July 25, 20204 yr The MLS is Back tourney has made it to the Round of 18 knock-out phase. Both Ohio teams advanced. The Columbus Crew advanced decisively by being the only team to win all three group games. FC Cincinnati got trounced in their first game but had quite a turnaround with a 1-0 win and 2-0 win to advance. The Round of 16 games (bracket below) begin tonight and run through next Tuesday. Both Columbus and Cincinnati play on Tuesday.
July 29, 20204 yr Rough time last night for both of Ohio's MLS teams. Both the Crew and FCC played to 1-1 regulation draws and were eliminated via the PK shootout:
July 29, 20204 yr With Columbus and Cincinnati eliminated from the MLS is Back Tournament, they'll be spectators until the tournament final on August 11. They also might face a nearly month long wait for an MLS regular season restart - if there is one. Here is some of the current reporting on that:
August 12, 20204 yr https://www.espn.com/soccer/major-league-soccer/story/4157874/portland-timbers-fitting-champions-of-surreal-mls-is-back-tournament The Portland Timbers took down Orlando City 2-1 to take home the trophy for the MLS is Back Tournament at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex last night. A game I was planning to watch until my Blue Jackets decided to play a 5OT game that overlapped with the tournament finale(!)
August 12, 20204 yr MLS deserves alot of credit of pulling off this tournament. After a rough start that saw the forced withdrawal of two teams (Dallas and Nashville) because of positive tests, the safety protocols worked and the bubble held up throughout the remainder of the month-long event. So good on them. Now MLS is attempting to continue this 2020 season restart in the home markets of their teams: https://www.espn.com/soccer/major-league-soccer/story/4155623/mls-to-restart-season-in-home-markets-aug-12 Each team would play 18 games to finish out the regular season, culminating in Decision Day on Nov. 8. Playoffs would also be expanded in the shortened season. Instead a 14-team playoff, 18 teams would now receive playoff berths with MLS Cup scheduled for Dec. 12. And that's all well and good. Except, all of this will occur outside that well-constructed tournament bubble and in the home markets. Even more troubling is that the first two games scheduled for tonight (August 12) and Sunday (August 16) are make-up games between Nashville and Dallas. Both games would be held in Dallas to minimize travel. But shockingly, Dallas is planning to allow spectators at these games(!) - in one of the most COVID infected state in the U.S.(!!) Following the second Dallas-Nashville match, the league would embark on the first phase of its restart schedule, one that would see each team play a regionalized schedule of six games prior to Sept. 14. Columbus would start at home on Thursday, August 20. Cincinnati would start at home on Friday, August 21. Another home market issue is with the three Canadian teams. Because travel between the U.S. and Canada remains restricted, the three Canadian teams of Montreal, Toronto and Vancover would only play against each other for the duration of the first phase. If the Canadian coronavirus restrictions are still in place after Sept. 14, who knows what they'll do? MORE: https://www.espn.com/soccer/major-league-soccer/story/4155105/mls-will-resume-the-regular-season-what-we-know-and-what-we-dont
August 12, 20204 yr 4 hours ago, Columbo said: Dallas is planning to allow spectators at these games(!) - in one of the most COVID infected state in the U.S.(!!) Just checking back to see if FC Dallas is still going through with this covidiocy tonight, and apparently they are: https://www.texastribune.org/2020/08/11/fc-dallas-soccer-texas/ From the above Texas Tribute article: Quote This game appears to be the first major league sporting event that will be played in front of fans in the United States since the early part of the pandemic. The other big professional team sports leagues currently in action — the National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League — have been playing in front of empty seats. A maximum of 5,110 fans will be able to attend the game, filling about 25% of the 20,500 seats in the team's Toyota Stadium in Frisco. That capacity level is well below Gov. Greg Abbott's 50% limit for venues in his most recent executive order governing sporting events. Before buying tickets, fans will also be required to sign a liability waiver in which they agree not to sue if they are exposed to COVID-19. Sounds super safe(!) I've never been happier that the Hunt Family is no longer affiliated with the Crew.
August 13, 20204 yr Dallas and Nashville played the first of their two back-to-back covid make-up games last night and 2020 expansion Nashville got their first ever MLS win on late goal by David Accam. Good on them and good on the very briefly former Crew forward(!) But Dallas' decision to allow fans at last night's game was staggeringly stupid. Even by Texas covidiocy standards. To risk more community spread, for the revenue of under 3,000 fans(!?!?!) This tweet won MLS twitter last night with this spot-on 90's song lyric reference:
August 13, 20204 yr Fortunately, there was some better MLS news today. The St. Louis MLS expansion team revealed its official name, crest and colors: https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2020/08/13/st-louis-city-sc-mls-expansion-club-unveils-name-crest-and-colors The crest is good, but too busy. The name is meh, but at least we didn't get another "United". A solid effort that we'll get used to over time while the fans will probably call the STL team "The Archers" anyway.
August 13, 20204 yr Author Agreed. The name is pretty lame. I think the crest is pretty good. Would be a lot better if they just dropped the SC at the bottom. You don't need the legal name of the entity in the crest. Clean it up a little.
August 17, 20204 yr On 8/13/2020 at 12:59 PM, Columbo said: Dallas' decision to allow fans at (Wednesday's) game was staggeringly stupid. Even by Texas covidiocy standards. To risk more community spread, for the revenue of under 3,000 fans(!?!?!) FC Dallas had another problem on Wednesday. There were a series of incidents before and after the Wednesday match. Before the match, in response to players with Dallas and Nashville (plus the game referees) kneeling in support of the Black Lives Matter movement during the national anthem, some fans booed while another threw a bottle at them. After the match, FCD defender Reggie Cannon was interviewed and expressed his displeasure at the response of some fans as "absolutely disgusting." He added that, "You can't even have the support of your own fans in your own stadium. It's absolutely baffling to me." Cannon then received death threats and racist posts on social media. Later MLS commissioner Don Garber and FCD owners Dan and Clark Hunt issuing statements in support of Cannon. They also announced that tonight's FC Dallas-Nashville match won't have players on field for pregame national anthem. FC Dallas announced that players will remain inside their locker rooms for the playing of the national anthem prior to Sunday's game, though there will be a moment of silence to promote racial equality. https://www.espn.com/soccer/major-league-soccer/story/4161254/fc-dallas-nashville-match-wont-have-players-on-field-for-pregame-anthem Good for Garber and the Hunt Family for sticking up for the FCD player who was attacked on social media. But bad on them for having fans at the Wednesday (and presumably Sunday's) game. If they held these games in an empty stadium, they would have done the right thing to prevent the spread of covid within a highly infected state and would have saved themselves from the embarrassing fan behavior during the national anthem.
August 17, 20204 yr 9 hours ago, Columbo said: FC Dallas had another problem on Wednesday. There were a series of incidents before and after the Wednesday match. Before the match, in response to players with Dallas and Nashville (plus the game referees) kneeling in support of the Black Lives Matter movement during the national anthem, some fans booed while another threw a bottle at them. After the match, FCD defender Reggie Cannon was interviewed and expressed his displeasure at the response of some fans as "absolutely disgusting." He added that, "You can't even have the support of your own fans in your own stadium. It's absolutely baffling to me." Cannon then received death threats and racist posts on social media. Later MLS commissioner Don Garber and FCD owners Dan and Clark Hunt issuing statements in support of Cannon. They also announced that tonight's FC Dallas-Nashville match won't have players on field for pregame national anthem. FC Dallas announced that players will remain inside their locker rooms for the playing of the national anthem prior to Sunday's game, though there will be a moment of silence to promote racial equality. https://www.espn.com/soccer/major-league-soccer/story/4161254/fc-dallas-nashville-match-wont-have-players-on-field-for-pregame-anthem Good for Garber and the Hunt Family for sticking up for the FCD player who was attacked on social media. But bad on them for having fans at the Wednesday (and presumably Sunday's) game. If they held these games in an empty stadium, they would have done the right thing to prevent the spread of covid within a highly infected state and would have saved themselves from the embarrassing fan behavior during the national anthem. If the conservative Twittersphere is correct, there shouldn't be any pro sports teams in the South soon, as everyone there is boycotting them over the anthem kneeling. ?
September 2, 20204 yr https://www.espn.com/soccer/major-league-soccer/story/4168455/how-mls-players-came-to-boycott-their-reaction-to-hansens-tone-deaf-comments-and-how-theyll-move-forward and Dell Loy Hansen to sell Real Salt Lake, Utah Royals Major League Soccer announced on Sunday that Dell Loy Hansen intends to sell Real Salt Lake FC, National Women's Soccer League side Utah Royals FC and the United Soccer League Championship's Real Monarchs. Hansen has been under pressure since a report from The Athletic detailed his repeated use of racist language to and in front of team employees. That report came on the heels of Hansen's reaction to Wednesday's MLS player-led walkout in protest of racial injustice. The protest led to the postponement of five matches, including Wednesday's match between RSL and LAFC scheduled for Rio Tinto Stadium. ( . . . ) Hansen confirmed his intention to sell Utah Soccer Holdings in a statement shortly after the MLS announcement. The sale would include Rio Tinto Stadium, plus the academy/training complex and the high school on the site of that complex. ( . . . ) The Salt Lake Tribune reported that the Larry H. Miller Sports Group, owners of the NBA's Utah Jazz, are interested in purchasing the teams. Ryan Smith, the co-founder and CEO of Qualtrics, tweeted that he has an interest in buying the franchise, saying "I'm in ... they got my number." MORE: https://www.espn.com/soccer/real-salt-lake/story/4170008/dell-loy-hansen-to-sell-real-salt-lakeutah-royals
September 17, 20204 yr https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2020/09/11/mls-regular-season-match-schedule-released-through-september MLS announced their regular season schedule through the end of September. Each MLS team will play three regular season matches from Sept. 18 through Sept. 27 in this Phase 2 of the 2020 "regular season" since the end of the MLS is Back Tournament. Additional regular season matches will be announced at a later date, pending further developments regarding travel protocols. The three Canadian teams, which have been facing each other in a Phase 1 series of matches played only in Canada due to travel restrictions, will play all three of their Phase 2 matches from Sept. 18-27 in the U.S. with each club hosting one home match in a U.S. city: Montreal Impact: Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J. Vancouver Whitecaps FC: Providence Park in Portland, Ore. Toronto FC: Rentschler Field in Hartford, Conn. Montreal will be sharing Red Bull Arena with NYRB and NYCFC. Vancouver will share Providence Park with the Portland Timbers. While Toronto will be play at the UCONN football/soccer stadium in Hartford. The league also announced the format for the 2020 MLS Cup Playoffs (see brackets below). It will be a series of single-elimination matches hosted by the higher-seeded team and follow a straight bracket format to the MLS Cup on Dec. 12. Because of this season's COVID modifications made for 2020, expansion-team Nashville was moved from the Western Conference into the Eastern Conference, joining expansion team Miami, and temporarily creating a 14-team Eastern Conference and 12-team Western Conference. 18 total clubs will compete in the MLS Cup Playoffs: 10 from East, 8 from West Western Conference: Top 8 teams qualify directly to Round 1 Eastern Conference: Only the top 6 seeds qualify directly to Round 1. Seeds 7-10 will each compete in a play-in match: (No. 7 seed vs. No. 10 seed and No. 8 seed vs. No. 9 seed) Lowest seed play-in winner advances to face No. 1 seed in East Highest seed play-in winner advances to face No. 2 seed in East
December 17, 20204 yr MLS 2020 Season Review: https://www.espn.com/soccer/major-league-soccer/story/4264428/mls-2020-season-review-columbus-crew-sc-were-worth-saving Some of the main takeaways from this unusual MLS season: -- Back to the Future: MLS original Columbus Crew wins the MLS Cup in this 25th anniversary season. As former Crew player and current ESPN analyst Alejandro Moreno said in the above linked article, "The Crew were definitely worth saving." -- The impact of COVID-19: An interrupted regular season, a season restart in a tournament bubble that went very well, and then a restarted regular season that had its ups and downs - barely ending without disaster on the Columbus roster going into the MLS Cup. -- A tale of two expansion teams: Miami had the celebrity owner and the flashy players. But it was Nashville that finished better (7th vs 10th). And Nashville decisively eliminated Miami 3-0 in the playoffs, eventually reaching the Eastern semi-finals. -- Young homegrown players: Philadelphia became the fourth team in the past six years (New York Red Bulls in 2015, FC Dallas in 2016 and the Red Bulls again in 2018) to win the Supporters Shield with a roster reliant on homegrown talent. Another trend is that more of those young players are being sold to top international teams for top dollar. In 2017 only four players were transferred out of MLS. In 2018 that number grew to 12, then to 14 in 2019, and then to 19 in 2020 so far. This is becoming a revenue stream that MLS teams are putting into their team academies to produce more homegrown talent. -- Off-field issues: On the positive side, the summer unrest brought about the formation of Black Players for Change - an organization to advocate for social justice and programs to further that inside and outside the game of soccer. On the negative side, the ratification of the new CBA came after the pandemic hit, giving the league extra leverage over the MLSPA at the bargaining table. The league was able to force cuts in salary, bonuses and revenue-sharing then what was agreed to in principle in February - leaving alot of heartburn among the players.
January 26, 20214 yr https://www.espn.com/soccer/major-league-soccer/story/4298277/mls-regular-season-to-begin-april-3 https://www.massivereport.com/2021/1/25/22249215/mls-announces-important-dates-for-2021-season-start-date-mls-cup-final-decision-day MLS announced the 2021 season will begin on April 3 and feature full 34-match schedule. For its 26th season, MLS will have 27 teams with the addition of Austin FC. With Austin's arrival, the 2021 season will feature 14 teams in the Eastern Conference and 13 in the Western Conference. The 2021 season will see the opening of new stadiums in Austin and Cincinnati to begin the season and then for the defending champion Columbus in July. The regular season will conclude with a Decision Day on Nov. 7, followed by the MLS Cup playoffs starting on Nov. 19, with the MLS Cup final set to be held on Dec. 11. Hopefully, those announced dates for 2021 will hold. Due to the continuing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, MLS invoked a force majeure clause in the CBA approved last year that obligates the MLSPA to negotiate modifications to the existing CBA. Those negotiations are currently underway. Another issue to be resolved is if the three Canadian teams can play in Canada or, if border crossing restrictions wouldn't allow this, they might need U.S. locations for home games like in 2020.
February 6, 20214 yr https://www.espn.com/soccer/major-league-soccer/story/4308245/mls-players-reach-tentative-cba-deal-with-league-pending-vote The MLSPA and MLS announced on Friday that they have reached a tentative agreement on a revised CBA. The CBA was approved by the union's executive board and bargaining committee. The agreement will now be sent to the full players' union membership for a vote, which could be held as soon as Saturday. MLS announced that the proposal on the table would extend the CBA by two years through 2027, a clause that the league had fought for ever since the start of negotiations and something that had been a sticking point in the talks. The extension has the effect of delaying the jump in compensation that typically comes with a new CBA. More importantly, such an extension provides the league with considerable distance from the 2026 World Cup -- co-hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico -- and takes away leverage from the MLSPA to negotiate improved terms in the run-up to the tournament and the years that follow. Sources told ESPN that among the player benefits contained in the proposal are no cuts to salaries in 2021, along with improved free-agency terms.
February 11, 20214 yr https://www.espn.com/soccer/major-league-soccer/story/4312190/major-league-soccer-pushes-season-start-date-back-to-april-17 https://www.espn.com/soccer/major-league-soccer/story/4311118/what-the-new-mls-cba-deal-means-for-ownersplayers-and-the-26-world-cup The revised CBA has been officially approved by the league and the players. The league got the main thing they wanted - a new expiration date of 2027. This pushes it well past the 2026 World Cup - which will be co-hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The league also announced they will be delaying the 2021 season start two weeks from April 3 to April 17.
March 2, 20214 yr So, all MLS teams have begun practice and the 2021 season is on track to start on April 17. The CBA (such as it was) has been completed and runs through the 2027 season. MLS' 27th team - Austin FC - begins play this season. As for the other expansion teams - Charlotte (the 28th team) is on track to play 2022 initially in the Carolina Panthers NFL stadium. St. Louis (the 29th team) is on track to play 2023 in a new soccer-specific stadium currently under construction in downtown STL. However, it looks like the proposed 30th team in Sacramento is in trouble. On February 26, 2021, MLS announced that the Sacramento expansion was placed on indefinite hiatus due to the primary investor of the proposed team informing MLS officials that he has "decided not to move forward with the acquisition of an MLS expansion team" in the city because of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic: https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2021/02/26/mls-announces-update-sacramento-expansion https://www.espn.com/soccer/major-league-soccer/story/4324773/sacramento-mls-team-on-indefinite-hold-after-main-investor-pulls-out-of-deal
June 21, 20213 yr Two of the three new MLS stadiums for the 2021 season have now opened. Cincinnati's new stadium opened May 16 and has been thoroughly covered at https://forum.urbanohio.com/topic/15490-cincinnati-west-end-tql-stadium/ The Columbus Crew played their final game in original Crew Stadium last weekend and will open their new downtown stadium on July 3: https://forum.urbanohio.com/topic/1415-columbus-downtown-lowercom-field-astor-park/ Austin's new stadium opened last Saturday: https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/austin-fc-marvel-at-electric-opening-night-at-q2-stadium Despite Precourt owning the team, the new Q2 Stadium in Austin is actually quite good. The location is very sub-par - but if you get past the tire store, self-storage building, 24-pump gas station and apartment building to the stadium site on the former hazardous dump location in the interior of the block - and focus just on the stadium interior - it's well done. Fortunately, the below video from MLS that gives a drone tour of Austin's stadium does just that: https://www.mlssoccer.com/video/watch-drone-tour-with-matthew-mcconaughey-austin-fc#watch-drone-tour-with-matthew-mcconaughey-austin-fc And before Austin's first home game, minority team owner and 'Minister of Culture' Matthew McConaughey got the supporters section fired up with his green suit and his bongo(!)
June 23, 20213 yr Major League Soccer to launch development league in 2022 Major League Soccer will launch a development-focused league next year, aimed to bridge the gap between youth academies and first-team rosters, the league announced on Monday. The new league, which has yet to be named, is expected to include roughly 20 teams in its first year, including several MLS-operated teams currently playing in the USL Championship and USL League One. By 2023, every MLS team with a lower-division team will play in the league. There are three primary motivating factors for the league's creation, according to MLS president and deputy commissioner Mark Abbott: Completing the pro pathway from the youth level to MLS, taking professional soccer into new media markets and providing more opportunities in various soccer-related roles to a more diverse pool of candidates. For several years, USL has provided that function and the relationship has benefitted each league to varying degrees. However, as both leagues have grown, it has been increasingly clear the MLS-operated teams were motivated by player development, while the USL teams prioritized on-field results. MLS has applied for Division III sanctioning from the United States Soccer Federation, which is the same level as USL League One and a level below the USL Championship. In the U.S., where there is not a promotion-relegation system, sanctioning for different divisions takes into account factors like stadium size and standards, media capabilities, market size and more. There will not be any restrictions related to age. MORE: https://www.espn.com/soccer/major-league-soccer/story/4415507/major-league-soccer-to-launch-development-league-in-2022
August 16, 20213 yr I commented previously about the Chicago Fire's new ownership (who bought the team in 2019) and their return to Soldier Field in Downtown Chicago after being in a soccer-specific stadium in Bridgeview since 2006. I think most fans are hopeful that these moves might restore the Chicago franchise to its former prominence in MLS. But after yesterday's game against the Crew, I'm beginning to wonder. Although the return to Soldier Field is thought to be temporary, it really is a downgrade from the Bridgeview Stadium. Even getting beyond the 13,000 attendance producing acres of empty seats in 61,500-seat Soldier Field that would not have been at 20,000-seat Bridgeview Stadium - there was the embarrassment of the field itself at Soldier Field. First, this game was originally scheduled for Saturday. But then the Bears had a preseason game to play - and it just had to be on Saturday instead of Sunday after the Fire game. So you get the NFL tearing up the field before the rescheduled Fire game. And you also get all the NFL markings on the field for Sunday's Fire game(!) This is the kind of high school level second-class stuff that MLS has worked hard to put in the rear-view mirror. And now the Chicago Fire is bringing it back(!) Hopefully, the new Fire ownership won't repeat this fiasco. They had a disastrous rebrand that they corrected this year - so they seem capable of learning. But if these embarrassing field conditions happen again, maybe they should just move back to Bridgeview(!!)
August 16, 20213 yr 21 minutes ago, Columbo said: They had a disastrous rebrand that they corrected this year - so they seem capable of learning. More about that disastrous rebrand new ownership tried that was so terrible, it led to a rebrand of the rebrand. First, the original classic-looking Florian Cross badge used by the team since 1998 and the "Fire Crown" badge meant to replace it: The reaction among Fire fans and league-wide was so negative that new ownership pledged to "rebrand the rebrand" at a later time. Which, to their credit, they did this season: https://wgntv.com/sports/fire/chicago-fire-fc-unveils-their-new-crest-after-six-months-of-design-research-and-fan-input/ https://www.chicagofirefc.com/news/chicago-fire-fc-unveils-new-crest-and-visual-identity-directly-inspired-more-200 TA DA(!) Okay, it looks like an abstract anemic version of the old Florian Cross logo - but at least it's not that ugly "Fire Crown" logo. The Chicago Fire will begin using this new logo next season.
August 16, 20213 yr 4 minutes ago, Columbo said: More about that disastrous rebrand new ownership tried that was so terrible, it led to a rebrand of the rebrand. First, the original classic-looking Florian Cross badge used by the team since 1998 and the "Fire Crown" badge meant to replace it: The reaction among Fire fans and league-wide was so negative that new ownership pledged to "rebrand the rebrand" at a later time. Which, to their credit, they did this season: https://wgntv.com/sports/fire/chicago-fire-fc-unveils-their-new-crest-after-six-months-of-design-research-and-fan-input/ https://www.chicagofirefc.com/news/chicago-fire-fc-unveils-new-crest-and-visual-identity-directly-inspired-more-200 TA DA(!) Okay, it looks like an abstract anemic version of the old Florian Cross logo - but at least it's not that ugly "Fire Crown" logo. The Chicago Fire will begin using this new logo next season. Looks like they tried to incorporate elements of the iconic City of Chicago flag. The star and the colors
August 16, 20213 yr 3 minutes ago, Htsguy said: Looks like they tried to incorporate elements of the iconic City of Chicago flag. The star and the colors I guess they did. Seems better in that context:
November 5, 20213 yr The New England Revolution are the only original MLS club that hasn't rebranded. But now they are finally ditching their 90's style MLS 1.0 era "Crayon Flag" logo for a stylish new logo: https://www.nbcsports.com/boston/new-england-revolution/new-revolution-logo-revs-unveil-bold-rebrand-2022-season
December 11, 20213 yr In today's MLS Cup, it looked like Portland would get some karma payback for the way they won the 2015 MLS Cup: Then, on their very last chance before the final whistle, Portland ties it up to send it into overtime: But then it goes to penalties and NYCFC wins it anyway ... karma restored.
June 14, 20223 yr Author MLS goes with Apple in landmark 10-year global media rights deal MLS has sold all of its global media rights exclusively to Apple, becoming the first major U.S. sports league to go all-in with a digital media company. MLS still is negotiating with linear TV networks, including ESPN and Fox. However, those games would not be exclusive to the broadcasters; they would simulcast with Apple. MLS execs said that Apple is not paying a straight rights fee for the package of rights. Rather, Apple is paying a minimum guarantee that sources say is worth $250M per year starting in ‘23. MLS will start to bring in more revenue as Apple sell subscriptions for a newly launched MLS subscription offering. “What's different here is traditionally media companies pay rights fees, and you sell ads,” said MLS Commissioner Don Garber. “This is a partnership. And that partnership's core is a subscription business that we're going to build together, and we're going to get a guarantee against the revenues that will be achieved on the subscription business. Then, we go over those guarantees, we'll have the opportunity to make more money, which is really unique in sports media.” ... MLS and Apple execs said that they have not yet developed a price point for the service, but all MLS season-ticket holders will receive access to the package at no additional charge. ... Apple’s MLS deal will start next season, coinciding with a restructuring of the MLS schedule that will see most regular-season matches played on Saturday nights. Having a series of matches on Saturday nights with staggered start times will allow the league to offer a whip-around show akin to NFL Red Zone through its new streaming service and Apple TV+. There will still be some mid-week games, primarily on Wednesday nights. Some matches could be played in other time slots based on stadium conflicts or linear TV scheduling. ______________________ It sounds like a subscriber to Apple TV+ will not get access to all MLS games, and you will have to pay a small fee for the additional package, but they will feature some for existing Apple TV+ customers, and some for anyone with the app and doesn't subscribe to anything - likely as a way to encourage people to subscribe to the additional package. As an MLS season ticket holder, I'm happy with this. We'll have to see what happens with the local tv rights. But it sounds like MLS will put on the broadcast, and potentially sell local tv rights so MLS clubs can still get their teams on linear TV (cable and/or over-the-air). Right now every club runs their own broadcast unless it's on national TV like ESPN or Fox Sports. The quality of the broadcast can vary due to this.
April 25, 20232 yr I had a chance to visit St. Louis City's new stadium last week as FCC was in town. It's a nice stadium overall but I prefer TQL stadium and not just because it's my home stadium. CityPark isn't near anything. FCC supporters had a 20 minute walk from our bar near Busch Stadium and it was because we couldn't find a closer venue. There's the Union Station area right next door but other than that, there's not much besides a bar and a brewery. TQL is in a much better location with a plethora of choices. While I'm at it, I always hated that St. Louis had light rail and Cincinnati didn't but really, they could use a streetcar. Getting around that city without a car sucks. I'll be visiting Columbus' new stadium this summer too.
April 25, 20232 yr In terms of location and proximity to the urban core, I think TQL is definitely among the top tier of stadiums throughout MLS.
September 22, 2024Sep 22 messi comes to the bronx — 🙀😂🎉 https://www.instagram.com/reel/DAMVMiiyFoF/?igsh=MTZ2emNzeGxqcGpnbA==
December 4, 2024Dec 4 i don’t condone this, but — 😂 https://www.instagram.com/reel/DCtYAfROsgb/?igsh=YTB0amwycGZoNjZ4
February 13Feb 13 Still not necessarily on board with pro-rel ... but the people who are are making a heavy move in the US, or at least have announced their intention to try: Move over, Major League Soccer. A rival top flight men’s league is coming to the U.S. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6129972/2025/02/13/usl-launch-division-1-league-us-soccer-mls/ The United Soccer League (USL) is set to launch a new division one men’s professional league, with the aim of expanding its presence in the U.S. and increasing the availability of top-tier soccer across the continent. The move to start a first division would give the USL a full three-tier pyramid. It is a natural step toward promotion and relegation, which [USL president] McDonough and the USL have outlined as a long-term goal for the league. The USL would be the first to institute pro-rel in the history of the sport in the U.S. “We’ve been very public about trying to get there with (pro-rel),” McDonough said. “We’re not there yet, but we’ll continue to push forward with it.” ============================ Even though I know that teams and leagues have been making this work in Europe, Latin America, etc., I don't know how teams will every justify massive investment in Division 1 facilities if they might find themselves having to operate those facilities on a Division 2 budget if the team has a bad year. A friend who follows EPL was trying to explain to me how the buyout and release clauses of a lot of players worked in case their teams got relegated, and my eyes glazed over.
February 13Feb 13 ^ I would welcome pro/rel. MLS has their way, and it works for them! But too many metros are left out of the equation, and are deserving of a local team. For USL to succeed they can't compete in the same way as MLS, they need a different route and I think they're on track for creating an interesting league that is best for all of U.S. soccer. If Tampa Bay Rowdies, Sacramento Republic or Indy 11 can't field a team to surpass FC Wooster then that's on them. It will be fun to see smaller markets compete vs. the big dogs, that brings a unique element to American pro sports.
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