Frederick S

I would like to see an opinion from someone who has lived in England:

There's been a lot of talk about London hosting a NFL Super Bowl. We all know the NFL wants to expand its reach to Europe to make more money, just like the English Premier League makes a lot of money in the USA with TV rights and jersey sales. Do you think England would embrace American football into a major sport?

Reading the following blog, I don't think the British are dying for American stuff like football and baseball but I don't know personally... I know soccer isn't a huge sport in America but MLS isn't doing too bad. At least it didn't close shop like Arena Football did.

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/nflnation/0-7-723/Doubl...

Vancouver and Portland were just rewarded MLS franchises so they'll be 18 franchises for the 2011 season. MLS Commissioner Don Gerber has expressed interest in expanding to 20 franchises by 2012 at the earliest (I think it will be later). How many franchises can MLS successfully hold at one time?

Remember NASL had a peak of 24 clubs and we know rapid expansion was one of the reasons for its demise = Owners got greedy because they made money on the new franchise fees. I know the talent base for American soccer players has greatly expanded in the last 20 years, but is MLS diluting the talent pool too much by expanding too quickly?

FIFA likes a limit of 18 clubs in a league though the EPL, La Liga and Serie A have 20 clubs.

Vancouver was just rewarded the 17th MLS franchise. I think this is a great decision after seeing the success of Toronto FC (and Seattle's season ticket sales). MLS will reward the 18th franchise in the near future (it looks like Portland is the favorite due to receiving city council approval). We could be seeing a Northwest trio of franchises.

The Vancouver stadium situation looks undefined. It appears the club will play at BC Place Stadium (which will be the venue for the opening/closing ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics) for the first 5 seasons after a $350 million renovation that will build a retractable roof. Just like Seattle, only the lower tier will be used for soccer matches. Then the plan is to build a new waterfront soccer stadium. But if you're spending $350 million to renovate, why would you build a new stadium?

Then I heard MLS is interested in rewarding a 19th and 20th franchise.... Earliest reward date is 2012. Is MLS expanding too fast?

In the USA (MLS and other major sports leagues), player contracts are quoted as annual wages. e.g. David Beckham is paid $5.5 million per year by the LA Galaxy. We always quote baseball and basketball players in annual terms as well.

In EPL and other European leagues, player contracts are usually quoted in weekly wages. e.g. Christiano Ronaldo is paid 120,000 pounds per week.

Why is there a difference? Maybe it's because players can be transferred mid-season. Though I heard people in London pay their rent weekly, not monthly like in the USA.

I watched that Bob Costas-IOC president Jacques Rogge (Part III) interview today. With baseball and softball gone for various reasons, Rogge said the following sports are being considered for 2016: golf, rugby, roller sports (I guess they don't mean roller derby), squash, karate and women's boxing. Does anyone have better candidates?

The IOC has a couple of criteria that I want to use for this discussion:

1) Played around the world and must be competitive among participating countries. Remember one reason softball was canceled because the USA was too dominant (until a few days ago)

2) Must be fairly cheap to build and manage, and have some use after the Olympics. This was baseball's downfall. Expensive to build a stadium which will not be used after the Olympics by the hosts (unless they love baseball).

3) Must have a women's events. I know people want American football, but there's no women's American football. The IOC wants more women's events.

We can have some creative events. How about bowling? It's played around the world. Paintball? Ballroom dancing? We can have hip-hop dancing like MTV's America's Best Dance Crew. Or even cheerleading. Then we have all those X-Games like motocross, street luge and surfing.

I read yesterday that "Sony Slashes $100 From Price of 80GB PlayStation 3". But the details are vague. From what I'm reading, the new 80GB version will not be PS2 backward compatible or have the SD/CF/Memory Stick slot. Essentially, you're paying the same price ($399) for a low-end PS3 with a bigger hard drive (40GB to 80GB). Does anyone have more details on the September 80GB PS3 version? Will buyers get a bundled video game or the DualShock 3 controller with the new version? Will there be a PS3 that's PS2 backward compatible in the future (a 120 GB version?)?

Right now, the only available PS3 that's PS2 backward compatible is the 80GB bundle with Metal Gear Solid 4 and the DualShock 3 controller for $499. Hard to find in stores...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20080716/bs_nf/60810;_y...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_3