Why Are MLS Team Values Skyrocketing?
The Lead
Wondery
3.9 • 2.2K Ratings
🗓️ 15 April 2021
⏱️ 19 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Major League Soccer is still not making money, and only about a quarter of the league’s teams turn a profit, according to Forbes. And yet the cost of buying an MLS team, or buying into the league, is skyrocketing -- and growing at a much faster rate than the NFL, NBA, or MLB. We've also seen celebrities like Will Ferrell, Matthew McConaughey, Magic Johnson, James Harden and others become partial owners of MLS teams. The Athletic’s Sam Stejskal joins us to explain why, and to break down some of the biggest storylines to follow during the 2021 MLS season, which kicks off on Friday.
More from Sam Stejskal: https://theathletic.com/author/sam-stejskal/
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Transcript
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| 0:46.0 | The value of professional sports teams in the US has gone up and up and up in recent years. |
| 0:58.0 | But one league's teams have grown faster than any other. Major league soccer. |
| 1:03.0 | MLS is still not making money and only about a quarter of the league's teams are turning a profit according to Forbes. |
| 1:10.0 | But the cost of buying a team or of buying into the league keeps skyrocketing. |
| 1:16.0 | Today the Athletics Sam Staskel joins us to explain why and to break down some of the biggest storylines to follow |
| 1:22.0 | during the 2021 season which kicks off on Friday. From Wondry and the Athletic, I'm under Skelto. |
| 1:27.0 | It's Thursday, April 15th and this is The Lead. |
| 1:31.0 | So Sam, the very first MLS game was played almost exactly 25 years ago today. |
| 1:39.0 | If you were to give a state of the league speech, what would you say? How was MLS doing? |
| 1:44.0 | Well, it's certainly come a long way from that first game 25 years ago. That's for sure. |
| 1:48.0 | MLS is a very well attended league in person in non-pandemic times. |
| 1:53.0 | At least obviously that took a break in 2020. But it compares favorably to leagues like Syria, in Italy and league in France in terms of average attendance. |
| 2:04.0 | So it does really well on that front. It hasn't been able to translate those solid crowds in places like Atlanta or Seattle where you see sometimes 70,000 people in the stands in the large TV audience. |
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