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2021-22-23-24-25 News Thread

In other MLS news, starting next season their matches won’t be behind a separate AppleTV paywall. All matches will be available on with the regular AppleTV subscription.
 
andyt said:
In other MLS news, starting next season their matches won’t be behind a separate AppleTV paywall. All matches will be available on with the regular AppleTV subscription.
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Two seasons too late. Garber and Apple killed fan growth with that idiotic broadcast rights deal.
 
VinatieriDefinesClutch said:
Interesting, what's the plan for the parts of the country that still have winter? Though I guess the way things are going climate change wise, worse and worse summers is probably a bigger concern.
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It also puts Atlanta, New England, Chicago, Charlotte and San Diego in conflict the the entirety of the NFL/NCAA football seasons. And both Chicago and San Diego have grass fields, so the grounds crews are going to have a job to do to keep them in decent shape for both tenants.
 
jeffbear said:
With these expansion fees, they're going to HAVE to loosen up the Salary Cap ceiling. You can't be asking people to fork over $165 million and then limit them to a team payroll that's like 60% of a competitive WSL roster.
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The league just rejected a contract the Spirit proposed for Trinity Rodman, who is out of contract. It’s a 4 year contract that escalates in the last 2 years, anticipating increased media rights fees after the current deal expires in 2027. The NWSLPA filed a grievance on her behalf because the contract doesn’t violate league rules. A salary cap that hasn’t been set by the league can’t be violated, right?

I don’t know how revenue is calculated for salary cap purposes but in the NHL, expansion fees were excluded from hockey related revenue for cap purposes. Still the point remains, you can’t expect people to pay ever increasing expansion fees and then hamstringing their roster. But I’m sure Spirt owner Michele Kang is willing to back up the Brinks truck to Rodman’s house to bring her to either OL Lyonnes or London City Lionesses.
 
I fear that NWSL is going to go the way of all it's American predecessors and for much the same reason. They've got a significant class of owners who are too broke and/or cheap to be there and the commissioner's office has to protect everybody's interests. If they can survive long enough to fully root out that group, then they might stand a chance. But I suspect that current leadership doesn't understand the assignment.
 
jeffbear said:
I fear that NWSL is going to go the way of all it's American predecessors and for much the same reason. They've got a significant class of owners who are too broke and/or cheap to be there and the commissioner's office has to protect everybody's interests. If they can survive long enough to fully root out that group, then they might stand a chance. But I suspect that current leadership doesn't understand the assignment.
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They have a better TV contract than their predecessor leagues. But they also have owners like Steve Malik, who can’t afford to do anything. And unless Capitol Broadcasting decides to step up, they’re going to either remain a poverty franchise or be sold to someone and relocated. Naomi Osaka and Jrue and Lauren Holiday are the other minority investors, neither are local and neither are capable of taking over on their own.
 
StormChaserBH said:
We love going to Courage games, and hopefully they figure it out and get some sustainable backing in place.... would hate to lose that community asset.
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Me too, and I loved the old Courage in the WUSA, may it rest in peace.

And I was kinda hoping that Dundon might have some cash laying around for an infusion after he sells that minority stake in the Hurricanes. Malik is 90% of the Courage's problems wrapped up in one surly bundle.
 
The NWSL implemented a new “High Impact Player“ rule that would allow teams to exceed the salary cap by up to $1 million for star players. It was not collectively bargained and the NWSLPA said they would now take action to "to enforce the rights of the Players we represent."

www.espn.com

NWSL OK's 'Rodman rule' even as union objects

The NWSL on Tuesday announced the creation of what has been referred to internally as the "High Impact Player" rule (HIP), which would allow teams to spend up to $1 million outside of the salary cap on star players.
www.espn.com www.espn.com
 
I smell a strike/lockout ... which is JUST what the NWSL needs in the cycle where they're losing ground every year to European leagues with more open spending rules.

Jessica Berman was exactly what the NWSL needed in a commissioner when she took over. She took the systemic abuse of players and staff seriously and was empowered to actually do something about it. She also managed to push through a legitimate CBA, to her credit. Now, however, the league needs somebody with the financial savvy to figure out how to wrangle the collective ownership into the modern era in terms of operations. From what I ca tell, she's not only not up to the task, I don't think she even grasps what the challenge actually is.
 
jeffbear said:
And in a sign that Celtic's board haven't really gotten the memo, they went even further back to the past for the interim, bringing back Martin O'Neill ... who, though I love him like my own family, hasn't been relevant since he ran out of steam managing Ireland 7 or 8 years ago. Yeah, they're hoping that Sean Maloney can get a quick education as his right hand man this year and take over from there, but that's the kind of magical thinking that rarely pays off. Again, I've got a deep appreciation for Maloney as an old boy of both clubs I support, but they need fresh ideas and turning to the Old Bhoys Club is hardly likely to yield results on that front.
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Martin O’Neill is back again after Wilfred Nancy was sacked after 33 days in charge.
 
Yeah. I feel bad for Nancy. He’s a good MLS manager and would probably be fine as a national team manager, but Celtic was just something he wasn’t prepared for. This time, I do expect the board to eventually go with Maloney if O’Neill can get them back to getting results. They’ve been grooming him for the job since he got the quick hook at Wigan, but apparently a good portion of the board wanted someone with a bigger name and more of a body of work … so they turned to MLS like a bunch of numpties.
 
England great Kevin Keegan diagnosed with cancer
thescore.com

England great Kevin Keegan diagnosed with cancer

Former England and Newcastle manager Kevin Keegan has been diagnosed with cancer, according to a statement from his family released on Wednesday.The statement, shared by Newcastle, read: "Kevin Keegan was recently admitted to hospital for further evaluation of ongoing abdominal symptoms."These...
thescore.com thescore.com

ICYMI. 😞
 
Ricardo Pepi broke his arm after landing awkwardly and will have surgery. He’ll be out about 2 months, hopefully returning for the next International break at the end of March.
 
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