Giovinco blaming the Argos for TFC's woes

[Mulder]

3 players on TFC make up over 80 percent of the salary cap for the club. The fact you mention the 3rd to 4th top salaries dropping by 5.7 million dollars says it all. Nothing to win, Nothing will change. Actually i take that back, they may remove the grass in the end all due to this so TFC will be the big loser as CFL teams are used to fake grass.

CFL dabbled in the DP salary cap exempt players. MLS would be wise to take a history lesson.

[Mulder]

How do the economics of TFC support these outrageous salaries? Why does MLSE fund this with no hope of ever recouping or ever breaking even?

Right now? A salary system that is paid for by the league, not the team. Not sure if that has changed recently or not. So expansion fee's as well. MLS also holds the national team games (that ones that sell and people watch well) ransom so that they can turn the profits from those games towards MLS salaries. Sad state of the league if your main product isn't profitablle that you have to turn to National Team games and International 'friendlies' for additional revenue.

[DoubleBlue_Red]

It's cute that TFC fans think they can win anything.

They won the Eastern conference of MLS. The MLS Cup sold out in minutes. The Grey Cup was in danger of not selling out. Right there is a barometer of this market. Minnesota, Atlanta and LA are adding MLS teams, its completely a growth league and sport.

[ArgoGabe22]

They won the Eastern conference of MLS. The MLS Cup sold out in minutes. The Grey Cup was in danger of not selling out. Right there is a barometer of this market. Minnesota, Atlanta and LA are adding MLS teams, its completely a growth league and sport.

How fast would've it sold if TFC wasn't playing?

[DoubleBlue_Red]

How fast would've it sold if TFC wasn't playing?

If TFC wasn't playing in it, Toronto wouldn't have hosted .

[argolio]

How do the economics of TFC support these outrageous salaries? Why does MLSE fund this with no hope of ever recouping or ever breaking even?

The economics don't -- the MLSE board does. Right now, the T in TFC really stands for Tim Lieweke. Now that he's gone, the question is what will MLSE do after Giovinco and his other high-priced pals leave.

If TFC wasn't playing in it, Toronto wouldn't have hosted .

Quit being a fool. We already know what would have happened since Toronto actually did host an MLS championship game without the host city playing.

[Rich]

MLSE is paying these guys salary akin to a mid range Premier League club.

Then they are overpaid. The suggestion that the MLS is getting anywhere near mid-range Premier League talent is laughable. How many MLS players graduated directly to the Premiership this year? Any? On the other hand around 10-15 CFL players (correct me if I'm wrong Argofans) move up to the Best Football League In The World every year.

Isn't this be proof that the CFL is closer to the NFL in terms of talent than the MLS is to the premiership?

[gilthethrill]

If TFC wasn't playing in it, Toronto wouldn't have hosted .

Why did MLS soccer do away with holding the MLS Cup at neutral sites?

[Mulder]

They won the Eastern conference of MLS. The MLS Cup sold out in minutes. The Grey Cup was in danger of not selling out. Right there is a barometer of this market. Minnesota, Atlanta and LA are adding MLS teams, its completely a growth league and sport.

And which game do you think was more profitable?

In most cases, even after the price drop. Grey Cup ticket prices at the cheapest sections were 4x more and in the more expensive sections 7-8x more. Regardless how many "giveaways" there may have been.

The barometer is novelty in this case, a MLS had to go from hosting at a neutral site to what they do now because had this game been hosted somewhere else it probably wouldn't have sold out. I mean, the 100th Grey Cup sold out before the first regular season game that season, in June. Is that an indicator for the barometer of the market?

[DoubleBlue_Red]

Then they are overpaid. The suggestion that the MLS is getting anywhere near mid-range Premier League talent is laughable. How many MLS players graduated directly to the Premiership this year? Any? On the other hand around 10-15 CFL players (correct me if I'm wrong Argofans) move up to the Best Football League In The World every year.

Isn't this be proof that the CFL is closer to the NFL in terms of talent than the MLS is to the premiership?

They are paid what MLSE feels is a worthy investment based on what the market can yield. Your disputing that Giovinco who played for Juventus and has caps for the Italy national team is not a top flight player? Plus Bradley who played in Serie A and Altidore who played in the Premier League. There is no indication that TFC will be selling these guys any time soon.

The problem that the CFL faces with my generation is that it is viewed as 3rd rate, behind NFL and NCAA football. The 2012 Grey Cup may have sold out quickly, but look how far things have fallen in 4 years. Given the Argos attendance and interest in the Grey Cup, would lead one to believe that BMO is not the solution for the Argos - getting back on topic.

[Mulder]

They are paid what MLSE feels is a worthy investment based on what the market can yield. Your disputing that Giovinco who played for Juventus and has caps for the Italy national team is not a top flight player? Plus Bradley who played in Serie A and Altidore who played in the Premier League. There is no indication that TFC will be selling these guys any time soon.

The problem that the CFL faces with my generation is that it is viewed as 3rd rate, behind NFL and NCAA football. The 2012 Grey Cup may have sold out quickly, but look how far things have fallen in 4 years. Given the Argos attendance and interest in the Grey Cup, would lead one to believe that BMO is not the solution for the Argos - getting back on topic.

So are you a Argo fan, or a TFC fan? BMO is the only solution currently. It wasn't going to be a massive come back but a slow build. As for how far things have 'fallen' if you can't understand the difference between 100th Grey Cup and 104th, at double the price of the 100th, then no one can help you.

[Ron]

Just my take ...

How did everyone get suckered into discussing whether the Argos deserve to be at BMO or whether MLS is superior to the CFL when the topic was about a TFC star being a whinny little bitch?

[AngeloV]

It's cute that TFC fans think they can win anything.

No $hit.

I know it seems as though I'm easily annoyed, especially lately, but I really can't stand TFC trolls coming on here and pretending to be Argos fans so they can spew their BS.

[gilthethrill]

When will MLS expand again into Canada?

[Neely2005]

If TFC wasn't playing in it, Toronto wouldn't have hosted .

So don't compare it to the Grey Cup where the home team wasn't playing.

Also IIRC the MLS championship game used to be played at a neutral site like the Grey Cup but the MLS fans didn't support it so it had to be changed to be played at one of the participating teams venues.

[Neely2005]

They are paid what MLSE feels is a worthy investment based on what the market can yield. Your disputing that Giovinco who played for Juventus and has caps for the Italy national team is not a top flight player? Plus Bradley who played in Serie A and Altidore who played in the Premier League. There is no indication that TFC will be selling these guys any time soon.

The problem that the CFL faces with my generation is that it is viewed as 3rd rate, behind NFL and NCAA football. The 2012 Grey Cup may have sold out quickly, but look how far things have fallen in 4 years. Given the Argos attendance and interest in the Grey Cup, would lead one to believe that BMO is not the solution for the Argos - getting back on topic.

If the CFL is viewed as 3rd rate then MLS is 12th rate.

Also can someone get rid of this Troll?

[Rich]

They are paid what MLSE feels is a worthy investment based on what the market can yield. Your disputing that Giovinco who played for Juventus and has caps for the Italy national team is not a top flight player? Plus Bradley who played in Serie A and Altidore who played in the Premier League. There is no indication that TFC will be selling these guys any time soon.

The problem that the CFL faces with my generation is that it is viewed as 3rd rate, behind NFL and NCAA football. The 2012 Grey Cup may have sold out quickly, but look how far things have fallen in 4 years. Given the Argos attendance and interest in the Grey Cup, would lead one to believe that BMO is not the solution for the Argos - getting back on topic.

There is no logical argument to claim the CFL is 3rd rate and the MLS is not 3rd rate. Altidore couldn't hack it in the Premier league. If any of the TFC's big three were good enough for the Premiership (or any of the top European leagues) then they would be playing in it. Meanwhile every year there are several CFL players who are deemed good enough to play in the NFL.

[Mightygoose]

When will MLS expand again into Canada?

I highly doubt we'll ever see another one in Canada.

With expansion fees being talked about now up to 200 million USD, I can't see how a market the size of Calgary, Edmonton or Ottawa having the corporate heist to finance that kind of debt, pay their players in US funds too including competing with the big market clubs for the high priced DPs to maintain enough interest to be viable.

There's enough larger US cities interested that MLS will value more for their national footprint.

Once the expansion money dries up, there can be big growing pains down the road especially if the single entity model is ever dropped. If the CPL is up and stable, may be a nice landing spot for teams in trouble!

[R.J]

They won the Eastern conference of MLS. The MLS Cup sold out in minutes. The Grey Cup was in danger of not selling out. Right there is a barometer of this market. Minnesota, Atlanta and LA are adding MLS teams, its completely a growth league and sport.

You trolls make me laugh.

[doubleblue]

They are paid what MLSE feels is a worthy investment based on what the market can yield. Your disputing that Giovinco who played for Juventus and has caps for the Italy national team is not a top flight player? Plus Bradley who played in Serie A and Altidore who played in the Premier League. There is no indication that TFC will be selling these guys any time soon.

The problem that the CFL faces with my generation is that it is viewed as 3rd rate, behind NFL and NCAA football. The 2012 Grey Cup may have sold out quickly, but look how far things have fallen in 4 years. Given the Argos attendance and interest in the Grey Cup, would lead one to believe that BMO is not the solution for the Argos - getting back on topic.

Anybody who thinks the NCAA is a better calibre than the CFL doesn't know much about football. The CFL is full of players who were all stars, all conference, all american on their NCAA team and they are now full grown Men who are better now than when they played College Football. The CFL is also faster ball than the College brand. Not that I needed conformation, but I did see a quote from one of the US officials that officiated CFL games this past summer during the exchange program. He said the CFL was definitely faster than the NCAA Div I.