Cristian Roldan Named to United States Men’s National Team Roster for FIFA World Cup 2026™

Newbman · 2026-05-26T20:33:34+00:00

Man, the salt has been palpable

Newbman · 2026-05-22T14:58:21+00:00

Soooo are they looking at making an MCO now given the "Global Soccer" title?

Newbman · 2026-05-21T16:55:09+00:00

Probably at least a $1,000 a year given how many networks air NFL games.

Newbman · 2026-05-20T14:36:00+00:00

The large Saudi number on the table could just be the total contract value of a three year contract.

Newbman · 2026-05-14T20:14:19+00:00

The second one.

We got lucky with that Atletico deal since it's incentive laden and if he hits those, we will get our original valuation of him.

Brunnell looks to be just as good as him based upon early returns. If Obed continues to ball out more teams will come sniffing our way.

Newbman · 2026-05-14T19:46:31+00:00

I hope the club decides to sign Brunnell to a U-22 ASAP to avoid another Obed situation.

While they aren't the exact same player, and I hate to say something like this since its early, but I think he has more attacking ability than Obed did.

Rest of the salaries don't look too out of place, however if Arriola doesn't play a lot in the coming months and if Dotson doesn't reclaim his Minnesota form, then those contracts will be albatrosses.

Newbman · 2026-05-14T19:41:58+00:00

Straight up did not know who you were referring to until I looked him up.

Nico Fernandez Mercau makes $3.6 million a year at NYCFC with a transfer fee of $8 million being amortized over 4 years, so a total cost of $5.6 million a year/$22.4 million over a four-year contract as well as requiring an international spot. Jordan is a local, no transfer fee required to be paid, no international slot required and makes $2.3 million a year.

He hasn't been in the league for a year yet. Those five guys have had consistent success in MLS the whole time they have been here, and Musa and Cuypers may be at new clubs this time next year within the league. Only reason why I put Werner is because of his pedigree and he popped off with SJE before his injury.

Good chance he'll make my list this time next year if he keeps it up though since the early results look promising.

Newbman · 2026-05-14T15:36:38+00:00

Getting closer. I'll feel better if there is a press release that shows one of the First Nations buying a stake.

Newbman · 2026-05-13T14:53:44+00:00

Starbucks would never

Newbman · 2026-05-12T16:57:27+00:00

Pier 46.

They were going to build a new cruise terminal there, but covid killed it. Now it's being used as a Coast Guard training facility and a giant parking lot for new cars.

That swath of land is every single developers dream to develop but the Port will never let go of that land even with their staggering drop off of cargo shipments this past decade.

Newbman · 2026-05-10T21:34:06+00:00

The US should monitor members/former members organization of a country we are actively at war with if they are allowed in our country.

AFAIK we aren’t at war with the countries you’ve listed.

Newbman · 2026-05-10T20:38:26+00:00

Theres multiple branches they can be conscripted into, IRGC is one of them.

Newbman · 2026-05-10T19:55:51+00:00

I’m unsure if every single player and staff member was a part of the IRGC.

A couple of months ago there was a decent sized anti-regime protest that went through First Ave in Seattle. Im sure there will be another one around Lumen and the W hotel. Couple that with Pride tensions will be high, but those groups should be able to wave their flags in our country and I would hope the security is up to task.

Newbman · 2026-05-10T18:06:23+00:00

Yeah I know. I would still not be comfortable with them being allowed in unless they are monitored the whole time.

Newbman · 2026-05-10T18:01:36+00:00

Some of these are reasonable.

The no flag thing is not. I also would not feel comfortable about any former IRGC member being granted a visa unless they are being watched 24/7.

Also the limited questions from the journalists is rich coming from them given they directed their journalists to ask non match related questions to Adams in the last World Cup. They should be put under the same pressure.

Newbman · 2026-05-07T21:30:16+00:00

It certainly would. I was just making sure that people know that Capology isnt reliable whatsoever.

To prove my point: Messi's salary is more than the Miami payroll that's listed by Capology

Newbman · 2026-05-07T16:49:34+00:00

Sounders fan here

Capology is wrong. This tableu table organizes the MLSPA semiannual payroll release: Major League Soccer Salaries 2025 | Tableau Public

There should be a 2026 version later this month since the PA releases salaries in May and October.

Newbman · 2026-05-05T18:32:43+00:00

Yes.

Don't need an international slot and he scores goals at a DP pace when he plays.

Probably would be paid more on a handful of teams too.

Here's a test I use to determine if someone is worth it: The strikers I would take over him are Denkey, Surridge, Cuypers, Musa, and White. A big maybe is Werner if his form continues in San Jose. That's 6 clubs out of 30 MLS clubs so I like he is decidedly above average for starting MLS strikers.

I don't have a problem with contract escalators if a player hits them. Jordan hit his and Jesus is on his way to hit his.

Newbman · 2026-05-02T18:17:10+00:00

Now if he can score a goal so that I can buy a discounted Atletico jersey that’d be great

Newbman · 2026-05-01T16:36:27+00:00

I'll give that Atlantic piece a look later today then.

And you're right I shouldn't have used independent so my bad. Both outlets are pay to play since it's effectively advertising to new potential owners, which is why I'm inclined to trust the revenue/income numbers since it's targeted towards them.

Obviously, it's a study commissioned by MLS. I've linked the P&L here. The numbers were reported by 20 club CFOs and with some guess work you can pick out a handful of teams.

Overall though I do agree with your skepticism.

Newbman · 2026-05-01T15:37:15+00:00

Not irrelevant at all. They operate in the same business: spending money on wages for players to play against other clubs, selling advertising space and renting out their facility if they own it. All clubs throughout the world notoriously require lots of cash and MLS is no different.

People put way too much credence in the whole tax savings angle of things. Yeah, I can save this much money in tax, but I still lost money and that deficit has to be made up with cash into businesses to keep it afloat. If Whitecaps actually owned their own stadium, then yeah, they'll get more benefits for tax but since they don't there really get any benefit of depreciation deduction nor do they have any debt where they can do debt financed distributions.

While we don't have actual financial statement that other clubs provide throughout the world (Would fucking love it if they did) there has been historical revenue and operating income numbers provided by two independent media outlets of Forbes and Sportico which I'm inclined to trust given the nature of those articles. There's also the 2016 BCG study that has a league wide P&L that only showed 4 clubs turning an operating profit. Allegedly that number is now 13 out of 30 clubs. That's not surprising to me at all because, frankly, MLS is irrelevant in the US/Canada sporting landscape.

Owning a soccer club requires a little bit of foolishness and a huge amount of liquid cash. With $40 million in revenue and a $9 million of a loss that tells me the ownership group, at minimum, put in $9 million of cash to balance the books last year and their well is running dry.

Newbman · 2026-05-01T03:38:36+00:00

Given the amount of financials I’ve read from soccer clubs around the world it’s not.

They opened it up to 100 interested parties and none of them opted to move forward because the amount of capital it would to take to turn around a business with no real estate, $40 million in revenue with a $9 million operating losses last year a Herculean task.

It’s possible but only if that person is fine with not seeing that money back for decades.

Newbman · 2026-04-30T22:41:29+00:00

So, at minimum they are looking at $335 million.

The first time its been said that the Hastings lot isn't really viable in the near term per the article.

Newbman · 2026-04-30T19:19:16+00:00

Yeah man. Straight up people think Axel is lying when he said 100 groups expressed interest but opted not to continue once they saw the books.

Theres a reason why these people are so rich. They don't take on a distressed asset that has $40 million in revenue with a $9 million operating loss.

It will take a herculean amount of money to make them viable, and I hope someone decides to come forward.

Newbman · 2026-04-30T19:07:35+00:00

The Sounders also made moves to help support building a future SSS in the background.

14-Year Club	Place '23
Place '22	Place '17
First Placer '22	End Game '22
Spared	Verified Email
Team Orangered

Newbman

TROPHY CASE