Saputo Wealth

[Grizzly]

I was reading the thread in the TFC & MLS forum called, Dobson: Canucks & Gillette interested in MLS when I can across the following post by Canuck Oranje

quote:Incidentally, I think the Montreal franchise is really up to whether the Saputo family wants it badly enough. If Lino Sr. wants it, the family has a net worth greater than that of Gillett. The Saputo family is in Malcolm Glazer, Jim Balsillie territory. Gillett may have the glitz and profile but he is somewhere further down the list.

I thought that can not be true but did some research and it is. In fact Canadian Business magazine rated the family as Canada`s 8th richest in 2005 (3 billion net worth) and 12th richest in 2006 (2.15 billion). The variance between the two years is probably due more to the difficulty in accurately estimating a family`s wealth than the claimed poor cheese sales but regardless the Saputo`s are extremely wealthy.

There are a number of things I am not very happy about with the way Saputo is running the Impact. However, previously I thought that the Saputo`s were just a reasonably wealthy Quebec family that couldn`t afford to put a great deal of money into the team. The reality is that their wealth greatly eclipses that of George Gillett the owner of the Montreal Canadians, MLSE and Greg Kerfoot. Why can Gillett buy the Montreal Canadians and have a stake in Liverpool while we have a minor league soccer team in Montreal with an owner far, far richer than he is? Look at all the money that Kerfoot is spending on the Caps, giving to the CSA and his ambitious stadium plans yet he also has nowhere near the wealth of the Saputo's.

I certainly appreciate that the Saputo's did save the team and are putting their money in Canadian soccer and not foreign soccer. On the other hand how much of their own money are they actually putting into the team? The Impact are a non-profit corporation and are largely funded by the province of Quebec. Even the 7.5 million they are putting into the stadium is pretty much the type of sum that naming rights to a stadium would cost. Not to mention the amount of advertising they already get from a team that they don't actually own in the way that Kerfoot does the Caps or MLSE TFC.

As much as I condemn Frank Stronach for spending his Canadian money in Austrian soccer, he has managed to buy the country's biggest club and operate their league with a fortune a third or quarter as big as the Saputo's who are operating a minor league non-profit team. Balsilie is putting hundreds of millions into trying to get an NHL team in Hamilton but the Saputos are balking at the MLS expnsion fee and the fear of losing non-profit status. Senators owner Melnyk just gave 1 million to underfunded Canadian athletes and Joey Saputo is constantly arguing with the CSA about minor financial issues (which might not be minor to a team on a shoestring budget like the Lynx but certainly should be for billionaire owners). Look at Kerfoot's planned stadium that seems to be first class (it is not his fault that the City of Vancouver are being idiots and not allowing it to be built). I have visited the Saputo stadium myself about a month ago and it looks to be very modest. Even if they expand it, it is my impression it will be more of a USL/university level stadium than an MLS stadium. BMO it is certainly not, looks to me more like CCR without the running track. All of these owners have one thing in common, that they have significantly less money than the Saputos.

If the Saputo's have this type of money why have the Impact had to play in such a poor league for so long? Why can't they build a decent stadium that will be in line with other MLS stadiums (assuming that we will eventually get to the MLS)? Why can't the Saputo's do a lot more to promote Canadian soccer and work with the CSA instead of constantly bickering with it?

[An Observer]

The difference between Kerfoot and Saputo probably reflects how they made their wealth. If your family has slugged it out building a dairy business step by step over time, you probably value every dollar you get and spend. Cost controls would be a very important part of being a success in that business. If you are a person who almost overnight has developed a piece of software that has turned you into a billionaire, you likely believe money grows on trees and you will be a little loose with your purse strings.

Moreover, the Impact franchise seems to be a larger success both on and off the field than the Whitecapts over the last 5 to 10 years so arguably Saputo's approach shouldn't be knocked to much.

[DarnCherry]

quote:If the Saputo's have this type of money why have the Impact had to play in such a poor league for so long?

There was no other option. MLS didn't want a Canadoian team and when they decided they did they chose Toronto.

quote:Moreover, the Impact franchise seems to be a larger success both on and off the field than the Whitecapts over the last 5 to 10 years so arguably Saputo's approach shouldn't be knocked to much.

Define success? Larger crowds or crowds that pay a good price for tickets? On field success? Seems thats easy to buy, hence the Whitecaps winning botht the mens and womens championships last season? Off field success? Seems to me the Whitecaps have more of it, fielding a million teams in a proper club system.

[piltdownman]

I wonder what USL team makes more money from ticket sales? My guess it wouldn't be the one with the much larger crowd.

[An Observer]

First, I am comparing men's teams, not womens. Yeah...i guess I would define success as bums on seats, not so much what people pay for it relatively speaking. At the end of the day, I guess it comes down to overall gate receipts including concessions. I would take a larger crowd even if that meant less revenue per fan provided overall you were getting more revenue per match. Larger crowds also generally translate into more media attention.

Fielding youth teams certainly would not be part of my definition of success from a business perspective unless that translated into hard cash. From the whitecaps perspective, I don't think that is the case even if some of the kids do pay. Of course, from a Canadian Soccer development point of view it may be great, but I am looking purely from a business perspective.

As for the strength of the teams, as I said I am talking over the last 5 to 10 years. Sure, Whitecaps won the championship last year, but I believe Montreal was top of the league and have been pretty much number 1 or 2 over the last number of years. I guess I would take a European view and say the overall strongest side each year is the one that wins the league. Winning championships takes luck in a playoff format. Something that the Whitecaps know all to well from previous playoff experience.

[Richard]

I would agree that final league standings are a better measure of a club's consistent, week-in and week-out, year after year on-field performance than a one time, knockout playoff tournament.

Success on the pitch however does not necessarily automatically mean success on the bottom line i.e. profiability.

[Grizzly]

quote:Originally posted by Krammerhead

There was no other option. MLS didn't want a Canadoian team and when they decided they did they chose Toronto.

Define success? Larger crowds or crowds that pay a good price for tickets? On field success? Seems thats easy to buy, hence the Whitecaps winning botht the mens and womens championships last season? Off field success? Seems to me the Whitecaps have more of it, fielding a million teams in a proper club system.

Your first point is untrue. It was Saputo who was not interested in an MLS team not the MLS who were not interested in Montreal. Until a couple of years ago Montreal was in a far better position to get an MLS franchise and probably many other things that went to Toronto (national stadium, U-20 final) had Saputo shown any vision or interest in such things. In addition to his lack of interest in the CSL it should also be mentioned that Saputo played a significant role in the demise of the CSL and resisted subsequent attempts by the CSA to restart a Canadian league.

I do agree with the second point that the Impact crowd size is deceptive due to the large number of giveaway tickets and the low prices of the remaining tickets. The Caps play to smaller crowds but these are crowds who are actually paying a decent sum to see the game as opposed to families taking the opportunity to have a family outing for $30 for two adults and two children. One can debate which strategy is better but it is certain that unlike the Caps fans, a high percentage of Impact fans would stop attending at MLS ticket prices though hopefully the higher level would attract other more serious soccer fans as it did in Toronto.

[CanadianSoccerFan]

I never realized Saputo was such a cheapskate.

[Daniel]

a) There is a new stadium being built

MLSE has exclusivity on MLS until 2010

Let's chill out a bit, shall we? The whole point of the Impact is to make it self-sufficient so that it won't simply go under if the owners bail.

[Grizzly]

quote:Originally posted by Daniel

a) There is a new stadium being built

MLSE has exclusivity on MLS until 2010

Let's chill out a bit, shall we? The whole point of the Impact is to make it self-sufficient so that it won't simply go under if the owners bail.

My whole point is a) the stadium being built does not appear to be a very impressive one something I accepted before realizing how loaded the Saputo's were and the Impact had all the chance in the world to join MLS before TFC and its probably very negotiable exclusivity clause.

You can chill all you want but as much as we can be happy that sports owners are there to have a team in the first place, I think it is legitimate to criticize them for not putting the amount of effort and money into the team that we would like. We criticize the Habs/Leafs ownership for such things constantly yet the much richer Saputos are content with playing in a league which is probably in hockey terms about 8 divisions below the NHL in terms of playing level and funding. Plus they are also content with the provincial and federal governments funding most of this venture.

[DarnCherry]

quote:Your first point is untrue. It was Saputo who was not interested in an MLS team not the MLS who were not interested in Montreal. Until a couple of years ago Montreal was in a far better position to get an MLS franchise and probably many other things that went to Toronto (national stadium, U-20 final)

Until Toronto got an MLS franchise, the last time MLS was interested in Canadian cities was back before it formed. Show me where, since then, MLS has shown interest in any Canadian city? Remember just a few years ago we were all saying that MLS wasn't interested in Canada. How could MLS have been interested in Montreal when they didn't even have a SSS?

quote:I would take a larger crowd even if that meant less revenue per fan provided overall you were getting more revenue per match. Larger crowds also generally translate into more media attention.

But it's apples and oranges. Vancouver is trying to run a business, Montreal is a non-profit organization.

quote:As for the strength of the teams, as I said I am talking over the last 5 to 10 years. Sure, Whitecaps won the championship last year, but I believe Montreal was top of the league and have been pretty much number 1 or 2 over the last number of years. I guess I would take a European view and say the overall strongest side each year is the one that wins the league. Winning championships takes luck in a playoff format. Something that the Whitecaps know all to well from previous playoff experience.

uslfans.com has an archive going back to 2001. From thats season up until todays present standings Vancouver is not that far behind Montreal.

Montreal GP: 186 W: 100 D: 39 L: 47

Vancouver GP: 187 W: 87 D: 46 L: 54

While you have to take those numbers with a grain of salt considering the schedules are unbalanced (greatly in some seasons) they are the only hard stats we have.

Of course if we are going by crowd sizes of course it's Montreal by a mile. Swangard stadium has far less capacity than Claude Robillard. In the last few years Swangards capacity is less than half that of CR.

[Grizzly]

quote:Originally posted by Krammerhead

Until Toronto got an MLS franchise, the last time MLS was interested in Canadian cities was back before it formed. Show me where, since then, MLS has shown interest in any Canadian city? Remember just a few years ago we were all saying that MLS wasn't interested in Canada. How could MLS have been interested in Montreal when they didn't even have a SSS?

Established sports leagues do not search out franchises, expansion cities or perspective owners unless they are in dire straights like the CFL gets itself into. It is up to those interested parties to contact the league about expansion possibilities. There was no reason for MLS to be interested in Canadian expansion when there were no Canadian cities making bids or inquiring about franchises. As soon as a serious Canadian bid developed the MLS certainly did not waste much time in accepting it.

As I mentioned before Saputo had all the advantages over Toronto in getting a MLS team if he wanted one. No it was not without financial risk for him or the team but this argument lost any merit with me once I found out that his family are multi-billionaires. For years every time that MLS was mentioned as a possibility Saputo always stated he wasn't interested for a variety of reasons such as the expansion fee and ownership structure. Plus he played a significant part in the demise of the CSL and along with the other Canadian USL teams was uncooperative and unsupportive of the CSA's efforts to get a new Canadian league started. Thus, the CSA had every right to back another financier and city's bid to try and get a MLS franchise. Certainly the success of TFC shows they went with the right party. Then Saputo has the gall to bitch and complain about not being the one chosen to get the franchise/stadium even though it was entirely his own fault and based on his previous actions and statements.

As for those satisfied with the way Saputo is running the Impact, imagine if a multi-billionaire who had more money than most EPL owners had a Conference team which moreover was the only team in a large city. Do you think the fans of this Conference team would be very happy if said owner was not very interested in getting the team promoted? I for one am sick of watching this Conference level team play in Saputo's family picnic atmosphere which is why I rarely attend games anymore. After returning from Europe I spent a year in Ottawa without soccer and was initially quite excited to be able to see "professional football" again when I first moved to Montreal but every year I get less and less interested in the Impact. Quite honestly it is far more exciting to watch TFC on television than it is to watch the Impact live.