appearance fee expected by Real Madrid than it was in 2006. In this regard, the currency issue hinders BOTH Real Salt Lake and their Spanish cousins. RSL doesn't get to share in some of the expense, and RM earns less in appearance fees for a single tour of the US. My belief is that the lack of other takers in the US for a Real Madrid appearance is the PRIMARY DRIVER for today's decision.
At the same time, there are some special circumstances surrounding the trip to Colombia. It is being done in conjunction with a couple of significant milestones that will be celebrated in Colombia (the "Blond Arrow" may be involved). This likely made the Colombian promoter willing to pay a higher appearance fee than otherwise may be the case.
In addition, the Real Madrid match here was originally envisioned to be played in the new stadium, but the timing did not allow for that. Despite the smaller stadium, this would have been a huge coup for RSL. Look for Real Madrid to appear next season at the new stadium in Sandy (assuming an agreement can be reached).
I believe that RSL may have been put into a situation to make a financial decision in this case. In evaluating this decision, they may have chosen to focus dollars on getting the stadium open sooner or upgrading amenities rather than bring Real Madrid here this season. I have been assured that the partnership between Real Madrid and Real Salt Lake is indeed alive and well and this decision came as a result of that partnership, not in spite of it.
In the meantime, I would expect a Mexican side (or South American club) to make an appearance in August. In addition, a high-level European team may be in the mix as well.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Real Madrid financial troubles
currency rates via www.x-rates.com
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Do You Youtube?
You may already be aware of this but Real Salt Lake has a Youtube channel (whatever that is). Check it out HERE. I suggest bookmarking it and checking it out often.
Also, if you haven't seen them, Kyle Beckerman and Javier Morales do a bit of a role reversal in these clips:
The Javi & Kyle Show:Episode 1
The Javi & Kyle Show:Episode 2
These are hilarious, I hope to see more of them.
You can also see Boz's, All Things Real Salt Lake channel. Especially check out the stadium construction shots. Nice work!
I hadn't seen these before, but here are some soccer tips courtesy of Chris Klein and PCTV.
Passing
Dribbling
Shooting
And Punting featuring Jay Nolly and PCTV.
There's also plenty of game highlights and goals (most of them scored against us). Dig around on Youtube and I'm sure that you'll come up with DC highlights, Real Madrid highlights, Boca Juniors highlights and maybe even Dunseth's legendary first goal at Rice Eccles.
