Corporate marketing is a bizarre thing. Boomers really have all the money, but corporate marketing tends to take one target consumer -- regardless of if that segmentation is like 17% of sales -- and target it, hoping for halo. That said, I don't think this is MLS leaning into a younger generation at all. It's MLS being pennywise and pound foolish. They owners likely don't like or understand the Extratime crew -- they aren't former players, they don't dress in suits, there's an air to amateur hour to them ... and the cardinal sin is that they can't attach a visible, short term ROI to it. They also, I am sure, don't like it that they would actually criticize moves and things the league did. It's not just the extratime crew -- they killed the studio time for the wrap up show so it's just going to be edited highlights without commentary. The reality is that MBA-style marketing sees no incremental value in giving a free product to their most dedicated consumers. They also firmly all believe that customer education or trying to influence behavior is simply too long term to be ROI positive. Engagement is valued because someone said it is, but it's time spent x numbers of views -- with no plan to grow either. But the marketing geniuses at MLS will invite some lame ass youtube star like "ISHOWSPEED" because "they have lots of fans who don't know MLS" just hoping to draft off whatever dumb brand element they have. They can point to the impressions and justify their job. What MBA-style marketing people never seem to do is understand the product, understand why people like it, and really do anything based on a belief that if I have a good product people want, it will grow if I lean into that. Instead, it's all about what returns the most literally today. I worked for a number of very prominent brands that you would 100% know. And here's the dichotomy of working for a publicly traded company run effectively by financial rules: The most effective short term ROI was running ads with no brand message on existing popular products to basically remind people who already buy it to buy again Brand building messaging on existing strong brands never paid out. It never paid out in the short term to launch innovative new products that the consumer needed to be sold on because the marketing investment required was too high in early years to justify later years sales Small cost savings at the margins aren't consumer noticeable if you do them a bit at a time ... but over a decade the product is materially worse. But none of the testing or short term results show it. Of course, you can see the problem. The lack of brand building or innovation leads to a worse product, less strong of a brand, etc., and by the time they notice, it's too late. I worked for an over 100 year old company that largely avoided this, but the most recent CEO has basically killed the company in a seven year run. It's amazing how quickly something that took a century to build can be destroyed by short term greed and incompetence. That's a major digression ... but the reality is that MLS leadership doesn't believe ENOUGH in the product to invest in things that don't have a clear short term ROI, believing that you can hook people into what they are selling. It's a major lack of vision, but it's hardly exclusive to them. Innovation largely only comes from new companies, who then sell out at exorbitant prices to existing companies, who jack up the prices for consumers and then slowly kill the product. It's broken capitalism. Markets generally work the best, but we've engineered our system to encourage behavior that doesn't create a healthy market. ----- Anywhoo, MLS' other issue is that other major leagues used to rely on independent sources for news and analysis. Those no longer exist. Sports pages are disappearing left and right, and the major national venues largely only support the sports they have contracts with. No one watches Sportscenter anymore, but if they did ... ESPN wouldn't show MLS because ESPN doesn't profit from MLS. Where the best hype for any league comes from is its broadcast partner, but MLS chose a contract where they control the production of the product, not Apple. And now they are cutting all of that. You can tell none of them are sports fans; Sports fans want to dive into the minutae and hype and sorrow of a major sports team. They don't want to just watch the game.
You bring up some good points. At the league level, MLS is pennywise and dollar dumb. Two areas that I differ in opinion and observation with your points are: 1.) MLS doesn't have a national brand identity 2.) They cannot and should not depend on their broadcast partner to hype them. Number one is pretty clear. Depending on who you ask you'll get one of many answers: the soccer mom league, the retirement league, the orange slices league, an emerging league, Messi League Soccer, etc. Locally? Depends on what market you are in. The answer in Denver will be drastically different than the answer in Miami, LA, Portland or Seattle. Number 2 I base on 30+ years of history. When the league had a deal with ESPN/Fox for 15 years, they either didn't hype/talk about the league or when they did it was in condescending and disparaging ways. Do Fox/ESPN hype up MLB? Nope. Not anywhere near the way they talk about the NFL. The NFL didn't become the behemoth it is today by solely relying upon it's broadcast partners to hype it up. They created their own TV Network, and told their own stories. The NFL is not what it is today, without NFL Films. The owners LOST money on the NFL Network for more than a decade. MLS needs to be it's own cheerleader and advocate. They need to build their own brand, and tell their own stories. ESPN, Fox, Paramount, NBC Universal, Apple, etc are not going to do that. They need to look at Formula 1. They didn't grow into mass popularity here in the US by relying on Fox, NBC and ESPN. They went out and told their own stories. F1 did the work that MLS seemingly has never wanted or had the drive to consistently commit to. Case in point: Apple TV. MLS has the flexibility to do what they want. They have uninterrupted broadcast windows. $99 gets people EVERY GAME, with no blackouts globally.... How do you F this up? Well MLS said hold my beer......... They've drastically cut back on production, announcers, Spanish language support, French Language support, etc. Teams, as they've always been, were too cheap to produce content to place on MLS Season pass (didn't meet the high bar that Apple has for Apple TV programming). Which isn't a surprise when one looks at a decent amount of the local broadcasts that teams produced in the past. MLS is trying to cut it's way to a more prosperous broadcast deal. Guess what? NBC, ESPN, Fox, Paramount, etc. aren't going to pay more than Apple is currently to broadcast MLS. MLS only has its self to blame too. They aren't changing the narrative about the league, they're not creating a compelling TV product, and they don't have a National Brand Identity. This is on the League and it's owners.
For the record, I don't disagree with either point. I'm not sure I weighed in at all on the former, and on the latter, I merely was saying what other leagues rely on and why MLS was not in a place for that to be a function. That said, I do think that Apple would likely do a better job of producing content for MLS than MLS is willing to do or invest. Whether that would be enough would be a different question.
Six first leg games for us to keep an eye on in the CCC this week: Tuesday Nashville at Ottawa (Yes, that one will be a tad bit cold) LAFC at Real Espana (Honduras) Wed Philadelphia at Defense Force (T&T) Cincinnati at O&M (Dominican Republic) Vancouver at Cartagines (Costa Rica) Thur LA Galaxy at San Miguelito (Panama) Important for any players with World Cup ambitions to start the season hot and earn a spot at March camp. Players from these teams that have been called up over the last calendar year: Roman Celentano, Miles Robinson, Tim Tillman, Nathan Harriel, Tristan Blackmon, Brian White, etc. [I'm guessing Quinn Sullivan isn't back from injury.] San Diego has already earned its spot in the next round. Inter Miami and the Sounders had automatic entries into that Round of 16.
Fafa Picault and Kyle Duncan have found new homes over the last couple of days. Neither US eligible any longer, but good to see them get picked up. Not many names left looking for a home. Is Eryk Williamson just broken???? Sebastian Lletget is only 33 years old. He's dealt with injury problems, and lack of impact, the last couple of years. Still, I was sure he'd find a club wanting him for a rotation role.
Results from the CCC. Both first legs on the road, so these series are in great shape for the MLS teams. Nashville 2 Ottawa 0 LAFC 5 6 Real Espana 1 For Nashville, a guy I'm keeping an eye on is midfielder Matthew Corcoran. He started and played well, albeit against limited opposition. For LAFC, that was the Bouanga and Son show. Tim Tillman did get on the scoresheet as well.
My boys are running! A subtle heel finish by Tillman! ✨ pic.twitter.com/IR5cefitsX— Concacaf Champions Cup (@TheChampions) February 18, 2026
Cavan Sullivan had a bit of a coming out in Trinidad tonight. On one hand, Defense Force would easily be the worst MLS team if they were in the league. And Cavan did come on at the 65' mark after Defense Force was already down 3-0. On the other hand ... everything else. Looked the best offensive player on the field. Fantastic touch on the ball - maybe one real bad touch all game? Great soccer IQ -- he attacked via dribble at the right time, made the quick pass otherwise. Electric at points. He got an assist (or something close), drew a penalty, drew a red card, was constantly cynically fouled and beat an older Joevin Jones in a foot race fairly easily -- yes, he's older but Jones is not slow. Absolute wrecking ball. He's going to get knocked around because he's still pretty small, so I can see some limitation of minutes, but I suspect he has a massive breakout this year. Philly wins 5-0. Philly and Cincy have it fairly easy with a Trinidadian and a Dominican team to start. But this CCC is also notable in that pretty much every team is ready for this tournament. Philly may have one of the less impressive rosters given turnovers. Usually, the Open Cup winner or some other undeserving team sneaks in that screws it up. But with the Galaxy being pretty damn good even without Puig and Nashville going out and getting Espinoza, it's not really a shock that even the Central American teams and Pumas really didn't test the MLS teams.
Nice pre-season game for the Union. I'm not going to read too much into that. Without a doubt, that will be the weakest team the Union face all year. Good start....................................... Cincinnati also wiped the floor with their opponents down in the DR. Vancouver had the most difficult opponent, Cartagines of Costa Rica. They managed to escape the road leg with a 0-0 draw. Vancouver has quite the American core. Berhalter, Blackmon, Johnson, Sabbi, and White all started. Clearly will be the most interesting 2nd leg.
Yeah I view that as a great result for Vancouver Cavan isn't GOING to be special, Cavan is special NOW. I was peaking over at that games highlights and hes a player. What a talent we got there.
Some notable CCC performances in Fotmob. Tillman(CAM in 4231)(8.2)3rd Iloski(LM in 442)(8.5)2nd 23-and-under Eisner(RB in 4123)(8.0)5th Mighten(F in 4123)(7.4)8th T.Williams(CB in 123)(7.4)5th Valenzuela(DM in 5122)(7.7)5th 20-and-under Westfield(LB in 442)(8.5)2nd Corcoran(RCM in 4123)(8.3)MOTM Bombino(LB in 4123)(8.4)2nd CSullivan(LM in 442)(8.1)5th Rick(GK in 442)(7.7)8th Chirila(LCB in 532)(7.7)5th Vazquez(RF 4123)(7.3)9th
Cincy's 6'2" 17 y/o CB, Andrei Chirila, could be in for solid minutes. Westfield showed nice versatility in playing on the left Gerardo Valenzuela might have found a home at DM for Cincy Cartaginés took 25% possession in stymieing Vancouver to a 0-0. After losing to them earlier in season Miami took its lowest possession of the season defeat Vancouver in MLS Cup. They're going to see a lot of low blocks this season. Sullivan showed a strong mentality in dealing with the physicality
Sad day. Dallas bought out Pomykal's contract. He just can't do it. He was injured again in preseason. FC Dallas Exercises Contract Buyout on Homegrown Paxton Pomykal | FC Dallas FC Dallas announced today that the club has exercised a buyout on the guaranteed contract of Homegrown midfielder Paxton Pomykal. With the move, Pomykal will no longer occupy a Senior roster spot. Internationally, Pomykal captained the United States U-20 men's national soccer team to the quarterfinals of the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Poland. He earned his first senior call-up later that year and made his debut for the national team in the 85th minute against Uruguay on Sept. 11, 2019. He added two more senior appearances in 2023. At the Academy level, Pomykal helped the FC Dallas Academy win the Dr Pepper Dallas Cup’s Gordon Jago Super Group in 2017. He was also selected to the U.S. Soccer Development Academy Central Conference Starting XI after contributing to both the U-16 and U-18 national championships.
That is a sad day. A healthy Paxton would have killed it in Pochettino's set up. Just a great combo of furious defender and well rounded attacking skills.
Pomykal is absolutely one of our bigger enatbuf guys. He would be in Europe if he could have stayed healthy. we gotta hope Gio is not next in the broken bodies list
Considering how many stops he had to make, Rick's score has to be taken with a grain of salt. Not a criticism...you can only play the team you are playing...
It does remind me that MLS clubs have "get out of jail" cards every year. FC Dallas exercise buyout of Paxton Pomykal | MLSSoccer.com To complete the transaction, FC Dallas utilized one of their two buyouts of a guaranteed contract. Each club has two buyouts per season. Pax was on a large salary, so this frees up quite a bit of salary space. Roster Rules and Regulations | MLSsoccer.com A club may buyout up to two players (including a Designated Player) who have a Guaranteed Contract and free up the corresponding Salary Budget space each year. Such a buyout is at the club's expense and may apply to any mutually terminated contracted player or to a contract that remains in effect. Before a player is considered a buyout, the league in its discretion may place the player on Waivers to be made available to all clubs.
Good eye with Chirila. I tune in to watch young US players and #88 was not listed in the google lineup nor the transfermarkt page for FC Cincy. Lo and behold I had to search his name in the latter app to find it with FC Cincy II. He played quite well last night. Impressive to have his first senior start on the road in CCL. Looks like he has at least attended a US U15 camp but no minutes as of yet. One to keep an eye on for sure. Kid looks like he has the natural size to excel at the position.
Helluva signing (pending physical) for Toronto as the league season opens. Sargent is in his prime NOW. Let's hope Sargent crushes it and gives Poch something to think about!! Norwich City's Sargent set to sign deal with MLS side Toronto - BBC Sport
But not in time for me to able to yell Norwich reject at him tomorrow (I actually love Sargent minus his last month) but that chants always fun.
I wish I was at that game. My sure to be incredibly wrong predictions: Supporter's Shield: Inter Miami MLS Cup: LAFC USOC: Orlando Leagues Cup: Cincinnati CONCACAF Champions Cup: LAFC Surprise team (missed playoffs last year, but will this year): New England Disappointing team (made the playoffs last year, but will miss this year): Austin Wooden Spoon: Montreal MVP: Dennis Bouanga, LAFC Leading Scorer: Petar Musa, Dallas Leading Asisster: Anders Dreyer, San Diego Best Newcomer: German Berterame, Inter Miami Defender of the Year: Tristan Blackmon, Vancouver Goalkeeper of the Year: Michael Collodi, Dallas (hell, going way out on a limb) Young Player of the Year: Zavier Gozo, RSL I think Zavier Gozo is primed for a huge breakout in Salt Lake, and will move to Europe next January window. As far as our beloved FC Dallas goes, better than last year. 5th in the West, riding a monster season from Petar Musa, and an exception season from Michael Collodi in the nets. Michael Collodi is the next in line of these ivy league goalkeepers.