By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (Aug 21, 2019) US Soccer Players - Don Garber's whistle-stop expansion tour was in St Louis on Tuesday. The MLS commissioner announced that the city will be home to the newest addition to the ever-growing list of teams. If you're counting at home, this is lucky number 28. The as-yet-unnamed club begins play in 2022. That launch date that gives the ownership in St . . .
The stadium game hasn’t changed in MLS
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (Aug 2, 2019) US Soccer Players - MLS commissioner Don Garber's talking points around the 2019 MLS All-Star Game mostly gleamed with positivity. Major League Soccer is growing by leaps and bounds, adding two teams in 2020 and another in 2021. An announcement of two new teams appears to be in the works. By the time the next World Cup rolls around, the top division . . .
Raising the price of MLS expansion
The soccer news starts with MLS floating a new number for the all-in approach to MLS expansion. It's not just the expansion fee. It's making sure a new club can afford the stadium and whatever else is necessary to get a team up and running. According to MLS commissioner Don Garber in an interview with ESPN's Jeff Carlisle, the full cost for the next two expansion teams is "between $550 million and . . .
Another round of MLS expansion
The soccer news starts with MLS talking up expansion and naming four cities currently in the mix for the next round. The league confirmed that St Louis and and Charlotte met with MLS at the league's office. St Louis made a "formal presentation" while Charlotte's bid gave the league an update on their situation. "The ownership groups from Charlotte, Las Vegas, Sacramento, St Louis and other . . .
North Carolina and MLS
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (June 28, 2019) US Soccer Players - You probably didn’t see this coming, what with Sacramento standing by with the red carpet already rolled out for MLS to come calling and St Louis priming itself to be the next darling of the expansion parade. Even MLS commissioner Don Garber’s declarations that MLS won’t, in fact, stop at 28 might not have prepared anybody for the . . .
Does MLS know that it’s a league in transition?
By J Hutcherson (Mar 14, 2019) US Soccer Players - Three MLS clubs decided to “part ways” with their coaches over the last few weeks, a euphemism for firing them. In most cases, that ends up with two resets for the club involved. From the coach that started the season, to the interim, and then to whoever takes over. Considering the situations that normally lead to that “parting of the ways” it’s . . .
FC Cincinnati also makes a coaching change
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (May 8, 2019) US Soccer Players - Let’s not pretend that FC Cincinnati’s decision to fire head coach Alan Koch 11 games into their MLS expansion season wasn’t a surprise. Although their record of two wins, two draws, and seven losses was among the worst in MLS and the club hadn’t scored a goal in 600-plus minutes, dumping Koch this early in the campaign was still . . .
MLS makes announcements
Friday's soccer news starts with MLS announcing that they plan to expand the league to 30 teams. As these things go, expecting any league to cap their total number of teams when investor/operators are willing to pay their $200m expansion fee might be misguided. The pursuit of expansion fees may have been the cause of death for the original North American Soccer League, but from the MLS perspective . . .
Sacramento in the MLS expansion game
The soccer news starts with MLS expansion. The league's push to 28 teams continues with Sacramento releasing an updated stadium rendering. As always with MLS, it's the stadiums that end up being the issue. Getting a team in a new building in time for their expansion season isn't the norm. Instead, it's a waiting game that in some situations can continue for years. Sacramento needs an expansion . . .
FC Cincinnati’s home game
By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (Mar 15, 2019) US Soccer Players - The truth is that for FC Cincinnati, Sunday’s home Major League Soccer debut wasn’t exactly “a long time coming”. At least not if we’re judging by the amount of time between MLS making the expansion announcement in May of 2018 and the upcoming game against Portland at Nippert Stadium on March 18, 2019. The fans of other recent . . .
