MLS team valuations have soared in recent years, with the average now at $185 million according to Forbes, but the league is still a long way from fielding a product that competes with the upper-tier of European leagues.
A lot of you probably don’t know about the United States women’s national ice hockey team. That’s alright, that’s your issue. A lot of you will use this ignorance to claim that, vis-a-vis, they shouldn’t be properly compensated for their work. That’s not alright. These women are entitled, by law, to equitable support from USA Hockey in compensation, equipment, meals, staffing, transportation, hotels, travel and marketing.
Zenit Arena, which will be called Saint Petersburg Stadium during the 2017 Confederations Cup and 2018 World Cup, has finally hosted its first event after beginning construction in 2007.
The anticipation is building in Atlanta for their club’s inaugural season in MLS as they’ve now sold more than 40,000 tickets for their home opener against the New York Red Bulls on Sunday, March 5. The match will be televised nationally on FS1 at 7:00 PM ET, and club president Darren Eales says they are on pace for a sell out.
Atlanta United will begin play at Georgia Tech’s 55,000-seat Bobby Dodd Stadium while construction on the Mercedes-Benz Stadium is completed. United are slated to begin play there on July 30 against Orlando City, a match that will be broadcast on FOX.
When we read about things like allocation lists, sums of targeted and general allocation money and the processes of discovery and re-entry in MLS, we usually just smile, nod our heads in feigned understanding, and murmur things like “But of course.” In truth, it’s all terribly confusing and best left to the poor sporting directors and player personnel managers who need to assemble an entire roster for $3.845 million.
Qatar, the small country on the Arabian Peninsula with a population less than that of Nevada, is spending almost half a billion dollars per week in preparation for the 2022 World Cup according to the country’s finance minister.
As reported by World Soccer’s Jamie Rainbow, this will amount to more than $200 billion by the time the tournament rolls around.
In a recent interview with Mundo Deportivo, Ronaldinho revealed that Pep Guardiola, rather than wanting to move forward without the Brazilian star as was believed, actually wanted him to stay before he left for AC Milan.
Even with the shadow of the collective bargaining agreement hanging over the United States Women’s National Team, the 2017 NWSL season is set to be the best one yet. Two new ownership groups and a new stadium in Orlando are positive achievements for the league, but Thursday’s announcement of an agreement between the NWSL and A+E Networks is the biggest news yet.
More than two years after the 2014 World Cup, the excess of $3 billion spent on building new stadiums and renovating existing ones across Brazil is looking more and more like an unmitigated disaster. With the government unable to pay teachers, medical personnel and pensions, the extreme costs of up keeping these gargantuan white elephants are rightly the last thing on the country's priority list.