This is why Messi was signed. Raging success, whether people stick around five years from now will be the true second data point. There is always a bump in popularity when the World Cup rolls around as well. Messi gets us to the WC, then home world cup should take over from there.
I'm sure that Sportico is a fine company, and all, but I can't help but wonder where it gets its data, how it generates this kind of information. Anyone with even a casual knowledge of MLS knows the league doesn't announce season ticket sales numbers, and virtually no financial data whatsoever. Does this report address its sources? Sportico was only created in 2020. What magic does it employ in order to generate these types of reports?
Financial numbers related to MLS, other than those regarding salary from the MLSPA, should either be completed ignored or heavily scrutinized to within an inch of its life, because all that info will never see the light of day. Ever.
Sportico usual pulls data from other sources and summarizes it, sometimes badly. I see a lot of NFL talking heads complain about how some of the numbers are inputted wrongly. A few of those charts are organized in a nonsensical manner.
The team has created a video series called "One Club" which will illustrate the one club mentality they take toward building the organization from the youth teams all the way through the first team. Episode 1 is out now.
This is really cool. Hopefully they go into more detail on how the club is integrating with the younger age groups and academies around Columbus.
Gressel: Messi was impressed by Columbus (Gressel's former team) and our playing style last season and how the team started this season. When we were in the hotel in Los Angeles watching their match against Atlanta, Messi came to me and said: "I watched Columbus in the first… https://t.co/jXFnrlbFOr— Messi Updates (@M10Update) March 2, 2024
Make Way For Mrowka 💫The Crew have signed Crew 2 midfielder Cole Mrowka as a Homegrown Player through the 2026 season with Club options for 2027 and 2028. The Crew Academy product becomes the 22nd Homegrown Player signing in Club history.— The Crew (@ColumbusCrew) March 5, 2024
Smith. Just joking. It's tough some times. There's a wild horse called Przewalski's horse that is pronounced che-val-ski.
Sounds like Ma-roo-ka There is a great site called forvo.com where people upload pronunciation of words in all sorts of languages. I use it all the time. Here are two samples or Mrowka. https://forvo.com/search/Mrowka/pl/
Wonder of Cole will get Philippines call ups. Stas Lapkes I just learned is a White Russian, so I doubt they will be in any big Tournaments for a while.
he has stated in the past his desire to represent Poland. Not sure if that is set in stone but he is good enough to be in US youth camps and hasn’t been so maybe he is dead set on representing Poland no matter what. Edit: where do you see Stas is Russian? He was born in Belarus, unless one of his parents/grandparents are Russian I guess
I didn't see any discussion of the makeup of the 12 owner Committee. Apparently it is an existing committee that has added a few members. Per the Athletic: https://theathletic.com/5303717/2024/02/27/mls-owners-salary-cap-rules/ "Thirteen owners were in attendance in Miami. Longtime members of the committee remained, including co-chairs FC Dallas owner Clark Hunt and Vancouver Whitecaps owner Greg Kerfoot, managing director of Red Bull GmbH Oliver Mintzlaff, LAFC owner Larry Berg, Seattle Sounders owner Adrian Hanauer, Portland Timbers owner Merritt Paulson, Sporting Kansas City owner Mike Illig and City Football Group CEO Ferran Soriano. New additions are Inter Miami owner Jorge Más, Austin FC owner Anthony Precourt, Philadelphia Union owner Jay Sugarman, Real Salt Lake’s Scott Krase and CF Montreal owner Joey Saputo. Those owners bring an interesting new dynamic to the fold. Sugarman’s Union team has been among the most aggressive in investment in an academy-driven model, but has not been one of the bigger spenders on the international market. Krase, a part of David Blitzer’s ownership group, and Saputo bring experience from owning teams abroad." The story also mentions: As the Athletic outlined in a story last year (https://theathletic.com/5136852/2023/12/14/mls-roster-rules-messi-spending/) the committee discusses and debates how to improve the product you see when you turn on an MLS game; comprising everything from roster rules to salary budget, the implementation of VAR and the rollout of the developmental league MLS Next Pro.
Jacen Russell-Rowe, you’re on the clock. There’s only so much room for former Crew 2 forwards on the roster. JRR was already under contract for 2024. My guess is that 2025 is an option year for him, but I can’t find reporting about the length of his initial contract (he was signed to an MLS contract in June 2022).