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FYI, T-Mobile and Metro are offering customers free MLS Season Pass on AppleTV again this year.

New Kit Releases!

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But that RSL kit






A couple more

theres some really bad jerseys this year and some absolute bangers. Cascadia teams all look amazing. As much as i hate the Timbers their kits always hit just right. And i want that Sounders jersey both in regular jersey but also as in actual knit sweater form. If Vancouver played half as classy as they looked theyd have at least one MLS cup by now.

btw if you look around on Ebay, you can find MLS season pass for well below apple tv's msrp. got mine from a Miami season ticket holder

Lots of teams made moves this offseason. Excited to see what Ferriera and Pauly Nips do to help bolster Seattle's attack, our defensive back 3 and midfield are still stout enough to compete with the top of the Western Conf. If our new DP(Pedro de la Vega) from last year can actually be healthy and play more than a handful of games and get into a rhythm i think we have a shot at a cup final.

San Diego with the most bland inaugural kit

T Mobile Tuesday tomorrow....MLS season pass for free.

https://cordcuttersnews.com/t-mobile-kicks-off-free-mls-season-pass-limited-time-offer-for-cord-cutters/

Austin is a completely different team now too, three new DPs inside 8 months and a U22 signing along with a few other additions this offseason. Should be a fun season.

I went through all the starting lineups, and all but a few teams had signifigantly more foreign players than Americans.

For those of you who have been following MLS for 30 years, has it always been majority foreign players?

They definitely don't as teams start with a certain number of international roster spots (I think 8) with the ability to trade for others. There are 241 total slots across 30 teams (not accounting for players who have acquired green cards).

fig96 said:

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They definitely don't as teams start with a certain number of international roster spots (I think 8) with the ability to trade for others. There are 241 total slots across 30 teams (not accounting for players who have acquired green cards).

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Which is crazy because I did a Quick look and looking at about 7 games only 1 team had more than 6 American starters. Some had none.

Rudyjax said:

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fig96 said:

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They definitely don't as teams start with a certain number of international roster spots (I think 8) with the ability to trade for others. There are 241 total slots across 30 teams (not accounting for players who have acquired green cards).

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Which is crazy because I did a Quick look and looking at about 7 games only 1 team had more than 6 American starters. Some had none.

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There must be a lot with green cards then. Which wouldn't be surprising. Our country's infatuation with sports puts individuals with "extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business or athletics" as Tier 1 applicants, and I'd bet a coke that MLS helps guys qualify for this as quickly as possible. I bet every foreign DP steps in on day 1 with a green card rather than a simple work permit.

It's probably easy for them to get a visa, not sure about the green card.

As pointed out Sunday, as many Americans started for Juventus vs Cagliari Sunday as started for Orlando vs Philadelphia Saturday.

They don't but even fairly average players can get them pretty quickly compared to the average person. One of Austin's recent DPs got his in about 2 1/2 years.

Makes sense, thanks.

Totw. 2 Americans.

Nelson is a Canadian playing for a Canadian team.

Either way not quite sure what the point is other than that the better players in the league are foreign born (which is the case in most leagues).

MLS senior rosters are capped at 20 players. International spots are limited and valuable. You don't use them on bench depth unless you bring one in who just doesn't pan out and you haven't gotten rid of him yet.


Seattle I think is currently using 4 international slots, two of them are designated players who I haven't figured out their immigration status of, they may have green cards by now. I know they have at least two other players with green cards currently.

https://football-observatory.com/MonthlyReport89 has a section on "Expatriate players" - which they define as players who are playing for a club in a different association than the first one they played in growing up… which I think is a useful definition given dual citizenships, etc.

They rate MLS has having 9th most Expats out of the 48 leagues they analyzed, at 51.9%… however, what is "normal" varies wildly, even comparing to just the Big 5:
Serie A - 61.3%
Premier League - 60.6%
Bundesliga - 47.7%
Ligue 1 - 43.8%
La Liga - 37.5%

Seattle does smart business, often trading international slots for allocation money. If you've got players who have been with you a few seasons and acquired green cards it's a great salary cap management method.

That lines up with what I would've guessed on the big 5 with Spain being the lowest, they're really the only big league that I'd really associate with having a preferred style of football (very broadly speaking) so it makes sense.

heddleston said:

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MLS senior rosters are capped at 20 players. International spots are limited and valuable. You don't use them on bench depth unless you bring one in who just doesn't pan out and you haven't gotten rid of him yet.

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which really hurts the development of US players.

MLS is about MLS and not US Soccer.

I just don't think I can support a league that goes against my interest.

fig96 said:

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Nelson is a Canadian playing for a Canadian team.

Either way not quite sure what the point is other than that the better players in the league are foreign born (which is the case in most leagues).

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Canadian teams has more Canadians starting that US teams have Americans.

Yeah, but also, the particular metric favors them… lots of foreigners in academies in Spain. Love them or hate them, Madrid and Barca are the top 2 academies in the world in terms of producing "Big 5" level talent.

Personally, I agree with the leagues that consider "home grown" players like this to be domestic, rather than actual citizenship. Due to dual-nats and/or EU open borders it really is a better metric to me.

But it isn't a favorable metric for MLS, because ain't nobody coming here from another country to train their kid for soccer. MLS is one of just a few on the list where the numbers line up super-closely with country of origin.