MLS Commissioner Doug Logan, "expressing serious
concern" yesterday over the Mutiny's "poor" home attendance
figures this season, said MLS and its investors "can't
afford to lose money in the market indefinitely," according
to Bill Ward of the TAMPA TRIBUNE. Logan: "It's an
extremely disconcerting situation. It's a marketplace that,
for whatever reason, is oversaturated with sporting
products. I've always been dead-set against any of our
teams moving but I can tell you this: There is a finite
amount of economic patience." Ward writes that Logan's
comments "were his strongest hint ever that the Mutiny could
relocate unless their fortunes improve." According to Tampa
Sports Authority figures, the club's actual home attendance
(ticket stubs counted) averages 5,082 through 14 home dates,
down from the 9,970 and 7,964 it averaged in '96 and '97,
respectively. Mutiny GM Nick Sakiewicz: "I've never seen in
any of our existing MLS markets -- or any market for that
matter -- the intensity of the fair-weatherness of the fans
here. It's brutal" (Bill Ward, TAMPA TRIBUNE, 8/27).