Business

With the 2016-17 Premier League season in the books, we wanted to take a deep dive into how each team performed based on its payroll.

The final table reflected the spending gap between the top six teams and the rest. In fact, the eight teams that spent over $100 million in wages this season all finished in the top 8 of the table.

Although that might seem entirely too predictable, there was significant performance variance among those teams. Also, ninth place Bournemouth had one of the lowest payrolls, suggesting that they found some good players at a discount.

When it comes to stadium plans, the first thing you'd think would be an absolute must would be the implementation of a parking area that adoring fans and staff can use to actually attend a match.

In the case of the proposed expansion MLS team in Miami, they decided to omit this extremely important aspect completely.

As time continues to roll along, we're going to continuously see plans for the Canadian Premier League (CPL) come to fruition. As of last week, the CPL had officially approved its formative plans, and it's now only a matter of time until the league is a real thing. We can now all watch it develop with excitement.

When will the Canadian Premier League start?

Mathematically eliminated from a top-four finish in the Premier League, Manchester United now know that they need to win the Europa League in order to qualify for next year's Champions League.

FIFA is up to some nonsense this week. Like, even more nonsense than usual.

The two men overseeing FIFA's ethics committee investigations and sanctions have been let go, as well as all but two ethics committee members.

Per The Guardian:

Although Chelsea has all but secured a second Premier League title in three seasons, the relegation battle is just heating up. Sunderland and Middlesbrough are going down to the Championship next season, and Hull City and Swansea City are trying to avoid the same fate. 

Relegation certainly adds drama and raises the stakes for the final games of the season, but exactly how much do these teams stand to gain by staying up?

Lionel Messi has scored 51 goals in 49 games this season for Barcelona. So, it's no wonder that club executives are in a hurry to get negotiations over with and to get Messi's contract finalized.

It appears today that the club and Messi's agents may be close to a deal. Only a day after we reported that Messi's camp rejected Barcelona's initial offer, Barcelona VP Jordi Mestre said "it won't be long" before Lionel Messi signs a new contract with FC Barcelona.

According to Diario AS, Lionel Messi's camp has rejected Barcelona''s initial offer of a contract extention. Messi's contract runs through June 2018.

Despite the initial rebuff, no one expects Messi to play anywhere besides Barcelona. It's understood he'll sign an extension eventually, but certainly the powers that be at Barcelona will be much happier should that happen sooner rather than later.

The offer was reported to be in the neigborhood of 30-30 million Euros per year.

Big ups to Steve Fenn (@StatHunting) for breaking down MLS wages by team and player in a brilliantly interactive infographic. You can get lost in this masterpiece for hours.

Following a board meeting today, Tottenham Hotspur have confirmed they will play all of their home games at Wembley Stadium next season while waiting for their new world-class stadium to be finished.

Spurs have called White Hart Lane their home for the past 118 years. The new stadium, set to be ready by the start of the 2018-19 season, will be adjacent to their current home.