MLS

Major League Soccer will restart the season on July 8, after being shut down for almost three months by the COVID-19 outbreak, by staging a tournament without fans at Disney World in Orlando, Florida, it said on Wednesday.

"We selected Orlando because we wanted a neutral site where we could bring all 26 of our teams together and do it in a format that would be compelling and partner with a company (Disney) that has best in class operational excellence," said MLS commissioner Don Garber during a conference call.

With the United States Soccer Federation debating whether to repeal its rule requiring players to stand for the nation anthem, Major League Soccer reconfirmed Tuesday that it does not prevent anyone from kneeling in protest.

The USSF's board of directors held a special meeting Tuesday to discuss its anthem policy but did not take immediate action, according to the New York Times. Per the report, no decision is likely to come before the board has a regularly scheduled meeting on Friday.

The United States Soccer Federation (USSF) has begun to consider repealing its ban on players kneeling during the national anthem. The board of directors plans to meet on Tuesday, June 9 to discuss the policy.

This comes in the wake of outrage and resulting protests over the murder of George Floyd while in police custody. Protests in support of the Black Lives Matter movement and against police brutality have sprung up across the nation and are now drawing global attention.

In an act of solidarity that mirrors D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser’s decision to paint “Black Lives Matter” in giant yellow capital letters across several city blocks running towards the White House, D.C. United has voiced its support for protests across America by painting “I CAN’T BREATHE” and “BLM” on its playing surface at Audi Field.  

NEW YORK — The LA Galaxy has parted company with Serbian midfielder Aleksandar Katai after his wife published "a series of racist and violent social media posts," the Major League Soccer (MLS) team said on Friday.

In Instagram posts that have since been deleted, Tea Katai referred to Black Lives Matter protesters as "disgusting cattle" and called on law enforcement to "kill" them, according to media reports.

Brooklyn Nets superstar Kevin Durant has bought a minority stake in Major League Soccer's Philadelphia Union, Sports Business Daily reported Thursday night.

Durant's piece of the team is between 1 percent and 5 percent, according to the SBD report.

It's unclear if Durant's stake also includes the Union's USL team and whether it's a personal investment for the former NBA MVP or if it's through his company, Thirty Five Ventures, according to the report.

Durant reportedly tried to buy a stake in D.C. United on two different occasions.

Major League Soccer games will go on after players agreed to ratify a new Collective Bargaining Agreement before Wednesday's deadline for owners to impose a lockout.

The deal opens the door for the season to restart as early as July 9, according to multiple reports, with the league reportedly set to conduct a World Cup-style tournament among all 26 teams at Orlando, Fla.

Players are facing a deadline of high noon on Tuesday to avoid being locked out by MLS owners, ESPN reported on Monday.

At odds over the return-to-play tournament in Orlando, players voted to approve a counterproposal but owners had already determined their best offer was on the table, per the report.

The MLS expansion club in Charlotte will reveal its name in June, team president Tom Glick said.

Glick declined to specify an exact date in an interview published Friday by the Sports Business Journal.

"This is a very important moment in the formation of our new club for the city and for the region," Glick said. "We've been monitoring and thinking about when the right time to introduce it would be. What's clear to us right now is not only is there a hunger for the return of sport and watching sport, there's a hunger and anticipation for this moment for this new club."