Wednesday December 09, 2020
The sports day
"Dramatic": MLS announces huge losses
The German soccer professional Florian Jungwirth is also active in the battered MLS.(Photo: imago images / AAP)
The North American professional soccer league MLS has been hit hard by the corona pandemic. As announced by league boss Don Garber, the clubs are in the 2020 season lost nearly $ 1 billion in revenue. "The losses were dramatic. We will make adjustments," said Garber: "That is the reality when you manage a professional league in the pandemic."
- The league had interrupted the season in March because of the virus after only two match days, it only continued in July with a restart tournament in a bubble in Orlando / Florida. After that, the teams continued the season in their home stadiums. On the night of next Sunday (2 a.m. CET), Columbus Crew and defending champion Seattle Sounders will play the championship in the final.
- According to Garber, the organization of the so-called "bubble" including logistics was a major cost factor. The MLS responded to the losses by downsizing, and players' salaries were cut by five percent.
- For the coming year Garber is placing his hopes on the vaccine to improve the situation. "I am very hopeful that 2021 will be a much better year, because I don't think any business model can go through what we went through in 2020 for two years in a row, "he said.
. (tagsToTranslate) The (t) Sports Day (t) Dramatic (t) MLS (t) losses