Assortia from it:
Seattle and Toronto were the only profitable teams in 2009, says Don.
There's no free agency, the majority of player contracts are guaranteed, increased compensation/salary cap, players with expiring contracts, those waived, and some other category go into a "reentry draft" at the end of the year. How this will work exactly? TBD. If it had been around this year for example, Dave Van den Bergh would have been in it.

New York Cosm... um... Red Bulls Vs. Santos to open the new stadium. Just tuned in en Espanol, via Justin, so missed any pre-game ceremony. Did Pele turn up?

Did catch the end of Kelly Rowland butchering the national anthem. Why can't people just sing the damn thing straight? Then some blonde chick delivered the ball by driving a bloody Nascar on the newly laid pitch! WTF?

Pitch looks very wet and there's a few patches of empty seats noticeable in the stands. (Though I think NYRB management would be deliriously happy with a 22k or so average for the season).

Got an English feed now and I'm not a fan of the play-by-play man. Mark Rogadino? Don't know him. Is he an east coast sportnet/MSG network name? Christopher Sullivan is always good value on colour, but he's got a lot to do to make up for the poor PBP.

Hey. 1-0 New York, Cool. Nice goal by Lindpere too. I think he was at Barnsley once.

Damn, this is New York Red Bulls, right? Where has this team been the last few years?

Maybe this won't be a lifeless training scrimmage after all. Y'all need to wake up, Santos.

*sigh* Maybe one day this could be a real life, actual Copa Libertadores tie between these two teams at this arena.

Y'know, for realsies.

Course, MLS teams have to work out how to win in the bloody CONCACAF Champions League first.

3-0 to New York at half-time. Blimey. Am I drunk?

Cracking goals too.

Knowing next to nothing about Brasilian league footie, I was assuming this was a weakened Santos team, but the commentators seem to be saying its the full first team squad minus only Robinho and maybe two other big names.

Maybe Carl Robinson is superman?

Maybe Notts County made Hans Backe a worldbeater?

Rogandino is an FSC guy through and through. He's the lead voice on their WPS stuff, fills in wherever else, does some Galaxy regional broadcasts as well, used to do radio for San Diego Sockers, was a GK at San Diego State as well.

Santos are not exactly putting themselves about though. The check's cleared already.

I can't wait to see how RB chooses to self-destruct in front of their fans in typical metro fashion next week.

Will it be a last minute own goal? How will the curse of caricola continue? I'm just glad I'll be there in person.

Yep, Mark Rogandino and some other guy have been calling Galaxy games for our local Fox Sports Net for a couple of years now, replacing the Deadly Duo of Bretos and Hopkins (who I actually liked together on the Galaxy broadcasts, in a guilty pleasure sort of way). The Galaxy's radio announcer, Joe Tutino, is really good. I wish he could do the TV broadcasts.

I'm mildly disappointed there's no strike. There's a part of me that is seriously dreading going to the stadium each week to watch TFC resume its impersonation of the Washington Generals.

Speaking of which - anyone coming to Toronto this summer? I will set aside tickets for anyone who happens to be in town.

Other random rumors; Rosters stay at 24 players, developmental contracts gone, minimum salary 40K, salary cap bumped a whopping 200K.

DC wins the Carolina Challenge Cup defeating Charleston battery 2-0 last night, having already beaten RSL and TFC.

I'm mildly disappointed there's no strike. There's a part of me that is seriously dreading going to the stadium each week to watch TFC resume its impersonation of the Washington Generals.

Maybe in July or August.

How Red Bull gets its swerve on

Rosters, and guaranteed contracts for the year, go final at 5PM tomorrow. In advance of which, Chicago has out of the blue waived Jon Busch, and Colorado Pat Noonan, among others so far.

"Red Bull has more than a team at stake," said former New York Red Bull Managing Director Marc de Grandpre. "It’s a brand and product. When you build a business, you have to make sure the communication is the same across all the platforms."
Jesus, somebody please put this man out of his misery.

The Curse of Metro will. I have faith in this.

MLS Cup in Toronto this year.

Add Wade Barrett to the list of shitcanned veterans, though he apparently gets to become an assistant coach.

Putting the Cup in Toronto in late November is ballsy. The place could be an ice cube by then.

Tonight's the night. I had been concerned that it wasn't a good idea for MLS to schedule the Union's very first match for the west coast, meaning it's kind of late over here and they'd probably lose some of the potential audience who they need to woo, but that might be overthinking things.

Preki cuts Gerba, cuts Edwards, trades Wynne to the Rapids for central midfielder Nick Labrocca. Which is odd because we cut Robinson on the gorunds that we were over-stocked in that position.

To recap TFCs moves this off-season:

OUT

Vitti, Guevara, Edwards, Robinson, Wynne, Gerba, Serioux.

IN

Nick Labrocca, Ty Harden, Zach Herrold.

Near as I can tell, we only have 18 players on the roster and we still lack a decent striker and anything resembling a defence. Unless there are a huge number of free-agent signings in the offing, we're looking forward to the kind of season NY had last year.

Okay, prediction time:

MLS Cup: Seattle over Columbus
MVP: Shalrie Joseph
Golden Boot: Freddy Montero
Goalkeeper of the Year: Donovan Ricketts

..and the Revolution roster looks like some NCAA DII team. If we win more than 10 games I will be shocked. Outside of Shalrie, Reis and Kevin Alston this looks like the starting XI for the island of misfit toys. If Taylor Twellman makes it back on the field - praise be, but I'm not holding my breath. Believe it or not the Revs has NOT spent the $$ allocation from the Clint Dempsey tansfer to Fulham - and how many years ao was that ? We are the MLS Cheapskate champions.

I know replying to my own post....

Steve Nicol has created miracles every year - so when sizing up the Revs season, I shouldn't forget his ability to get gold from mud.

And may I just say having seen the Red Bull's stadium - I am so jealous.

But you also get a 3rd round draft pick AG! Mo will surely enjoy its use.

I'd also rate Darrius Barnes in the back for the Revs.

DCU claims Carey Talley off waivers from Chivas. Good good call. As long as salary can be agreed.