Schedule has been released. The St. Louis team is now in the league and we play them 3 times. Lots of attacking power on this team with Agada, Russell, Salloi, and hopefully a healthy Pulido and Kinda.
Players In
M - Nemanja Radoja (10/26/22 - free transfer)
D - Graham Zusi (12/2/22 - free agent)
D - Andreu Fontas (12/2/22 - free agent)
M - Roger Espinoza (12/2/22 - free agent)
F - Stephen Afrifa (12/21/22 - draft)
D - Chris Rindov (12/21/22 - draft)
Players out
D - Nicolas Isimat-Mirin (11/15/22 - option declined)
D - Kaveh Rad (11/15/22 - option declined)
Originally Posted by POND_OF_RED:
You’re talking about the Saudi ownership right? I don’t know if I’d consider our ownership group billionaires with a capital B if that’s what you are trying to say. The Patterson family and Cliff Illig are the only real billionaires, but they definitely aren’t anywhere close to being billionaires with a capital B. The team has definitely tightened the wallets since Patterson’s death so it’s definitely not familiar territory to be involved in any major bidding wars. Hopefully it’s a sign that they are more willing to spend big in the transfer market windows now that they are seeing other teams have more and more success with big money acquisitions.
I don't even think it's that. It's probably a pretty calculated number based on the profitability of the team sky rocketing by signing him. The dude has 526 million Instagram followers. Mahomes has literally 100x less followers at 5 million. He's in the top 5 most popular athletes in the world. You couldn't print jerseys fast enough to sell. Every game would be a guaranteed sell out. Concessions and other merchandise would set records. Every revenue stream would go up significantly. Once you factor all that in, I don't think it would be quite as much out of pocket as it might seem. I'd also bet that part of it was sporting rounding up a list of sponsors with a guaranteed amount of money that if he signed there then he has this other huge figure waiting if he wants it. Unfortunately I think he's such an outlier in revenue generation that I don't think spending on him means they are looking to just spend in general, but time will tell I suppose. [Reply]
I will miss Isi. I liked watching him play. Would rather have seen them keep him and dump Espinoza.
And no need to waste any more $ on Pulido.
Agada, Russel, Salloi and Thommy were great.....roll with that. Kinda can squeeze in there at times too but cut bait with Pulido and spend the $ elsewhere [Reply]
Originally Posted by SithCeNtZ:
I don't even think it's that. It's probably a pretty calculated number based on the profitability of the team sky rocketing by signing him. The dude has 526 million Instagram followers. Mahomes has literally 100x less followers at 5 million. He's in the top 5 most popular athletes in the world. You couldn't print jerseys fast enough to sell. Every game would be a guaranteed sell out. Concessions and other merchandise would set records. Every revenue stream would go up significantly. Once you factor all that in, I don't think it would be quite as much out of pocket as it might seem. I'd also bet that part of it was sporting rounding up a list of sponsors with a guaranteed amount of money that if he signed there then he has this other huge figure waiting if he wants it. Unfortunately I think he's such an outlier in revenue generation that I don't think spending on him means they are looking to just spend in general, but time will tell I suppose.
What about ticket costs? I can't imagine they'd have Ronaldo playing in a smaller stadium when they could sell more tickets at Arrowhead. Then again, I'm assuming they cannot just move to Arrowhead on short notice. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Gary Cooper:
What about ticket costs? I can't imagine they'd have Ronaldo playing in a smaller stadium when they could sell more tickets at Arrowhead. Then again, I'm assuming they cannot just move to Arrowhead on short notice.
I think they would have had a few select games at Arrowhead but not necessarily played there all the time. [Reply]
Originally Posted by POND_OF_RED:
You’re talking about the Saudi ownership right? I don’t know if I’d consider our ownership group billionaires with a capital B if that’s what you are trying to say. The Patterson family and Cliff Illig are the only real billionaires, but they definitely aren’t anywhere close to being billionaires with a capital B. The team has definitely tightened the wallets since Patterson’s death so it’s definitely not familiar territory to be involved in any major bidding wars. Hopefully it’s a sign that they are more willing to spend big in the transfer market windows now that they are seeing other teams have more and more success with big money acquisitions.
Yes, and they are our owners. Not sure how you are disagreeing? [Reply]
Originally Posted by |Zach|:
Yes, and they are our owners. Not sure how you are disagreeing?
This ownership has never flashed any kinds of billionaire money into the team like you were trying to insinuate and I’m not sure why you used the capital B reference, but maybe I just misread what you were trying to say. I thought you were insinuating that we have a loaded ownership group that it wouldn’t be much of a surprise seeing spend the kind of money it would have taken to compete with a 75 million contract the Saudi’s offered. Sporting has spent money on 3 transfers in its entire history from what I know. Pulido, Kinda, and Omar Bravo way back in 2011. This ownership group has never shown any signs of competing with the bigger markets in terms of transfer targets so, yes it would be very out of character for this ownership group to somehow make a deal like that out of nowhere. Luckily it didn’t happen, though, because like others have mentioned it would have been a marketing and business decision and would have likely not had the best outcome for the future of this club in terms of the quality of soccer being played. [Reply]
Ford is out for the season with an achilles which is a bummer. Good kid and very talented wanted to see him grow this year.
Absolutely heart broken…I tore my achilles this past week in a preseason scrimmage. Surgery went well and I’m anxious to get started on rehab! Not much else to say… but just know, I WILL BE BACK! Just want to thank everyone who has reached out… Means more than you know! pic.twitter.com/vfuxHXzzna
Haha. A 24 year old CB from the USL. Our ownership group has become a joke since Patterson died. Hopefully Patrick can just buy all those Cerner douches out eventually and save the direction this team is headed in. What happened to all the money from the Busio transfer? [Reply]
First game: Feb. 25 - 10:30 pm ET at Portland Timbers
Home opener: March 11 - 8:30 pm ET vs. LA Galaxy
Strength: The front three became absolutely overwhelming once Willy Agada arrived midseason. They went from roadkill to one of the very best teams in the league. All those guys are back, and Alan Pulido’s around to add some depth on top of it.
Weakness: Central defense has been a massive concern since Ike Opara was dealt after the 2018 season. And Kortne Ford’s preseason injury made a thin situation worse.
Key Departures --
Nicolas Isimat-Mirin: Center back Nicolas Isimat-Mirin left the club this winter after two seasons in MLS. He started 26 games in 2022.
Uri Rosell: Uri Rosell’s second stint with SKC didn’t last long, with the veteran midfielder leaving this winter after one season back at the club. He made 13 starts in 2022.
Key Acquisitions --
Nemanja Radoja: Way back in October, before the Audi 2022 MLS Cup Playoffs had finished, SKC made their marquee offseason signing by adding Nemanja Radoja. The Serbian defensive midfielder has made 181 LaLiga appearances throughout his career. He should allow Remi Walter to play further upfield.
Tim Leibold: German left back Tim Leibold spent his entire career in his native country – mostly in the 2. Bundesliga, but also a bit in the Bundesliga as well as 3. Liga – before joining SKC this winter. He’ll mainly compete for minutes alongside Belgian youth international Logan Ndenbe.
Predictions
Charles Boehm: 3rd in West
Tom Bogert: 11th in West
Matt Doyle: 7th in West
David Gass: 5th in West
J. Sam Jones: 7th in West
Sacha Kljestan: 2nd in West
Kaylyn Kyle: 8th in West
Joseph Lowery: 3rd in West
Danielle Slaton: 3rd in West
Andrew Wiebe: 6th in West
Bradley Wright-Phillips: 6th in West
MLS Season Pass on Apple TV has been great so far. It is a true home for MLS soccer instead of a platform that feels an obligation to carry the games. Shows about the league and the fans...a weekly wrap up show...preview and hosted content for each game as well as access to all the full matches and highlights.
Best of all the quality is so much better than previous broadcasts. Going to be a big step up. [Reply]
