Greg Lalas hails last week’s financial analysis of Major League Soccer by Forbes Magazine, and claims that the healthy appraisal of the league’s financial outlook will bring serious investors rushing to knock at the MLS door. Being assessed by Forbes “is a firm sign of MLS’ arrival on the main stage, a watershed moment on par with a rock band getting to Madison Square Garden.”
Lalas says that while some may mourn the passing of the league’s innocent youth, the “bargain-basement perception has actually kept MLS from going to the next level because many people — namely, sponsors and owners, both current and potential — don’t want to shop in the bargain basement. Mostly, because they don’t have to. And when they looked at MLS, they often thought that the M stood for Minor, not Major.”
Forbes’ evaluation of the L.A. Galaxy at $100 million will be enough to “capture the interest of potential owners and sponsors who want to be involved in something big, something that could earn them some real money and real envy from their rich friends.”
Captains of industry and titans of business, Lalas argues, “now see MLS as something worth their time (and, remember, time is money). The more of them that get involved, the more money the teams will have to spend, which means better players, better stadiums, better soccer.”