Man City set to buy a MLS franchise in New York?!

blue-army

Manchester City, the English Premier League team owned by Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, is close to being awarded a Major League Soccer expansion franchise in Queens, New York, for a record $100 million, three people with direct knowledge of the talks said.

The team would be known as the New York City Football Club and has contacted former England national team captain David Beckham about a role, two of the people said. Manchester City will explore other leagues around the world, seeking a way to expand its brand, two of the people said.

Manchester City, which won the Premier League last season, will pay more than two times the previous record for an MLS team, said the people, who requested anonymity because team and stadium contracts aren’t signed.

MLS spokesman Dan Courtemanche said via telephone that the league has held discussions with a number of possible ownership groups and that no expansion agreement has been completed.

“Our discussions remain private,” he said.

Manchester City today denied it was to become an MLS owner.

“Manchester City are not buying an MLS club,” the club said in a statement issued through Britain’s Press Association.

Paul Swangard, managing director of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon, said in a telephone interview that Manchester City’s involvement with MLS “further validates the strength of the American soccer market to the rest of the world.”

“It shows the league hasn’t plateaued,” he said. “To have it happen now, post-Beckham, is great for the league.”

Stadium Plans
MLS Commissioner Don Garber said last month that the league was “at the finish line” in negotiations with New York City officials on the league’s plan to build a 25,000-seat home for a new team based in Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens, east of Manhattan. Garber said the league was talking to a “wide variety” of potential owners, declining to name them. The park already houses Citi Field, home of Major League Baseball’s New York Mets, and the National Tennis Center, home to the U.S. Open.

The previous high fee for an MLS expansion franchise was $40 million for several teams.

Officials with Manchester City have spoken with representatives of Beckham about having an unspecified role with the team, two of the people said. Manchester City will sell a minority share of the team to local investors, the people said.

Beckham, one of the best-known athletes in the world, capped his MLS playing career this month with a second straight championship as a member of the Los Angeles Galaxy. Beckham declined to say where he would be next season, adding that he would continue to support soccer.

Beckham’s Commitment
“My commitment to this league, my commitment to this sport and this country will continue to be the same as it was when I came here six years ago,” said Beckham, who won league titles with Manchester United in England and Real Madrid in Spain before joining MLS in 2007.

MLS officials have been working for three years to bring a new team to New York, creating a rivalry with the New York Red Bulls, owned by Austrian energy-drink company Red Bull GmbH. The Red Bulls, whose roster includes Thierry Henry of France and Tim Cahill of Australia, plays in a 25,000-seat stadium in Harrison, New Jersey, about a 20-minute train ride from Wall Street.

“Clearly there’s enough space in New York for two or three teams,” Red Bulls General Manager Jerome de Bontin said in a Bloomberg Television interview on Dec. 10. “It would be terrific to have that competition in New York.”

Soccer Hotbed
Flushing Meadows is bordered by the neighborhood of Corona, where Mexicans, Ecuadoreans, Chileans and other Latinos help make up one of New York’s most passionate soccer fan bases.

The soccer stadium would cost $300 million to $350 million and be privately financed. MLS wants to start construction in 2014 and open the venue in 2016.

The last professional soccer team to play in the city was the New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League, who popularized the game in the U.S. by signing international stars such as Pele of Brazil and Franz Beckenbauer of Germany. The Cosmos, started in 1971, played home games in three city venues, the last one in 1976 at the old Yankee Stadium, before moving to Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Manchester City yesterday cut its annual loss in half to 97.9 million pounds ($158 million) from last year, when it reported the largest loss ever in English soccer.

City boosted sales to 231 million pounds in the 12 months ended May 31, 2012, from 153 million pounds in the year-earlier period. The team also benefited from 10.6 million pounds from the sale of players.

Debt Restraints
The reduction from last year’s record loss of 197.5 million pounds comes as European soccer’s ruling body tries to put financial rules in place to prevent teams from becoming overextended.

City is six points behind 19-time English champion Manchester United in this season’s Premier League standings and was eliminated from European competition after finishing last in its Champions League group.

City has spent more than 500 million pounds on transfer fees and salaries since Mansour bought the team in September 2008.

The team benefited from the start of a record 10-year naming-rights agreement worth more than 300 million pounds with Etihad, Abu Dhabi’s national airline.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-12-14/manchester-city-said-close-to-becoming-owner-of-mls-queens-team

Surely they're going to use this as a way of working around the UEFA Financial Fair Play rules.
Interesting to see Beckham being linked already though.

EdenHazard

**** that. We want the Cosmos!!!!!!

Pj!

Man City says it is not buying MLS club

Manchester City has rejected speculation it is in discussions to buy a new MLS franchise.

City, which Friday reported annual losses of 97.9 million pounds ($158.3 million) and increased turnover of 231.1 million ($373.6 million), was said to be on the brink of being awarded a franchise that would be based in the Queens borough of New York.

It had been suggested David Beckham had been approached to be part of the scheme, which was to be named New York City Football Club and cost City owner Sheikh Mansour 100 million pounds ($161.7 million).

However, Manchester City officials distanced themselves from the talk Saturday.

"Manchester City are not buying an MLS club," said City in a short statement.

Sheikh Mansour has used his involvement with City to raise the profile of Abu Dhabi.

It was suggested an involvement within the MLS would add to the work that has taken place turning City from a mid-ranking Premier League club into last season's champions.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story/_/id/1264701/manchester-city-denies-it-is-in-talks-to-buy-queens-mls-franchise?cc=5739

dreamers75

Not into "No Al Calcio Moderno" being an LOI fan but i can see where they coming from with this ****.

BOHtox

The franchise won't be taken to nicely by the traditional New York team with a proud history, New York/ New Jersey Metrostars New York Red Bulls

Leiva

EdenHazard wrote: »

**** that. We want the Cosmos!!!!!!

are you a City fan now ??

While the Man City/New York thing are more than likely rumours, i think you could see the future model of the MLS based on major European clubs buying Franchises or maybe the other way round?.

Colorado Rapids have adopted white sleeves as a show of solidarity with Stan Kroenke's other club Arsenal for example so is it the beginning of a transformation which might see them rebranded as the Colorado Gunners in the future? Or worse, will our current problems be added to which may see us known as the North London Rapids?

Oat23

Man City, N.Y. Yankees team up to own 20th MLS club

In ground-breaking news that fuses two global sports brands and continues the ongoing growth of soccer in the United States, a $100M deal was announced this morning that partners Manchester City, the English Premier League's 2011-12 Champions, with the New York Yankees, Major League Baseball powerhouse, as owners of New York City Football Club (NYCFC), the 20th franchise in Major League Soccer (MLS.)

The club expects to begin playing in 2015.

http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/relegationzone/id/833?cc=5739

citytillidie

Well that Eastern conference needs to be evened out

iDave

New York City Football Club

Impressed they went with a tradition name instead of an Americanised franchise name like New York Super Soccer Eagles

Cantona's Collars

Nice how they got into the womens league,Doncaster Belles were demoted to make room for City's Womens team,money talks I suppose.

They seem to think splashing the cash will give them a pedigree such as United or Liverpool.

citytillidie

iDave wrote: »

Impressed they went with a tradition name instead of an Americanised franchise name like New York Super Soccer Eagles

Well not the 1st team there is already Toronto FC

Paleface

Whatever happened to the commercial agreement between United and the Yankees?

Jimmy Iovine

3hn2givr7mx1sc

As if the Yankees weren't already unlikeable enough..

FatherTed

I'm a little surprised at this announcement now given there isn't a firm stadium deal. That was the prerequisite that MLS demanded for the recent MLS additions. Plus getting a stadium deal 100% done and building work started in the NYC area is much harder than any other part of the country. Lots of politics and different interest groups involved. But I guess Man City told them to announce it now, before their post-season US tour. Especially since tickets are selling so well, they're on Groupon: http://www.groupon.com/deals/gl-new-york-yankees-2013-7

Anyways, even though they're much closer to me than the NY Red Bulls, f-em.

citytillidie

baz2009 wrote: »

As if the Yankees weren't already unlikeable enough..

Ah those Yankees jumping ship from United to City

Mr.Nice Guy

I was hoping they might call the team the Manckees.

Xavi6

Go team soccer ball!

Seeing as I already have allegiances to two existing MLS teams I might not get into this one much.

Still, New York needed a second team so it's good for the league.

ambid

I wonder what this means for the new New York Cosmos? They aspired to be the next expansion franchise, but surely the MLS won't sign off on three teams in the New York/ New Jersey area (Red Bulls, City, and Cosmos).

I'd have liked to have seen the Cosmos back and it would be a shame if that doesn't happen as they are one of the few teams with a notable history.

FatherTed

ambid wrote: »

I wonder what this means for the new New York Cosmos? They aspired to be the next expansion franchise, but surely the MLS won't sign off on three teams in the New York/ New Jersey area (Red Bulls, City, and Cosmos).

I'd have liked to have seen the Cosmos back and it would be a shame if that doesn't happen as they are one of the few teams with a notable history.

They're going to be playing at a lower level, in the NASL league. Don't think they'll get into MLS anytime soon. Basically they wanted some exceptions to the MLS rules which MLS refused to budge on.

The Backwards Man

The Red Bulls play in Harrison though don't they? That would be the equivalent of a Manchester club playing in Liverpool if both areas had three times the population. How many people from Long Island travel to watch the RBs, or even from Manhattan for that matter?

Xavi6

Claudio Reyna named the Director of Football, makes sense with his links to City.

FatherTed

The Backwards Man wrote: »

The Red Bulls play in Harrison though don't they? That would be the equivalent of a Manchester club playing in Liverpool if both areas had three times the population. How many people from Long Island travel to watch the RBs, or even from Manhattan for that matter?

Not really, it's about 20 minutes by train from downtown Manhatten to Harrison so not that much of a big deal. Definitely longer from Brooklyn/Queens and LI(depending on where you are of course). Point is that there is already an MLS team in the area if people want to go see. I would guess 50% come from New Jersey and the rest from New York. A few of us trek down from Connecticut 4-5 times a year

For years, MLS has been saying that NY Red Bulls/Metrostars were New York's team but over the last couple of years, MLS has been hell bent on getting a "real" New York team in(ignoring other parts of the country crying out for a team such as the south-east) and they have landed nicely with Man City $$$. I'm just not sure if the average NY sports/soccer fan will go watch a team playing in Yankee Stadium on a consistent basis after the initial novelty wears off.

Oat23

Has anyone seen that the owners have now extended Lampards stay at Man City until the end of the season, meaning he will not feature for NYCFC until around June. Seems like a pretty sh*tty thing to do if you ask me. He's supposed to me a NYCFC player on loan at Man City, but it's fairly obvious now how this arrangement between the two clubs owned by the Arabs is going to work.

His face was plastered all over New York a few months ago. People bought season tickets thinking they were going to see him come March.

Frank Lampard: Man City stay prompts New York fans' outrage

Fans of Major League Soccer's New York City are "outraged" by Frank Lampard's decision to stay with Manchester City until the end of the English season.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/30648173

CSF

My god, how could the owners do that to the fans who have followed them the length and breadth of the country over the years.

Seriously though, if he scores a few more important goals and City peg back Chelsea (I don't think they will) it will look like a no-brainer

emmetlego

An exercise in unsportsmanlike rule bending by City! Not nice at all

CSF

emmetlego wrote: »

An exercise in unsportsmanlike rule bending by City! Not nice at all

How?

Richard Hillman

I think it was quite silly for city to shoot their load on the first dual owned player they had. This situation will be closed down.

salmocab

Richard Hillman wrote: »

I think it was quite silly for city to shoot their load on the first dual owned player they had. This situation will be closed down.

Yeah I'm sure there will be something done about this but wouldn't bet on it happening too quickly.

Oat23

CSF wrote: »

How?

Lampard is supposed to be an NYCFC player on loan at Manchester City. The problem is, the people running NYCFC day-to-day clearly have no say in this decision to extend his loan, because the last thing they want to be doing is A) Losing one of the their best players for the first 4 months of the season and Piss off their fans before they have even played an official match.

Lampard is basically an employee of City Football Group, who are not a football club.

3rd party ownership is illegal in England and set to be banned by FIFA in May.

emmetlego

CSF wrote: »

How?

Does it really have to be explained???

It was obvious that this was done to evade FFP rules, and now to get a full season from him is just extracting the urine!

**edit^^, thanks oat23**

CSF

emmetlego wrote: »

Does it really have to be explained???

It was obvious that this was done to evade FFP rules, and now to get a full season from him is just extracting the urine!

So the David Villa loan was to evade FFP rules? The Henry one? The Keane one?

This is a common enough thing and when the player does well the Prem club always wants to keep the player.

NY are a City feeder club so in this case they were able to.

Wasn't his loan deal at City until May and he they were going to break it on December 31st?

Seems to be a case of not reading the fine print.

JaMarcusHustle

https://twitter.com/grantwahl/status/550442187004313600

Very odd.

death1234567

Oat23 wrote: »

Lampard is basically an employee of City Football Group, who are not a football club.

3rd party ownership is illegal in England and set to be banned by FIFA in May.

Lots of companies have subsidiaries so the setup City Football Group have is not the same as 3rd party ownership. Aston Villa are also owned by a holding company.

The loan system is ripe for abuse in various ways and the top clubs have been abusing it for a long time now. The easy solution is to ban loan deals altogether but the rich clubs would kick up a fuss if this was done.

CSF

death1234567 wrote: »

Lots of companies have subsidiaries so the setup City Football Group have is not the same as 3rd party ownership. Aston Villa are also owned by a holding company.

The loan system is ripe for abuse in various ways and the top clubs have been abusing it for a long time now. The easy solution is to ban loan deals altogether but the rich clubs would kick up a fuss if this was done.

Banning loan deals wouldn't be good for the development of young players so it wouldn't happen.

monkey9

Oat23 wrote: »

Lampard is supposed to be an NYCFC player on loan at Manchester City. The problem is, the people running NYCFC day-to-day clearly have no say in this decision to extend his loan, because the last thing they want to be doing is A) Losing one of the their best players for the first 4 months of the season and Piss off their fans before they have even played an official match.

Lampard is basically an employee of City Football Group, who are not a football club.

3rd party ownership is illegal in England and set to be banned by FIFA in May.

I agree with what you're saying, but this isn't 3rd party ownership in the term that people are looking to have banned. It's just a loan, but a loophole loan all the same.

Oat23

monkey9 wrote: »

I agree with what you're saying, but this isn't 3rd party ownership in the term that people are looking to have banned. It's just a loan, but a loophole loan all the same.

It's rule bending, which is what CSF asked about and I replied to.

A 'loophole loan' is the same as 3rd party ownership in Lampards situation. NYCFC have no say in where 'their' player plays. Man City claim he is on 'loan'. If it was legal, he'd probably be contracted to City Football Group because that is the way this setup is working anyway.