SPOTLIGHT ON MLS APRIL 2021 Governance structures at national association level CIES SPORTS INTELLIGENCE The CIES Sports Intelligence is a research and the tools to understand which are the most sui- analysis team of CIES, created to respond to an table. Our benchmarking and indexing expertise increasing demand from sport organizations for will facilitate this process as we combine quali- independent and informed advice. Today, due to tative and quantitative data to conduct tailored improvements in technology and communications multi-dimensional comparisons. as well as the growing financial interests at stake, sports bodies are under ever greater scrutiny both Our clients include some of the most impor- from inside sport and the outside world. As such, tant sports organizations at global level. We they are required to be more responsible than have already helped international federations ever in carrying out their activities and in facing to evaluate and monitor the implementation of the challenges they are presented with. Within new regulatory frameworks at national level, to this context, information and data become essen- benchmark domestic competitions and sporting tial. CIES Sports Intelligence aims to deliver subs- issues in hundreds of countries or understand the tantial value for stakeholders in the industry, by governance models adopted across different re- supplying them with factual information that helps gions in the world. Our fact-based and descriptive them benchmark their organizations, support their approach allow us to analyse and interpret a wide decision-making processes as well as orient their range of different subjects, including economic, strategies. legal, governance and development aspects. With services that focus on spreading new insights and Building on more than 20 years of experience knowledge, CIES Sports Intelligence’s objective and a solid global network at CIES, the new is to support stakeholders in the promotion of a Sports Intelligence division will aim to help sports better governance and management of sport and organizations understand how to react and adapt a more stable sporting environment based on to the continuous changes and innovation within informed decision-making. the industry, as well as seize the opportunities and mitigate the risks deriving from this ever-evolving landscape. In such complex scenario it is crucial for stakeholders to know their options and have SPORTS INTELLIGENCE 2 3 OUR AREAS OF EXPERTISE OUR SERVICES GOVERNANCE SURVEYS & QUESTIONNAIRES REGULATORY SECONDARY RESEARCH COMPETITIONS DATABASE CREATION & MANAGEMENT ECONOMICS & DATA ANALYSIS FINANCIALS & MINING FACILITIES & REPORTING INFRASTRUCTURE & EDITING 3 Governance structures at national association level METHODOLOGY The 'Spotlight on MLS' report provides a comprehen- sis, club-trained players are considered as those having sive analysis on the evolution and current status of Major spent at least two consecutive years in the club’s acade- League Soccer as the North American top-tier division my before eventually joining the club’s first team. gets ready to kick-off its 26th season. The study com- bines off-the-pitch and on-the-pitch data and statis- All values for the section on player salaries are sourced tics to deliver a detailed snapshot of the MLS, both at from the official reports published by the MLS Player league and individual club level. The report is structured Association (MLSPA) and refer to a player’s Annualized across six main areas of analysis: Average Guaranteed Compensation. As stated by the MLSPA, ‘the Annualized Average Guarantee Compen- - The league’s expansion since 1996; sation (Guaranteed comp) includes a player's base sa- - The league’s club ownership landscape; lary and all signing and guaranteed bonuses annualized - MLS stadia and average attendances; over the term of the player's contract, including option - Player recruitment strategies of MLS clubs; years. The Guaranteed Comp figure also includes any - Player salaries in the MLS; marketing bonus and any agent's fees, both annualized - MLS playing statistics. over the term of the contract. The Average Annual Gua- ranteed Compensation figure does not include Perfor- The report is based on desk research and, with the ex- mance Bonuses because there is no guarantee that the ception of a series of playing statistics provided by the player will hit those bonuses’. CIES Football Observatory, it exclusively relied on publi- cly available information. The main source of data was The playing statistics included in the report are the result represented by official league and club websites, online of CIES Sports Intelligence calculations based on values articles and existing literature. Articles from Forbes.com from the CIES Football Observatory and integrated with were used to collect data on the valuation of clubs or the additional data from FBref. Domestic players are consi- estimated net worth of club owners. Data has been last dered as those born either in the USA or Canada. Player updated on the 12th of April 2021. ages were calculated as the time between a player’s bir- thdate and June 30th of the year in which each season For the sections on stadium attendances, figures were took place. sourced from the data publicly available on OverLap- ping Run and cross-checked with the MLS Fact and The information included in this report has not been ve- Record book. Figures and information on player recruit- rified with primary sources or survey to the associations. ment strategies are the result of CIES analysis based on As such, the authors do not guarantee the full accuracy data from Transfermarkt. For the purposes of the analy- or completeness of the data included in this study. CLUB ABBREVIATIONS ATL ATLANTA UNITED FC MIA INTER MIAMI CF PHI PHILADELPHIA UNION AUS AUSTIN FC LAF LOS ANGELES FC POR PORTLAND TIMBERS CHA CHARLOTTE FC LAG LOS ANGELES GALAXY RSL REAL SALT LAKE CHI CHICAGO FIRE FC MIN MINNESOTA UNITED FC SAC SACRAMENTO REPUBLIC CIN FC CINCINNATI MON CF MONTREAL SJO SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES COL COLORADO RAPIDS NAS NASHVILLE SC SEA SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC CLB COLUMBUS CREW SC NER NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION SKC SPORTING KANSAS CITY DAL FC DALLAS NYC NEW YORK CITY FC STL ST. LOUIS CITY SC DCU DC UNITED NYR NEW YORK RED BULLS TOR TORONTO FC HOU HOUSTON DYNAMO FC ORL ORLANDO CITY SC VAN VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC 4 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS THE EXPANSION OF MLS 6 MLS'S OWNERSHIP LANDSCAPE 8 MLS STADIA AND ATTENDANCES 10 PLAYER RECRUITMENT IN MLS 12 MLS AND PLAYER SALARIES 14 MLS PLAYING STATISTICS 16 ATLANTA UNITED FC 18 CHICAGO FIRE FC 20 FC CINCINNATI 22 COLORADO RAPIDS 24 COLUMBUS CREW SC 26 FC DALLAS 28 DC UNITED 30 HOUSTON DYNAMO FC 32 INTER MIAMI CF 34 LOS ANGELES FC 36 LOS ANGELES GALAXY 38 MINNESOTA UNITED FC 40 CF MONTRÉAL 42 NASHVILLE SC 44 NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION 46 NEW YORK CITY FC 48 NEW YORK RED BULLS 50 ORLANDO CITY SC 52 PHILADELPHIA UNION 54 PORTLAND TIMBERS 56 REAL SALT LAKE 58 SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES 60 SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC 62 SPORTING KANSAS CITY 64 TORONTO FC 66 VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC 68 AUSTIN FC 70 CHARLOTTE FC 70 SACRAMENTO REPUBLIC FC 71 ST.LOUIS CITY SC 71 AUTHORS: FERNANDO ROITMAN FRANCESCO MARINI CONTRIBUTORS: KEVIN TALLEC MARSTON ALBERTO BISONI Enquires to be sent to [email protected] 5 Governance structures at national association level THE EXPANSION OF MLS A direct legacy of the 1994 FIFA World partnership with the homonym Mexican Nashville SC) and an additional four Cup in the USA, Major League Soccer team. The league’s 10-year anniversary teams expected to take the field by began as a modest but ambitious enter- saw the first, and so far only, club relo- 2023 (Austin FC, Charlotte SC, St. Louis prise. Alan Rothenberg, then chairman cation in its history, when the San Jose SC and - although the expansion team is of the World Cup organizing committee, Earthquakes franchise was moved to currently on indefinite hold - Sacramento announced the creation of the new top- Houston. Republic). This will bring the total num- flight division on December 17, 1993. Six ber of MLS to thirty - equaling the likes months later, the first seven cities were As MLS courted new markets, its se- of the National Basketball Association selected, followed by an additional three cond decade was uncontestably one of (NBA) and the Major League Baseball in June 1995. The ten charter clubs com- growth. With the exception of the demise (MLB) - in what MLS has admitted to peting in MLS’s debut in 1996 were the of the Chivas USA less than ten years af- being a possible goal of 32 teams in the Colorado Rapids, Columbus Crew, DC ter its foundation, the league flourished, near future. United, Dallas Burn, Los Angeles Galaxy, reaching a total of twenty teams in 2016 New England Revolution, New York/ with the addition of three Canadian sides MLS’s growth is visible not only in the in- New Jersey MetroStars, San Jose Clash, - Toronto FC, Montreal Impact (now CF creasing number of clubs, but also in the Kansas City Wizards and the Tampa Bay Montréal) and the Vancouver Whitecaps significantly rising fees required to join Mutiny. - the return of the San Jose Earthquakes, the league. The USD 325 million-fee re- the birth of the North-Western powe- portedly agreed by Charlotte FC is more The league, which first expanded in 1998 rhouses Seattle Sounders and Portland than threefold the amount paid by Real with the addition of new teams in Chica- Timbers, and the expansion on the East Salt Lake fifteen years earlier. In the last go and Miami, would see little but signi- Coast with new franchises in Philadel- five years, MLS collected a total of USD ficant changes in size throughout its first phia, New York and Orlando.