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Leagues and Governing Bodies

Timbers Owner Paulson Says MLS Franchise Fees Will Continue To Rise

MLS Timbers Owner Merritt Paulson said that the league’s franchise fees will “continue to rise as interest in the sport grows in North America," according to Tariq Panja of BLOOMBERG NEWS. Paulson said, “The last team, in Montreal, went for $40 million. You’re going to see a really big increase on the next team coming in. That’s just a product of the league coming in and growing. The people who got in on much lower valuations paved the way and did a lot of the heavy lifting in terms of getting the league to where the franchise valuations could be where they are.” Panja noted Chivas USA, Real Salt Lake and Toronto FC “each paid $10 million to join in 2004 and 2005.” The fee “jumped to $30 million for the Seattle Sounders in 2007.” Paulson said that “buying into the MLS is a business decision as much as a sporting one.” He said, “The league’s done a very good job in managing costs. There are multiple teams in the league that are cash flow positive including us” (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 10/16).

CAMPAIGN SEASON
: In N.Y., Chris Bragg wrote, “In its effort to build a $300 million soccer stadium in Queens, Major League Soccer is playing to win.” Records show that "between March and June, MLS spent more than $612,000 on a slew of prominent New York City lobbying firms to handle various elements of the effort." The targets of the lobbying efforts "include local community boards, the City Council, the Economic Development Corp. and Mayor Michael Bloomberg.” Included in that amount was “$464,000 to HR&A Advisors, a real estate and economic development consulting firm.” A source said that much of what was paid to HR&A “was not for only lobbying but also for more technical aspects of the project” (CRAINSNEWYORK.com, 10/15).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

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