Pro Iowa Soccer - Krause Development
- Thread starter cyfan92
- Start date
Parma is currently in 17th...only 3 pts clear of relegation...with a pretty difficult schedule left. Krause & Parma supporters are definitely going to be sweating out the final stretch of the season.
Losses continue to pile up for Des Moines executive Kyle Krause’s Italian soccer team, raising questions about his ability to fund downtown development.
The Krause-owned Parma Calcio 1913 team lost $72 million in 2024, according to an audit published at the end of March. Since Krause bought the club in September 2020, Parma Calcio has lost $393 million.
The latest disclosure comes as Krause continues to fundraise a soccer stadium in downtown Des Moines, where he hopes to base a new professional soccer team. Martin Semmens, the Krause Group's director of soccer initiatives, told the Des Moines Register in a statement that the team is not looking to sell Parma Calcio, despite the continued financial losses.
"We remain dedicated to building a sustainable future through ongoing investments in fan engagement, team development, operations, and infrastructure," he said.
The downtown Des Moines soccer stadium would be owned by USL Pro Iowa, a nonprofit, and a house a team that plays in the second tier of U.S. professional soccer. The stadium is also supposed to anchor ambitious development south of downtown and in the Western Gateway, with Krause vowing to spend about $500 million on new apartments, offices, shops, restaurants, hotels and an entertainment venue in the region.
Sure is easy to #### your inheritance away.
This project is on life support until either interest rates drop, new equity comes in, or public subsidy increases to close the gap
“I want a new soccer stadium! And I refuse to pay for it!”
So says literally every professional sports team. The Krause's aren't the first to demand that the taxpayer be on the hook for a new stadium, but their ability to manage these projects seems to be, well not good.
Yep not the first, is it required to be the next? Oh and this stadium being a “pro” stadium seems like a generous description.
And its a bad deal for most cities, and especially so for a minor league team like this. The city\state\county should walk away from this.
Yeah, I'm being incredibly generous in calling this a "pro" project. This definitely is a deal that the county should walk way from though- it should have been a red flag when they wanted to build it on a Superfund site
I didn't even know it was possible to lose that much money on a minor league type team. I mean they are not in the premier league which would make sense since you are adding the value in how much the team is worth. That level seems crazy.
Sure is easy to #### your inheritance away.
So many better ways to blow an inheritance than a soccer team.
I could see the argument for it.
But based on his stewardship of Parma, we should not be in business with this guy.
The MLS is a much better value proposition than Serie A/Italian league. It’s interesting to see the list of most valuable clubs in the world and 9 of the top 30 are MLS clubs.
Forbes 2025 Global Soccer Team Valuations — Ranked List
See the ranking of the world's most valuable soccer teams, including Manchester United, Barcelona and Real Madrid—the sport's first club to cross $1 billion in revenue.
www.forbes.com
I think it's important to remember that operating losses owning pro sports teams are a fairly common occurrence, you make it up on the back end when/if you sell the team. Rarely is there a sale that doesn't make an exorbitant amount of $ for the owner. Cuban was just saying the other day how much he lost in operating with the Mavs.
Unfortunately the whole USL system is likely destined to fail unless promotion and relegation is somehow integrated into MLS. MLS will never allow relegation with any of their teams but if they could work out an agreement that allows the top 2 teams in USL to play up in MLS there would be hope for the league. That being said there's a snowballs chance in hell of that ever being an option.
Unfortunately the whole USL system is likely destined to fail unless promotion and relegation is somehow integrated into MLS. MLS will never allow relegation with any of their teams but if they could work out an agreement that allows the top 2 teams in USL to play up in MLS there would be hope for the league. That being said there's a snowballs chance in hell of that ever being an option.
If anyone needs to blow an inheritance hit me up and I'll introduce you to some fun
This isn't a minor league team, they are in Serie A, which is the Italian equivalent to the Premier League. They aren't eligible to play in the Premier League because they aren't an England based club. They had been relegated to Serie B in Italy last year, but got promoted for this season. For now they aren't in the relegation zone for next year so have a shot to stay up again.
Also they were in serie d when Krause took over. You don’t get up to serie a that quick without over-spending on players.
