The following are quotes from the June 3 MLS media teleconference that featured MLS Commissioner Doug Logan, MLS Executive VP Ivan Gazidis and MetroStars GM Charlie Stillitano. Doug Logan Opening Remarks “We’re pleased with the results of the trades earlier this week and we’re excited to see how change of scenery affects the players and teams involved.” “I’ve modestly griped about the lack of coverage we’ve received during various instances, especially concerning our broadcast partners at ESPN … During the last week, the coverage we received on SportsCenter was superb … Our hats go off to our friends in Connecticut.” “We have up to 70,106 players in our Yahoo! fantasy soccer league … It’s turning out to be a lot of fun and an interesting sidelight … Our fans seem to be very excited in participating in that new element.” “We’re very close to announcing what the makeup of our All-Star Weekend (July 14-18 in San Diego) will be like … We’re waiting on one contract … The doubleheader will feature a top Mexican League team against a top South American team, and we’ll make the announcement at appropriate time … It’s an exciting enhancement to our All-Star festivities.” “We’re continuing to sell season tickets, and now we’re running +13% above last year … We’ve sold a total of 43,781 for the season and should top 44,000 … There are eight teams at last years level or better … We place great importance on the strides we’ve made this season and hope to carry those into next season and the following.” “Finally, neither Hillary Clinton or a new international star have established residency in the New York area.” Ivan Gazidis Opening Remarks “Three teams are currently looking for player allocations … We’re working closely on a day-to-day basis … Unfortunately, we have no player announcement today … Kansas City, San Jose and New York are the three teams … With the flurry of trades, the MetroStars have two significant allocations coming their way … I speak with [MetroStars GM] Charlie Stillitano on what seems like an hourly basis.” Gazidis on status of Lothar Matthaeus or Claudio Caniggia “We’ve had a variety of discussions with a number of players … It’s premature to let you know what has been discussed … Things are going very positively … Lothar is a player who looked like one of the best on the field at Nou Camp Stadium [May 26 in the Champions’ League Final in Barcelona] … Bayern Munich understandably wants to keep him.” “As far as Caniggia goes, it’s too early to make any comments … The media commonly refer to a list that teams provide the league in search of potential foreign players … However, it’s really a pool of players, within which there is daily movement … There are conversations between Charlie and myself, and between me and the clubs … Unfortunately for the MetroStars, it is unrealistic to have an announcement in the next week … But it is possible.” Stillitano on the identification process “It’s a process that Bora and I have gone through since last year, looking to upgrade American players and assess our needs for foreign players … We want a player with leadership ability, someone the younger players can look up to … Also, a forward who can partner with Hurtado and score goals up front.” Logan on the MetroStars’ plan of action “As a consequence of watching this process, I have to take my hat off to Bora and Charlie for the patient way they have approached the restructuring of their team … They are under enormous pressure, because everyone wants it done yesterday, and the fans and media are full of judgements with regard to where they are going … The project that they’ve embarked upon has a long-term (by long-term I mean 2-3 years) horizon … Patience will pay off for them.” “We see the light right now with regard to MetroStars … You can’t live or die on a week-to-week basis saying I have to have (blank) by next weekend … The strategy is formed on a long-haul basis … It’s more than looking at this week or this month or even this season.” “This is a team that is leading the league in attendance … We expect them to be among the leaders for the balance of the season … The way they marketed the doubleheader last week was great …. People didn’t come between games .. The MetroStars made fans out of folks who don’t usually come to their games … The team is poised to make significant gains … they’ve put themselves in a position of adding quality players and will be rewarded for their patience.” “Over the course of the last 3-4 months, under a new coach, the Metros have devised a strategy … They’ve traded players and have created international player spots and salary room to attract new players, not in the Cosmos way, but in the MLS way … Right now we are orchestrating a strategy that works within the rules we have structured to work both on the field and as a business … I admire greatly what Charlie and Bora and [MetroStars Investor/Operator] Stuart Subotnick have done … We are working on acquiring two impact foreign players in concert with Charlie and Bora … That will leave a roster spot for them … If they choose to acquire another player, should they have room under the cap, they have that ability, either foreign or domestic.” Logan on the necessity of marquee name in New York “It is a terrible curse, but it’s reality … The curse being that one cannot, in the present environment, succeed with a young team of players 23-25 years old and grow into respectability the way that Columbus did … The fans and media in New York require at least two or three or more well-known faces … That’s the legacy of Mr. Ross and the Cosmos … We’re trying to accommodate that without being financially irresponsible.” Gazidis on foreign perception of MLS “The perception of MLS used to be a very unsophisticated one … Players were looking for a big payday before retirement … As our reputation has grown – and it has grown – that perception has changed and become more sophisticated … Overseas clubs and overseas players now realize that we are a young, up-and-coming league, not a retirement home … A great number of players in Europe are looking to come to the United States … We’re not yet at the point where we’re going to sign stars in their prime … But there are players with good reputations in their 30s who are interested in MLS.” “Since the league’s inception, there has always been a great balancing act between 30-year-old players with a reputation and those who are younger, unproven, prospect-type players … However, there is always a need for name players with impressive resumes, and that’s especially true in New York.” Stillitano on MetroStars’ fan restlessness “The league has become more sophisticated in its player selection … In the five years since I’ve been with the team, we’ve improved the overall quality of core Americans … We have a good group that Bora likes … Now we just hope to bring in the type of players that would bring us that high-level professionalism that Roberto Donadoni brought … We want to fit him in with the players we have here.” Logan on terminology of allocation/marquee players “Right from the start, when we put 10 teams together, we allocated about five players per team and those were assigned by the league due to the level of player, the level of cost, salary and the player’s potential impact on teams … What we’ve seen since is an outgrowth of that process and now it’s probably a misnomer.” “The MetroStars have cleared sufficient salary room and are looking to fill the spot that they had unoccupied … We are looking for two top-salary players for the MetroStars … Despite the fact that they have three foreign spots, we are looking for two impact players.” Logan on Campos playing in Chicago next week for Mexico “He and I plan to have a conversation that afternoon before the game.” Logan on league stance on drug use and how it applies to future signings “We still continue to have the no-tolerance stance … There are problems that people go through that they are able to cure … I can assure you that we would not enter into a contract with a player without the assurance that those problems are in that person’s past … It’s not a mixed message … Unless we had assurances that a problem was behind someone, we would not enter into a contract.” Logan on pursuit of a fourth foreigner for San Jose “At one time, San Jose had just nine players on a roster … They’ve turned things around in a relatively short amount of time … We are working hard to get them that player, but within prudent business guidelines.” Gazidis on contract status of Marcelo Vega and Alejandro Sequiera “Vega is in Chile, continuing with his career … He is not an MLS employee … Sequiera does have a contract with us, and he hasn’t gone from being a player with great potential in the last six months to being someone we don’t want in the league.” Logan on Sequiera “I think Sequiera will see time in an MLS uniform before the season is over.” Gazidis on choosing where a new player goes in MLS “Player preferences occasionally play a part … Generally, it’s not as significant as is often reported, or as it used to be, when intenational players didn’t quite know what they were getting into … Now they know the differences between our 12 teams are not like some leagues where there are one or two teams playing at a significantly higher level than the rest of the league.” Logan on All-Star conflicts with U.S. national team participation in the Confederations Cup “The All-Star Game is important to MLS as a way of showcasing for our fans a high-scoring and fun game … It’s a vehicle for entertainment in sports for our league … At the same time, we have made a commitment to [U.S. national team coach] Bruce Arena for the competition in Guadalajara (where I believe the General Secretary has made me the Head of Delegation) and to give him what he needs to field the most competitive team … Bruce is savvy and very loyal to us … He knows our All-Star needs … One event doesn’t necessarily supercede the other.” Logan on expansion “The first two weeks of July would still be the go/no go date … There is a MLS Board Of Governors meeting scheduled for the 13th of July … Rochester stands very high in my book, unless they have to share a baseball stadium with a baseball team … For right now, I am one of their greatest fans … We look very kindly on their endeavors … If that stadium gets built and we find the right ownership, then they go to the top of my list.” Gazidis on rumors of David Regis going to the Kansas City Wizards “There is no word on that … Under the right circumstances, he would be interested in coming to the U.S. … It’s not a case of him coming home, like it has been with most American players … Nothing is imminent with David.” Gazidis on MLS salary restrictions “Those players [who could command more than $250,000 elsewhere] are interested in being in the United States … That’s worth something, as are the opportunity for creative marketing strategies which is sometimes written in their contracts … However, we are not able to compete with what the top clubs in Europe and South America can pay … We have to be responsible, but we have unique attractions … For players that have made their money, it’s not about the money anymore.” Gazidis on Joe-Max Moore heading back to Germany “He will have a number of different options available to him, but he has indicated that he desires to continue his career with MLS … At the appropriate time we will meet with him … His first preference is to be in MLS … He’s happy to be in New England and he’s developed a good relationship with Walter Zenga.”