Best of Times, Worst of Times

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Best of Times, Worst of Times

Post by Pounder » Tue Feb 01, 2022 8:03 am

This should be a celebration.

As long as the Board of Governors accept, a new CBA with a substantially better minimum salary has apparently been agreed upon.

Two new teams, with Angel City (LA) apparently having sold over 13,000 season tickets already. That might be more than Portland.

A real TV contract with a little speck of major network exposure. And it covers a substantial portion of salaries.

Kansas City has plans for a new stadium in a park in KC proper, close to downtown, considerably closer than Childrens Mercy Park.

OL Reign move back to Seattle, to the big time at Lumen Field. (Trying to brush aside rent concerns)

It appears Washington Spirit have finally gotten rid of Steve Baldwin as owner.

I guess it’s worth mentioning that the Thorns actually won the international club championship (informal as it is) over Lyon back in August.

Exciting, no?

Um…

You probably heard about the whole Paul Riley situation. Gets players drunk in Portland, at minimum sexual coercion, probably more, but when the Thorns dismissed him after the 2015 season, they don’t even hint about anything other than the record, express well wishes, Riley goes on to Western New York (hired by then Timbers/Thorns GM Gavin Wilkinson’s teammate Aaran Lines), who end up in North Carolina, win a couple championships, then everything goes down in late September. Merritt Paulson admits to releasing Riley knowing about most of the accusations. Then sends us an open letter saying that the organization is “reeling and devastated” about things he knew about for 6 years.

Steve Baldwin isn’t going away quietly, and that will probably make more of a mess before it is resolved.

There were so many issues that were of a similar vein, including the former Reign coach (who was known for some time as a misogynist, was rather abusive to Lindsey Horan when she was in Europe), half the other coaches were let go under suspicious circumstances last year, so a lot of fans and interested parties are left with the impression that what happened last year only scratched the surface. That there’s more coming. And some of that may be beyond the league, as rumors of improprieties in youth soccer are destined to come to the fore.

Wish this mess luck, and hope the women take more of the power they’ve been gaining over time.
Mean Spirited Blogger #107

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