USL Sale Update: NY Times Story
Yesterday, Jack Bell of the NY Times wrote a piece on the ongoing sale of the United Soccer League by Nike/UMBRO. He however had some critical details wrong.
Firstly, while USL-1 owners are working with Traffic Sports, the President of Miami FC, Aaron Davidson is also the head of the USL First Division owners association. This means that USL-1 owners will work through Davidson with any potential buyer, be it Traffic Sports, the reported front runner, or any other bidder, which includes groups from both the United States and Europe.
Secondly, MLS I am told did submit a proxy bid via Adidas that was ruled out of bounds. Whether the bid was formally rejected because it was low or not submitted because any bidder is required to keep UMBRO as a USL sponsor is immaterial. The point is MLS had every intention of bidding on the USL. Bell’s story is written in such a way that the it appears MLS looked at USL and felt it was a bad investment.
Thirdly, Romario played for Miami FC three seasons ago, not last season. Bell is competent writer, but missing badly on minor details like this, especially for a veteran journalist (ie not a blogger) is disappointing. Bell typically gets small details right, and produces some outstanding work on the sport. That is why if this was a story that the NY Times was going to cover like a blogger would, they need not have covered it at all.
MLS and the USL had an affiliate agreement that broke down earlier this decade. Chances are whomever wins the bid for USL will not renew that affiliate agreement in the near future.
Are you going to disclose the fact that you are shilling for Traffic or are you just going to let that slide?
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Traffic is one of MANY bidders. If you play the percentages, chances are they will not be the new owner of USL. I am told more bids were submitted than perhaps expected by both Nike and Traffic, and some of the bids, dare I say it are impressive and possibly more worthwhile than Traffic’s bid. That is for Nike to determine, not me, but the depth and quality of bids both from the US and abroad is a good thing for American soccer.
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He’s hoping for a spot in the new world order.
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Good job Fan! I think you’ve elicited what we want and suspect out of Kartik. Namely, that Traffic has been outbid. But by whom?
I guess that’ll be found out soon.
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The best thing for all parties involved would be if USL simply went under. It serves no pupose and MLS combined with the USSF and Bradenton can do a better job of everything.
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Kartik is no different than any other local beat writer or blogger. The famous Soccer by Ives site was dead wrong in its claims about the Red Bulls in the Osorio situation. Ives Galarcep had not even bothered to get the Chicago perspective. As it turns out, his story was all wrong, as the Fire never filed tampering charges and never intended to.
Here you have Jack Bell in New York shilling for NY based MLS and Kartik in Florida shilling for NY based USL. It’s a common theme in American soccer writing.
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I meant to say Florida based USL, sorry.
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John — thanks for consigning all the USL teams to the dustbin.
–USL team fans.
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It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. I’m intrigued, and as a Miami FC fan with experience with them, very frightened at the same time, by Traffic’s involvement in all this. I can only hope with their desire to upgrade USL’s image and influence that they also upgrade their treatment of Miami FC(i.e. spend more on key things like marketing, getting games on television, maybe building a stadium, etc. etc.).
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Do you know who are the bidders from Europe?
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I am appalled that one would just want “USL to go under”. The amount of players, gm’s, staff, etc. that started with USL and went on to higher levels is staggering. Soccer in the US would be profoundly different were not for Mr. Marcos and his idea.
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Bell was way off base, clearly. Jeff Cooper and NuRock were the two high bidders. As you said several bids were in. Props to you. Also good reporting over at MLS Talk on the owners reaction.
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Good Reporting. Bell missed the boat on this one.
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