Here are some of the top stories from last week around the global soccer industry…
2015 MLS Salary Data Reveals Impact of New Clubs and Big Name Signings (Business of Soccer)
Every year, the Major League Soccer Player’s Union (MLSPU) releases the salary information of all MLS players that receive a salary from an MLS club. The salary data for 2015 was released just last week by the MLSPU. This year in particular is an important year for evaluating this data since the players negotiated a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the league office just days before the start of the season.
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Charlotte Scores Big – Again – with Soccer (The Charlotte Observer)
Futbol took over Bank of America’s football stadium for the second time this month Saturday night, and once again Charlotte proved it can host world-class soccer events with aplomb.
Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea provided the sort of soccer you generally have to fly across the Atlantic Ocean to see, and once again the crowd was impressive.
The Gold Cup doubleheader July 15 that featured both Mexico and Cuba drew 55,823 to Cam Newton’s stomping grounds. This game drew even more – 61,224 fans.
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Prince Ali Tells Blatter to Stay Away From FIFA Reform Process (Reuters)
Prince Ali bin Al Hussein of Jordan, who failed in an attempt to replace Sepp Blatter as FIFA president in May, says Blatter should not be handling the reform process at world football’s scandal-hit governing body and that the task should be left to his successor.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, Prince Ali, who withdrew from May’s FIFA presidential election after winning 73 votes to Blatter’s 133 in the first round of voting, said he feared Blatter, who has ruled the body since 1998, was trying to rush through reforms before he leaves office on February 26.
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St. Paul Midway Site Potential Touted for More Than Soccer (Minnesota Star Tribune)
If St. Paul is to succeed in landing a Major League Soccer team, the property it is promoting for the franchise’s future home will likely need to be developed for more than just a stadium.
What makes the 34.5-acre site bounded by Snelling and University avenues an ideal spot for a soccer venue is its potential for a broader development that would include stores, bars and restaurants, said Matt Kramer, president of the St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce.
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Chung Mong Joon Says He Will Be Candidate For FIFA Presidency (Bloomberg)
Chung Mong Joon, a FIFA honorary vice president, said he will run to be president of the global soccer authority.
The second-largest shareholder in South Korean shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. said he expects to face Michel Platini, president of European ruling body UEFA, and Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan in the Feb. 26 election. Platini, a former France midfielder, is the bookmakers’ favorite.
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US Women’s Soccer Game Could Bring $10 Million to Birmingham Economy (AL.com)
The upcoming soccer game between the World Cup winning U.S. women’s soccer team and Australia could bring $10 million to Birmingham’s economy, city officials say.
The game is part of a 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup victory tour. It’s set for 1:30 p.m. on Sept. 20 at Legion Field and will be broadcast on ESPN2.
Birmingham is one of 10 cities chosen to host a victory tour match. City officials say it’s just one more sign that Birmingham is fast being a destination, especially for major sporting events.
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Global Football Industry Vote for Prince Ali to be Next FIFA President (FC Business)
HRH Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein has come up on top in a recent Soccerex poll asking the football industry who they think should be the next President of FIFA. Conducted on Soccerex’s website over a seven day period building up to Monday’s extraordinary congress, the poll was targeted at Soccerex’s football business audience and was promoted via email to over 30,000 contacts worldwide and pushed through social media platforms to a further 20,000 followers.
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Bayern Munich Announce First Regional Sponsor (Soccerex)
German giants FC Bayern Munich have announced their first regional sponsor, signing a three-year deal with Evergrande Spring.
The Guangzhou-based mineral water producer becomes a partner of the Bundesliga champions until 2018 and will have club-related marketing rights in its domestic market of China.
Evergrande Spring, a subsidiary of the Evergrande Group, has been advertised on stadium advertising boards throughout Bayern’s summer tour of China, which culminated this week. Under the new deal, Bayern players will feature in a TV advertisement promoting the brand whilst club-themed bottles of Evergrande Spring will be sold in Chinese retail outlets.
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Women’s Soccer in Portland Draws More Than 21,000, the Latest Sign of the World Cup Bump (U.S. News & World Report)
Nowhere could the World Cup bump in women’s soccer be more apparent than in Portland, Oregon, where more than 21,000 fans watched a National Women’s Soccer League rivalry match between the Thorns and the Seattle Reign.
It was the second-largest stand-alone crowd ever to watch a professional women’s league game in the United States. And while soccer-crazy Portland usually attracts big crowds for the hometown Thorns, the rest of the league is also seeing a surge in interest.
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Gold Cup: U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati Stands Behind Jurgen Klinsmann Following Fourth Place Finish (Major League Soccer)
This is not the time to panic. Nor is it the time to even consider any kind of organizational shakeup.
Those are the lines US Soccer president Sunil Gulati stuck when he met with reporters at PPL Park after the Americans crashed out of the Gold Cup with a penalty kick shootout loss to Panama in Saturday’s third-place game.
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This article originally appeared on Business of Soccer. To learn more about BOS you can follow them on Facebook or Twitter.
