The Thread That's on Indefinite Loan to Manchester City (The 2015 Major League Soccer Thread)

[HailtotheYo]

CCL starts tonight !

Montreal goes on the road to take on Pachuca !

[Lineker]

Sky Sports has won the rights to broadcast exclusively live Major League Soccer (MLS) from the US for the first time.

The agreement follows the announcement of the new deal to show even more live Premier League matches and further strengthens Sky’s position as the home of sport.

The four-year MLS deal begins in March, bringing an even wider range of coverage to Sky Sports viewers. With former England captain Steven Gerrard announcing he will sign for LA Galaxy in July, and Frank Lampard set to join New York City this summer, Sky Sports will be the only place to follow the fortunes of two Premier League legends in the US.

Sky Sports secured 25 new rights agreements in 2014, and that has continued this year with recent deals for international and domestic cricket with the ECB and exclusively live coverage of the Open Championship from 2017, as well as even more Premier League football from 2016.

Sky Ambassadors Thierry Henry and David Beckham both played in MLS for a number of seasons, and many high-profile players both from the Premier League and elsewhere in Europe have signed for clubs in the US in recent seasons including Robbie Keane who was the 2014 MLS MVP and MLS Cup Champion with the LA Galaxy.

Sky Sports Managing Director Barney Francis commented: “Football in the US and Canada has enormous potential for growth and we can’t wait to bring this competition to our viewers for the first time. Thierry Henry has joined us, he created fantastic memories in MLS, and we look forward to seeing more of those great stories from across the Atlantic.

“We offer an unrivalled range of sport across our seven channels and we are always looking to offer more choice. After recently adding football from Holland, Italy and UEFA European qualifiers, we are delighted to now add MLS to that list.”

Gary Stevenson, President and Managing Director, MLS Business Ventures, said: “As MLS continues to grow into a global brand, we are excited to partner with Sky Sports, a leader in the UK TV market, to bring the sport to millions of soccer fans.

“2015 is a milestone year for MLS including new stars, new clubs and a new brand. Sky Sports will help continue to grow the League and its Clubs worldwide.”

David Beckham welcomed the news today: "This is another important moment that shows the continued growth of MLS. I have seen first-hand how popular soccer has become in America. Having fantastic partners such as Sky Sports on board will not only add to the coverage of the game, it will also broaden its appeal outside of US.".

Thierry Henry said: “I will never forget my time playing in MLS - it gave me some great memories and I was proud to play a role in growing the game.

“I saw the passion of the fans in the US. They have always had it for other sports but they also have it for football now and it’s going to be huge in years to come. Sky Sports is the best place for the game, to bring it closer to fans in the UK and build MLS even more.”

MLS has seen significant growth in recent years - allied with the improving performance of the national team there is a growing profile around the sport in the US and around the world.

MLS was originally launched in 1996 with ten teams, just two years after the FIFA World Cup was hosted in the US. Over the years it has expanded to the current system with 20 teams, and in the future will see further franchises added in New York and Orlando beginning in 2015 and Atlanta and Los Angeles in 2017.

This season, Sky Sports will show more football than ever before, up to 800 live matches. As well as Barclays Premier League, viewers can enjoy live coverage of European qualifiers for UEFA Euro 2016, UEFA Champions League, Sky Bet Football League, SPFL, Capital One Cup, La Liga, Eredivisie, Copa del Rey and Coppa Italia, Johnstone’s Paint Trophy and Sky Sports Victory Shield.

The deal was negotiated with IMG, a global leader in sports, fashion and media, who last month partnered with MLS to distribute their global media rights across all platforms for the next eight years.

[HailtotheYo]

Found Marvin Chavez here in San Antonio:

Dan McCarney ‏@danmccarneySAEN 2h2 hours ago

Taking Scorpions break today. Out at practice to find Marvin Chavez, formerly of FCD and Chivas USA, with the team. Played at WC w Honduras.

[HailtotheYo]

Shawn Francis ‏@TheOffsideRules 35m35 minutes ago

NYCFC to get defender Shay Facey on loan from Man City http://nydn.us/1EtkPJ7 [via @SBondyNYDN for @NYDailyNews]

[HailtotheYo]

Inside MLS ‏@InsideMLS 16m16 minutes ago

Sporting Kansas City has signed Canada fullback Marcel De Jong, per club release. Ex-Augsburg defender impressed on recent trial. #MLS

I love that move.

[GoGo Yubari]

NYCFC continues to embarrass itself, this time in song form!

[HailtotheYo]

So this happened in the 94th minute:

 

[Toe]

That's pretty awesome - it's a video involving a Canadian team, but it's not available in my region.

[Lineker]

Major League Soccer players are on the verge of strike action, two days before the beginning of the season.

[Szumi]

Go back to London, Lineker - a deal has been reached between MLS and the union. No strike, season on!

[Lineker]

I'm already in London :/

[GoGo Yubari]

The Good: The league going up to 60K is great, the CBA running for only five years instead of the reported 7 or 8 is great, ANY form of free agency is a great starting point and the 28/8 years of experience one isn't entirely unreasonable.

The Bad: The salary cap only going up 15%. Eugh.

[HailtotheYo]

That looks quite nice.

Yeah, unless they'd moved the initial cup up to say 4m for this five year stretch .. meh. Although I won't put it past the league to play with the DP and other "off budget" monies. There's already rumors floating (and even Lalas throwing out comments) about players playing above their contract being able to be adjusted. I know there's still more to fall and that we've not gotten the full extent ... but yeah ... frustrating overall if the cap stays this suppressed.

[HailtotheYo]

FIRST KICK TONIGHT !!!!!!!

So let's do some "sure to swing and miss" predictions:

- The 8th place team in the West will have as many or more points than the 6th place (final playoff spot) in the East. Dallas/LA/SEA/RSL/SKC ... even if they 'slip' down the seeding chart are all going to be good. HOU/SKC move over from the East this year and are replaced by the two new clubs. HOU was 8th last season, only 3 pts off of 6th. SKC had the last playoff spot last season, on 49 pts ... but the drop to the next place was 7pts.

- 3 or more players will score 20 goals this season.

- The newcomer of the year WILL NOT BE Kaka/Lampard/Villa/Gerrard/Giovinco ..... I'm looking at Octavio Rivero, Fernando Aristeguieta, Lucas Pittinari, Leonel Miranda, or Laurent Ciman to snag the award.

- The Supporter's Shield winner will come from the group of Dallas, CLB, or NE.

- The MLS Cup winner will come from the group of Dallas, Seattle, RSL, CLB, MTL, or NE.

- TFC will finally make the playoffs

- Your CCL qualifiers will be Dallas, CLB, POR, MTL, and SEA.

[Rafael]

Seattle wins it all. And the Cosmos get promoted.

[Toe]

I'm excited to see how Giovinco and Altidore fit into the squad. Bradley is now going to able to be a holding midfielder and his long passing is a big plus going forward.

[HailtotheYo]

And the Cosmos get promoted.

Get out .... unless you mean they'll be promoting DEPENDS.

[Szumi]

Home to Colorado and a mand advantage for over 20 minutes... only draw 0-0. Sadly, I am not too surprised since, ya know, Philly

Really looking forward to Orlando/NYC today - hope to be home from work in time to watch the two expansion sides.

[TCO]

With this now on Sky I'm now finally going to be able to watch it!

Toronto have always been my team on FM but they're a little too strong for my liking so I think I'll adopt NYCFC as my team for now and cheer them on tonight!

Let's go soccerball!

[HailtotheYo]

Sooooo pretty good news about the cap being leaked. roughly 20% is the raise for the initial number in this CBA that's being put out, with 7% increases each season. That'd give us these numbers over the course of the CBA:

2015: $3.72m
2016: $3.98m
2017: $4.25m
2018: $4.55m
2019: $4.88m

And that create a pretty nice picture going forward. Add to that, that we'll actually be seeing the monies from this year's new TV deal coming in AND the new Audi sponsorship .... I'm liking this quite a bit.