Why Won't Toronto use a DP this year?

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Maybe they want to pay back some of their start-up cost thru operations?

Paradoxically, while it APPEARS MLS is spending more cash these days, I actually think we are going to be entering an era in which 'investment' (read: sunk cost) is out, and 'return' is in- and everything will have be justified. In some cases, fans of some teams are going to be disappointed- since Red Bull for example can amortize player costs thru sponsership deals that (someone like Toronto) won't be able to do.

So, they'll likely always have a higher/much higher payroll as long as Red Bull owns them.

Whether or not this translates to more championships, who knows

 

I believe Mo wants to evaluate what he has with this team first, and then try filling in the holes for next season. I don't anticipate him using up much of the allocation funds we have right now ($900K), so he'll save up for something good later on. MLSE does have loads of money so when we do get a DP it'll be a good one. The DP will likely be Italian, Portuguese or maybe even Greek to cater to one of those large ethnic communities. There'll be alot of Serbian/Croat supporters of TFC, so it might be one of them too...

 

I don't want to feed the local TFC troll, but MLSE (TFC owners) have already made money on this operation - ie; stadium naming rights. With all the ticket sales and what not, I think it'd have to be a player who is only there to PLAY and not put bums in seats.

 

True, may not have to cater to the ethnic communities to put butts in the seats...however i could see that factor playing into how the player would "fit in" outside of soccer. Raptor Andrea Bargnani is a hit with the Italian community here in TO, so maybe if say Del Piero hears about it that's something that might appeal to him. Same for any other former star player from countries with a large population here in the GTA. Food for thought.

 

That's the nature of an expansion team--the bar is pretty low, and it's already silly how far ahead of the last 2 expansion teams TFC are.

Besides, Johnston is going to have to react to how his team plays on the field before he can judge what their real need is. It's not like 75% of these guys were together last year and you know what the chemistry/personnel issues really are, as it would be for established clubs.

So sitting on the DP might be the pro move for MoJo. TFC are probably the only club that wouldn't be stupid to neither use nor trade it.

 

Good to know they paid themselves back the expansion fee!

Man, with the success you guys already have- I'd think Toronto FC fans would be so thin-skinned!

 

They haven't had any success yet, all they've done is sell tickets (which is awesome of course). The Toronto Rock (NLL) get over 16,000 (if not more), on top of the Leafs, Jays, Raptors and Argos who all get decent crowds. There's a lot of sports money in TO.

 

Expansion fee's not really relevant here. He was talking about operating profit.

He wasn't referring to you, he's not naming the guy because he doesn't want him to come around.

 

If you're going to judge a team's seriousness on whether they sign a DP, you're not going to be happy with most of the teams in the league. I'd guess no more than three or four use it this year.

 

I'll take that bet.

 

I said guess, not bet.

I may be wrong, but I just really don't think it will be heavily used this year. Toronto and DC have pretty much said they won't. Columbus' dream just went out the window.

 

How often does a player acquired largely for name purposes actually end up helping a team succeed? I'd say it's half-and-half at best. For every Paco Palencia there's a Jorge Campos or Lothar Matheus.

Toronto doesn't need a marquee name to help sell tickets. They were doing fine and are actually gaining credibility with other team's DP signings. Why spend big cash on say Dwight Yorke, when there's no guarantee that Yorke will be as productive as the forwards you have.

I know this might sound crazy, but Toronto seems focused on building the best team they can and right now they seem to have a solid starting XI in place and are still supposed to be signing three major players.

Why not wait a season or three when the honeymoon has passed and they have a better sense of what they need on the field. Then you can cause a stir and help the team on the field.

cheers,
hobbes

 

Right. While only three or four may start the year with DPs, I expect some movement in the Aug 15-Sep 15 transfer window. By that time, teams will have a handle on where they are in the playoff chase, and what their needs on the field are.

With four or five "grandfathered" players still in the league, I don't expect all 13 spots to get used unless the MLS Executive Board decides the program is wildly successful and is leaning toward expanding it to two players per team starting in 2008.

 

I can understand your disappointment, but I think this is a smart move. On an expantion team in a sport which relies so heavily on chemistry between the players on the field you really have no idea what your needs will be. There will almost certainly be a couple of players who've been solid contributors in the past who just won't fit in with the system and the rest of the team and there will almost certainly be players who unexpectedly flourish. This is true of pretty much any team on a year to year basis, especially in MLS, but it's ten times more true of an expansion team. It would suck for you guys to invest millions in a multi-year deal for a big name player only to find out eight months down the road that your big need is unexpectedly in a very different area.

 

TFC doesn't need one because we will be a competitive team just based on looking at the roster of players we have. There is nothing to worry about at this point in time. If things start to go bad then we might bring one in, but I don't see that happening.

 

and maybe Mo wants to see how the first half of the season goes and if TFC are in bad shape then maybe they'll use their DP during the summer transfer window.

 

This time 2 years ago, RSL fans were talking about what a great roster Ellinger had assembled with Pope, Kreis, Mathis, Williams, Countess, et. al. and how they were in good shape to make the playoffs. This time a year ago, Mojo was making personnel decisions like bringing in Peter Canero to TFKAM.

1. Roster looks good on paper but that's not where the game is played. Many of your personnel decisions won't work out. Because players are inconsistent or look good in one setting and then don't transition.

2. Mojo had a terrible season last year (both in terms of his talent decisions and then work with the team). Okay, extentuating circumstances. Still, I wouldn't be totally in the tank for the guy right now--some caution is in order.

3. The rationale for not using the DP as it was explained to me makes sense. You build a team on paper and then see how it performs on the field. Maybe you discover that....none of your A-mids are worth crap, that Cancela is past his sell-by date and ROB insists on being an A-mid but can't play that position so you need an A-mid. Or none of your strikers can score. But you don't know that until you've given the team a run out and at least half a season to mesh and see what is working or isn't.

4. Forget the concept of a DP. What the DP rule REALLY says (in terms of impact) is the following:
--MLS teams may have FEWER players who exceed the cap. Instead of having as many as 3 or 4 in the past, basically you're now allowed 1. So you really want to be sure you get that one player right.
--But the one player you have who exceeds the cap can now be a really rich guy (instead of paying Marco Etcheverry $500K above the cap, you can pay someone $5million above the cap).

You're saying "let's rush out and spend a lot of money on a player." On whom? What expensive acquisition fills a key need? Wouldn't it be foolish to plunk down money for, say...Shevchenko..and then discover that Alecko Eskandarian is going to score 18 goals for you but you have a losing season b/c none of your GKs are performing? Or you'd kill for an experienced defensive leader or great sweeper?

5. Most of these DP players--signing them is quite a dance. I understand that Dallas spent a lot of time during the superdraft on the line with Edgar David's people. And he still isn't signed I believe. Don't you think that is time and focus that detracted from analyzing other talent acquisition? Greg Dalby dropped in the draft b/c of the belief he might go overseas. Time you spend romancing a Beckham or Ronaldo is time and energy and focus your staff does not spend scouting other players that are more realistic or signing players who can be there when camp opens in a couple of weeks and be with the team on openning day (as opposed to August). Remember, MLS scouting and player personnel is tremendously understaffed so time you ask those people to spend in one area means time they don't spend someplace else.

There are two teams that I think make the most sense not to use their DP slot in 2007: Columbus and TFC. Columbus has a lot of young guns still developing and that team needs to find out if Jason Garey will become something special or is he a better behaved version of Chris Carrieri. TFC needs to find out if Mojo is the man for your team and what holes your side has (and you will have holes) before you blow a couple of million dollars on one player.

 

This is exactly what I was thinking.

 

Toronto really doens't need to use it this year. They need try to figure out what they have and start to build.

I would be happy to see some more established american teams use it, and bring some more big name players into the league.

I think it would be just as good for ticket sales up here and i' be happy to watch these players come and play against us while we grow, and we can use it in the next year or so, once we see where it would help most.

 

/\/\/\ I agree, American team's signing DP's right now will have just as big of an impact on Toronto's ticket sales. The city wants to the league to be top-tier. Even the Raptors had many good seasons of attendance without winning and arguably without a true star (CB4 just made the ASG last year and VC had fallen out of favour long before that) but that fans kept coming out to see the Lebron's, Wade's and Melo's. Why? Because Toronto fans just want to spend money on the best there is, which is part of the reason junior hockey does so poorly in the city, people don't support bush league stuff around here and as the league improves so will the standing in the eyes of Torontoians.