Photo: Paul Rudderow
Philadelphia Union
The Union can clinch their spot in the playoffs with a win over Minnesota United in Chester this weekend.
Local
Former Union Academy standout Kalil El-Medkhar earns team of collegiate Team of the Week honors.
USL
A potential ownership change for the Tampa Bay Rowdies, as the owners of the city’s MLB franchise make a bid.
Orlando City B will be relaunching in USL’s third division aka USL League One (I think?).
MLS
There’s a Supporter’s Shield race after all and more from Week 31.
Albert Rusnak’s new mega-deal with Real Salt Lake will see him be the highest paid player in the club’s history.
The latest power rankings from Soccer America.
A great thread from Mark Fishkin on the dearth of soccer news for our friendly neighbors in red to the north.
U.S. Soccer
Dave Sarachan named his 24-man roster for the upcoming friendlies versus Colombia and Peru. Yes, Christian Pulisic returns to the fold. New invitees include Jonathon Amon, Reggie Cannon, and Ben Sweat. All well-deserved in my book.
Earnie Stewart wants to name the new U.S. Men’s head coach by the end of the month.
World
The Premier League looks to cut time-wasting. Oh, really?
On the dearth of Red Bulls specifically and MLS news in general, I’m not sure which comes first, a genuine lack of interest in the games, in which even soccer fans might not be paying close attention as teams are simply sorting themselves into playoff spots, after which the news coverage will likely pick up some OR that it’s just typical mainstream media bias/boredom with the sport in general.
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In other words, is the media reacting to fan disengagement or are fans flagging a bit because the coverage is poor. There’s definitely an enthusiasm gap.
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I think there’s something to be said about good production value. The Premier League and NBC’s coverage is really stellar. Everything looks fantastic. MLS is some distance behind. And podcasts… There is a lot of good PL and Euro soccer coverage to listen to, from Guardian Football Weekly to Men in Blazers.Extra Time Radio doesn’t rise to the occasion. I don’t know….
I tried to give Extra Time Radio a chance, but they are hard to take most times. And while it occasionally has done thoughtful analysis (Bobby Warshaw and Matt Doyle), there’s too much fluff/ hype/ pointless talk to make it worthwhile. Like the MLS webpage, there is too much discussion about Zlatan and El Traffico and Atlanta, and not enough talk about Dallas and Portland and Columbus and Philadelphia.
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How much of that do you think is due to them all being paid by MLS, as opposed to independent journalists? .
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I Prefer The Philly Soccer Show, It’s Always Soccer in Philadelphia, and the All 3 Points podcasts, which have much better analyses in my opinion (even if I don’t always agree with them)
Those local shows are good, but it’s remarkable that they provide a depth of analysis that’s better than what MLS can muster. I don’t hate ETR, but find it too flip most of the time and inconsequential. And it’s best “analysts,” Doyle and Warshaw, seem a little too interested in the hot take.
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I can understand a focus on the bigger clubs…. I mean, they are catering to a national audience. And it’s no different than any PL show that will always focus on the big 6 (and at least half an hour on the Jose Mourinho dumpster fire). It’s just not there quality wise, I guess. Maybe there’s just not as much material in MLS…. I don’t know.
The Union Soccer Podcast is good, too, with Sean Brace & Joe Tansey.
On the recommendation of a discerning colleague
, I listened to a podcast the other day, my first one. I was excellent, I knew the participants and enjoyed getting to know them better, but it was an hour and a half.
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That’s a long time.
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black characters on a white background are much faster.
I never understood why MLS didn’t really focus on coverage and great production. Seems like a way to stand out from other sports/soccer leagues that wouldn’t be too expensive. But maybe it is. They definitely need more aggressive PR though.
Right. I think even the point that SI’s Brain Strauss has made about the generic nature of MLS kits is accurate. You don’t get the same sense of place or identity that you get in european leagues. Empty stadiums on national TV are also really poor.
If you look at the other local sports teams and their tv/radio productions, they are close to national level. Just in broadcasters alone have we been blessed by some of the best. Now I think J.P. is good, better at National level, but I think the Union could have done better by trying to steal someone away from a different sport. Marrisa Pilla and Leno aren’t very good. As soon as half time hits, I’m out and I don’t even watch pregame or post. And there’s Tommy Smyth. They definitely are missing something.
I mean its rough. I bet viewership of those would be in the low thousands, at best. At some point you can’t justify throwig money at something for 0 return.
Well I guess you kind of have to think of it as a loss-leader. You do it despite maybe not having the viewership you want, but planning to help draw in the numbers you want to have.
I wonder if because soccer coverage has historically been so bad for so long that the soccer news consumers (ie readers of PSP) no longer even looks at traditional sports media for news. I know I don’t. In fact we have had to create our own outlets (see PSP again and thank you guys for all you do) Sort of a self fulfilling prophecy. No one puts any news on the the TV or newspapers, no one even looks there anymore to find it.
The Union seems to do a decent job of email, tweets, FB out reach on news and events. I just wonder how well NYRB do with this type of stuff.
Orlando City B will be relaunching in USL’s third division aka USL League One (I think?).
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My understanding is that Orlando City B is definitely in the new USL division three league, and that league has a new paint job and is now Called USL League One.
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More shoes have to drop for the announced schedule for USL division two now USL Championship and USL division three, now USL League One, to work arithmetically. USL Championship has a schedule of 34 games next year and currently there are too many teams to make that work, if home and home remains a basic principle.
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