Time for Major League Soccer to Allow Its Teams to Sign Players Freely

Fourteen years of having Major League Soccer’s league office monopolize all player negotiations and signings is enough. Fourteen years of depriving the LA Galaxy, DC United, Colorado Rapids, Kansas City Wizards, and other MLS teams from freely having the chance to at least attempt to acquire world class players in their prime like Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, or Lionel Messi, is enough. New York Red Bulls fans, Chicago Fire fans, Houston Dynamo fans, Chivas USA fans, FC Dallas fans, Sounders FC fans, Toronto FC fans, San Jose Earthquakes fans, Real Salt Lake fans, all fans want their teams to have a fighting chance, to have the freedom to do all they can to sign any player in the world that they want. Like Commissioner Don Garber likes to say, MLS is an American league managed in an American way. Freedom is the American way. Since its inception in 1996, MLS, the U.S.'s first division men’s outdoor professional league, instituted a single-entity setup allowing the league office to negotiate and sign all players and to impose a salary cap. The initial reasoning spouted by the league was the single-entity structure provides stability by imposing cost control, preventing the clubs from engaging in bidding wars to ...

Will the 2010 MLS Cup Be Held at Red Bull Arena?

Just a few short weeks ago, Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber announced that the league's championship match, MLS Cup, will remain at a neutral site for the 2010 season. That news comes after league officials volleyed with the idea of moving the game from the neutral site to the home stadium of the higher seeded team playing in the championship match. "Following a detailed review and careful analysis of both options, we have elected to continue with a neutral-site format for MLS Cup 2010," Garber said. "We believe this format will provide an exciting environment for our fans while also allowing the necessary planning time for our key constituents. We will continue to assess the possibility of playing MLS Cup at the home stadium of the higher seeded team in the future." Major League Soccer is currently evaluating candidate cities and host venues for MLS Cup 2010 and will announce the eventual host site during the first quarter of the year. The Home Depot Center in Carson, California has always been an easy option because of its size. With a seating capacity of 27,000, it is the largest soccer-specific stadium in MLS. The Home Depot Center has actually already hosted three MLS Cup Games.  Well, say ...

Will Landon Donovan’s Loan To Everton Save the Toffees’ Season?

After a great 2008-2009 season in which Everton finished fifth in the English Premier League and were able to get to the FA Cup final by beating sides such as Liverpool and Manchester United, Everton have had an abysmal season with seven losses at the halfway point of their Premier League season. So far this year, Everton have found themselves flirting with trouble by remaining close to the relegation zone as recently as early December before a solid run that included draws against Tottenham and Chelsea, which helped Everton get into 11th place in the Premier League table. But now that Landon Donovan has now joined Everton on a 10-week loan, the question for the Toffees will be: Will Landon Donovan save their season? In the next 10 weeks, Everton will have fixtures at Arsenal, home against Manchester City, home against Sunderland and Wigan, at Liverpool, home against Chelsea and Manchester United, and away at Tottenham along with their Europa League knockout stage two-legged fixture against Sporting Libson. Without question, these are going to be the 10 weeks that will tell us if Everton will make it into the Europa League again for the fourth consecutive season under David Moyes. So far in his tenure ...

Philadelphia Union: Draft Worthy and Selection Rich

With the first selection in the 2010 Major League Soccer (MLS) Super Draft, the expansion Philadelphia Union select.... Don't mean to keep you hanging here, but we won't officially know the answer to that scenario until January 14th, when the Union partake in the teams first ever Super Draft. Not only does Philadelphia have the number one overall pick, but they also have the top pick in each of the ensuing three rounds, unless of course they pull the trigger on any trades. Based on the teams current roster which consists of two keepers, three defenders, three midfielders and three forwards, my guess is that they will use that first pick to select a forward, especially considering that one of their current forwards is 30 year old Venezuelan Alejandro Moreno, formerly of the Columbus Crew. From a draft stand point, the Union could not have picked a better time to be involved in the selection process with some calling this one of the most impressive draft classes MLS has ever seen. So with forwards in mind here is a look at the top five up top, beginning with the player Philadelphia will probably select with that first pick. 1.Danny Mwanga (Oregon State). A Congolese born striker scored ...