Bryce Duke Sources: Inter Miami midfielder Bryce Duke is training with La Liga giants Atletico Madrid. Duke, 21, had breakout season with Miami this year, with 1g/7a in 1,476 minutes after being acquired from LAFC. Good experience for the midfielder before MLS preseason starts next month. pic.twitter.com/s6VKVtD0F6— Tom Bogert (@tombogert) December 6, 2022
Oscar found no use for Ecuador's starting DM, And Canada's starting CB and RB. I don't know that I trust his eye lately.
Alan Sonora UPDATE: USMNT prospect Alan Sonora training with Independiente until his contract expires on the 31st. Montreal deal never came to pass. Has an offer from Liga MX, but still aiming for MLS. Hopeful of a USMNT call-up for January camp.— Arch Bell (@ArchBell) December 7, 2022
Reed Baker-Whiting One of the Sounders’ most promising prospects could be going on loan to a top Bundesliga team. https://t.co/sJ8xVaIzGn— Sounder At Heart (@sounderatheart) December 7, 2022 Important note here is that it is at right-back. That move seems to be reenergizing his potential. Up until the recent change he has been an 8/10/Wing type player. https://t.co/Dn4jhgkb48— Marcus Chairez (@chai_asc) December 7, 2022
Columbus Crew interviewed US U20 manager Mikey Varas in their search for a head coach, per sources. Wilfried Nancy always top choice but good experience/recognition for Varas.Also: Nancy expected to add to coaching staff soon. Talks ongoing.https://t.co/SwjzpP2giJ— Tom Bogert (@tombogert) December 8, 2022 I imagine he’ll get an MLS job soon, but always assumed he wouldn’t really look till post U20 World Cup.
Zardes in talks with Austin. Like that move for him. They are a bit shallow up top so that makes sense
What about Duane Holmes? And is Romain Gall coming back to MLS? Random MLS transfer ideas for US-eligible players not in MLS: GK, Josh Cohen ➡️ ATLRB, Devan Tanton ➡️ AUSLB/CM, Christian Cappis ➡️ CHACB/DM, Lennard Maloney ➡️ CHILB, Isaiah Foster ➡️ CINCF, Eduvie Ikoba ➡️ COLOLB, Mauricio Isais ➡️ COLU...— Marcus Chairez (@chai_asc) December 8, 2022 CF, Santiago Munoz ➡️ DALGK, Chituru Odunze ➡️ D.C.WING, Sebastián Saucedo ➡️ HOUCB, Nico Carrera ➡️ KCCM, Tim Tillman ➡️ LAFCRB, Marlon Fossey➡️ LAGCB, Jon Tomkinson ➡️ IMCFWING, Tyler Freeman ➡️ MINCM, Tanner Tessman ➡️ MONCF, Rodrigo Neri ➡️ NASHCB, Sam Rogers ➡️ NE— Marcus Chairez (@chai_asc) December 8, 2022
Any legitimacy to the Diego Luna hype? Seen him play a handful of times and never been impressed. He's also already 19. He gonna be a regular for RSL this season?
So relevant MLSers currently training abroad: Bryce Duke (Atletico Madrid) Reed Baker-Whiting (Freiburg) Esmir Bajraktarevic (AZ Alkmaar) any others that we know about? Esmir Bajraktarevic (‘05) is training/trialing at AZ Alkmaar currently. https://t.co/iadwGJIlf7— USMNTProspects (@ProspectsUsmnt) December 12, 2022
Some non-Berhalter/Reyna #USMNT content!#MLS homegrowns who may break into the 2026 cycle ⬇️ https://t.co/rbeb20V6Bq— Jonathan Sigal (@JonathanSigal) December 12, 2022
USYNTer George Campbell on his way to Montreal. Bienvenue @GeorgeC1927!Le CF Montréal fait l'acquisition du défenseur George Campbell >>> https://t.co/u73QM7QTBoCF Montréal acquires defender George Campbell >>> https://t.co/TzFlzXuv5Y#CFMTL pic.twitter.com/tJSlOFfixs— CF Montréal (@cfmontreal) December 13, 2022
Loving the off-season moves so far that’s a great move for Campbell. Successful season snd maybe he’s their next export? Zardes to Austin is a done deal too. Repeat, I love that move. They were short a striker. No longer.
Is my understanding of the new tv deal correct? ESPN, out. Univision, out. Only one game on FS1/Fox per week(34 games total). Local over the air broadcasts, done with. To watch on amazon you need to cough up $15/month? I mean....I ain't paying $15/month. Used to watch NYRB/NYCFC locally on tv and watch a few ESPN+ games on demand at no additional cost to what I'm paying. That's apparently eliminated. I'd catch the FS1 games sometimes as well but appears those are now fewer. Seems to me far fewer people will be watching MLS unless hardcore diehards paying the amazon subscription. I think a lot of us watch to see various prospects across the league. Not because we're local diehards. Am I missing something?
Fox Game of the Week - half of them on broadcast Fox, which is more than now in terms of OTA Most of the Playoffs on Fox Knockouts of Leagues Cup on Fox Leagues Cup on Univision 40% of games on Apple in front of the paywall -- originally reported as not needing Apple+ at all; this is a key point that people are unsure about 100% of games on Apple (without needing Apple+) for $15/month but also $99/season. $79/season if you have Apple+. Which I find is a totally reasonable price -- $100 for about 500 games. All season ticket holders get it free as part of their season ticket package. There's actually more OTA access on Fox, but less overall on cable. The Univision aspect is a real hit; there's no way around it. The key will likely be trying to drive people to the Apple TV free games -- how much is Apple invested here? I think the $10/month for the season is a very reasonable price -- if you watch about a game a week plus playoffs, that's like $2.50/match. But yeah, less accessible. What MLS gets: Money Control of production Consistent gametimes A Partner invested in your growth Time will tell.
I wonder if MLS just doesn't care about eyeballs to an extent. The ratings have never been great and probably wouldn't be great even if they went up by 10% or something. If Apple pays them a ton of money to try to entice subscribers to Apple TV+, why should MLS care if they get, say, 20% fewer people actually watching games?
I think that's part of the calculus. I'm sure they care about ratings and eyeballs to some level, but the money from the Apple Deal will help them grow in terms of payroll, etc. They are betting on young eyes that often don't have cable or watch OTA. The question is: are they attracting fans through cable games? I think the real issue is the Univision aspect, as that demographic is a target demo. I don't think the status quo was realistic anyway. ESPN has never promoted MLS -- no highlights, no promotion, constant deprioritizing. Heck, as good as ESPN+ is in some ways, it's really hard to find MLS even behind leagues that get far worse ratings. Disney's also cutting back hardcore on some things. I don't think they even bid on the MLS RFP -- i.e. the terms MLS was asking for.
You have a point, but at the same time there was potential in bringing new fans to the sport thru making their games available to the masses. And this could have been capitalized more going in and out of the next WC. The weekly games on Fox are a very minimal amount of exposure. @gogorath , when you speak about 40% of games being available on Apple in front of a paywall, do you mean you can download a free app & those would be available to you? If so, that would actually be more exposure to the masses. If not, and you have to pay for another service, it's going to be more restrictive. On its face this looks like the Championship's ifollow deal. It obscures them to the broader public, but they figure they'll make more money from die hard local fans who are going to pay the monthly subscription I guess. It's not going to be worth it to anyone else but those who have virtually inexhaustible income or work in the sport.