Major League Soccer

that portland/seattle game is gonna be something, huh

dcu declined their 2014 option on de rosario, which isn't totally surprising (at roughly $700k iirc) - still i'm kinda getting resigned to the fact that they're not spending money until the stadium gets built

Pathetic crowd at Houston for this playoff.

Houston's comeback surprised me.

very good article despite being from buzzfeed

http://www.buzzfeed.com/djpeisner/the-low-budget-high-pressure-life-of-an-mls-rookie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np1JCxG_xvA

fffffffffff

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np1JCxG_xvA

Fuck a Kansas City whichever state it's in, but that was a pretty entertaining final.

defoe is not the usual prem burnout that flees to the mls. his goal today is testament to that.

http://cdn3.sbnation.com/imported_assets/2010869/PlayerAcquisition1-14-14.jpg

Watching janky preseason streams, good stuff.

Got a Tottenham lad making a case for a loan to the Fires this year.

Julio Cesar signs for Toronto FC

starting to worry about this TFC rebuilding campaign, I knew once they hired Tim Leiweke it'd be on

i'm ready

so are they: ‏@StumptownFooty · 9m As the VAN/SJ line-ups are announced there are a small group of fans on hand to boo Steven Lenhart

small group of fans otm

https://twitter.com/BlackArmy1850/status/439435612093837312/photo/1

good luck guys

Lol Chad Barrett winning the game for Seattle

DC looks almost as bad as they were last year

two hours in the rain, all made good by...chad barrett.
excited about okoli. yedlin is picking up where he left off. dempsey even had some nice moments
all my fellow sounder fans are all "lol we always do kc like this in stoppage" and i keep thinking yeah but aren't you forgetting the shootout heartbreak of the usoc final? that was way worse
i don't think i've been to a sporting event quite that rainy. fucking miserable. i still feel like crap bcz of it.
the tifo was so wet and heavy they barely were able to unfurl it

what else happened? lots of goals. NE & DC got rolled. philly looked better than i expected.

Fire fought back from 2-0 down to tie things up with Chivas and then shit the bed with 2 minutes left.

Chicago's gonna be dire this year once again, I'm afraid. Hope I'm wrong. There's enough of a youth movement on that it could pay off, but who tf knows in this league.

That said, I'm going to the match in Portland on Sunday. Pretty stoked for a fun trip even tho we're likely gonna get owned.

he's sharp this defoe lad

my favorite bit of that game
http://cdn2.mocksession.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/CLINT-DEMPSEY-NUTSHOT.gif

CLINT-DEMPSEY-NUTSHOT.gif

fact

must read article regarding the referee lockout and the wider unfair labor practices perpetrated by the people who run the league

http://www.ussoccerplayers.com/2014/03/happening-referees-important.html

i'm shocked that a league with a $35k minimum salary has shitty labor relations

http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/article/2014/03/25/bob-kraft-worst-owner-new-england-revolution/

shots fired (get it?)

salaries are out http://t.co/rPHDEpdLgt

http://havethetimberswonamatchyet.com/

Atlanta 2017 huh

I guess so
Orlando makes enough sense but the rest are feeling forced. and this one's another turf stadium, what shit.

I was under the impression down south they couldnt give a flying one about soccer

New York Cosmos (7): 6859
San Antonio Scorpions (7): 6763
Carolina Railhawks (7): 4708
Atlanta Silverbacks (7): 4364
Fort Lauderdale Strikers (7): 4224
Tampa Bay Rowdies (7): 4051
Minnesota United FC (7): 3679
FC Edmonton (7): 2760

avg attendance fall 2013 NASL

go scorpions

btw we have a real grass SSS that can be expanded to 18000+ fuck atlanta and their football stadium

I've heard Atlanta isn't gonna be the silverbacks.

And I think the prevailing wisdom is the south is shaky ground for soccer. MLS has already failed in Florida before, and the growing expansion fees are starting to be compared to the growth of the original NASL. But, if you've got established rich ppl tossing down money, as an existing league investor-operator (which is what all the "owners" really are)... Gotta be hard to say no to lining your pockets.

Btw Indy Eleven had 11k plus for their first match and have 7k season ticket holders, they're potentially going to be huge in NASL. I have two friends in the front office and with Peter Wilt at the helm there's not really a limit what they could become.

nasl getting some legit action now

Also NYCFC are gonna be playing at Yankee stadium which IMO is bigger bullshit than a 70-80k football stadium.

hahaha fuck the yankees forever

also im starting to realize the thing i like most abt sports is hating other places

p much what it's all about yeah

I mean, seconds after the Atlanta announcement, some dippy Crew blog posted this & it went viral

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BlWwP2GCEAI01PP.jpg

yankees stadium is some bullsh
indy and SA seem to me from the outside so much more organic, but i don't trust nasl not to f it up.

sa tryina get into mls tho

MPLS is considered the front runner for the last slot I think

http://soccer.si.com/2014/04/16/mls-expansion-criteria-atlanta/

Very roughly estimated, the combined contributions of NYCFC, Miami, Orlando and Atlanta come to a total somewhere near $280 million. Each MLS club will pocket some $14 million.

xp
yeah but fuck that shit, i need some real ass teams when the spurs are in the offseason

lols http://www.lagalaxy.com/video/2014/04/24/alexi-lalas-runs-hill-during-2011-lamar-hunt-us-open-cup-0

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/sportingscene/2014/05/major-league-soccer-money-problems.html

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2014/05/12/Media/MLS-TV.aspx

New TV deal, $75 mil/year, all streaming moves to ESPN/Fox platforms. End of Direct Kick, possibly?

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2014/05/12/Media/ESPN-MLS-out-of-market.aspx

ESPN dealing with the streaming side of things, thankfully