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A D.C. United player was seen Tuesday inside RFK Stadium wearing a team jersey bearing a Volkswagen logo, which could mean the club is nearing completion of a major sponsorship deal with the German auto manufacturer.
United spokesman Doug Hicks refused to comment as no agreement has been officially announced. Volkswagen spokesman Steve Keyes said there are no signed deals and also would not comment further.
As play-in qualifying gets underway for the MLS sides in the US Open Cup we have this alarming report out of Canada which seems to indicate that their Open Canada Cup competition which was to decide the Canadian representative in the CONCACAF Champions League, is now on hold due to an amateur league wanting to participate despite what would likely amount to severe travel costs. This is a fairly disappointing development and we question how likely it is to go forward in 2009 based on the CSA's track record.
What is somewhat unclear is whether this means that the 3-way Canada Cup between Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver which was to decide the CONCACAF Champions League representative this year is also postponed or if that is still going ahead. If our Canadian readers could help us out here we'd appreciate it.
EDIT: Thanks to a reader we've been assured that the 3 way tournament known as the Canada Cup is going to go forward as planned.
Can someone rename the Canada Cup the Voyager's Cup? Otherwise it is bound to be confusing.
File this under, been there, done that, not likely to happen.
According to this story, the Vancouver Whitecaps want to rush into MLS but without a soccer specific stadium, which would mean they would be playing here:
Jim Jamieson, The Province Published: Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Concerned about being shut out of the dwindling prospects for a Major League Soccer expansion franchise, the Vancouver Whitecaps have opened the door a crack to the possibility of playing at a revamped B.C. Place Stadium -- on an interim basis.
Whitecaps president Bob Lenarduzzi said Tuesday the club is still 100 per cent committed to building a soccer-specific, natural grass stadium on the Vancouver waterfront, but would consider B.C. Place as a temporary venue if major renos are announced shortly as expected.
"Our priority is still the waterfront stadium, but given that it's taking as long as it has, we need to have alternatives if the opportunity to move to a higher level is available," said Lenarduzzi. "It would be a short-term solution, as we're looking at the waterfront stadium being our permanent solution but of course we're mired in that process right now."
The Whitecaps have been fighting their way through red tape and negotiations with local and federal government since owner Greg Kerfoot purchased land on the waterfront adjacent to Gastown in 2005."
Hello and welcome to 1998.
Which is why the league will likely look elsewhere (Portland, Montreal, New York City, Miami). MLS Commissioner Don Garber has made it clear that any new clubs will have to begin play in a soccer-specific stadium. He called it the Toronto model, and it seems to work. Seattle was allowed in because a) Qwest Field was built partially on the promise that MLS would come and in many ways it is actually a large soccer specific stadium. This BC dome clearly is not.
Iain MacIntyre, Vancouver Sun Published: Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Sen. Larry Campbell is willing to wade into Vancouver's waterfront soccer stadium standoff, which is great news on two levels.
If Campbell's political and mediation skills fail to break the bitter impasse between the Vancouver Port Authority and Vancouver Whitecaps, his background as a coroner will qualify him for the post-mortem on what would be one of the most embarrassing development collapses in the city's history.
Five years after Campbell, then Vancouver's mayor, first encouraged Kerfoot to build a downtown stadium, a shovel has yet to be sunk into the ground, although there should be a few people hit over the head with one.
Here is the English translation from Dave, one of our readers:
In its search for promising young players that underpin the project that is Villarreal, the yellow cuadro have their eyes on the star of the North American league, Jozy Altidore, who, at just 19, is being eyed by several very important European clubs, including the submarine (Villarreal's nickname), who asserts that they are in negotiations for his services.
Several months ago Real Madrid wanted to sign him, but in the end it didn't happen and now it is Villarreal that has decided to incorporate the player of 1.86 meters, that noted for his physique and his enormous potential. Despite his age, this is his third campaign with the New York Red Bulls, where in the past year he has scored as many as 9 goals. In this season he has started off well and in three matches that he has played he has scored two goals. Not only that, he is also coming along with his national team, and he scored in the last friendly in which the US played Mexico.
Altidore is considered the grand hope of soccer, along with Freddy Adu, who has backed his bags for Benfica. Villrreal is making it a point to carry their interest secretly, and know that other clubs also are following his steps so we must see who decides to be the first to sign him.
In the case of signing him, it would be another example of the usual planning of El Madrigal, who often bet on younger players and sign them before they explode (on the world stage) and their price is prohibitive. That's how Marco Ruben came on the market in winter, and this past summer, Martin Caceres, who both from Recreativo de Huelva and vow to return to the submarine..
The cost to land a Major League Soccer expansion team in Portland is quickly climbing.
The new entry fee: at least $40 million. That's up from the $30 million MLS is charging ownership groups in Seattle and Philadelphia to bring their cities franchises in the next two years.
The league's increased buy-in price is putting pressure on potential franchise owner Merritt Paulson to secure a deal before costs escalate further. The owner of the Portland Timbers and Portland Beavers sports teams plans to present his full proposal for MLS to city leaders as early as June.
Up first: bringing the city-owned PGE Park to MLS standards. Adding grandstand seating on the stadium's vacant east side, plus more restrooms and concessions, among other changes, could easily add up to more than $20 million, an amount MLS commissioner Don Garber said during his last official visit to Portland in October "might be optimistic."
The larger expense would be building a new ballpark for the Beavers, a Triple A baseball team. MLS wants its teams to play in stadiums designed for soccer. So the Beavers would need to vacate PGE Park within five years of an MLS team starting play there, Paulson said. After narrowing his shortlist of potential sites to three within city limits, he said a 9,000-seat Beavers stadium probably would run north of $35 million.
Paulson said he wouldn't expect to complete an agreement with MLS until after the November election.
We are pretty keen on Portland, always have been, but especially with the entry of Seattle into MLS.
We believe that Portland is perhaps the "perfect storm" and perfect spot for expansion.
They already have the knowledgeable, passionate fan base, some would argue the most passionate in the USA. They have little competition for the pro sports dollar in the city and their team right now is sitting atop USL-1. It does not hurt that they are huge rivals to Seattle and have been for 30+ years.
Additionally, they already have a storied downtown stadium with the right capacity for MLS with room for future expansion.
Two years ago someone posted this soccer-specific conversion of PGE park on BigSoccer.com.
MLS en Espanol is reporting that Brazil will make two stops in the U.S. this summer (Seattle, WA, and Foxborough, MA) in preparation for World Cup qualification matches.
On Saturday, 31 May, Brazil will face Canada at Qwest Field, the future home of Seattle Sounders FC. The following Friday, 6 June, the New England Revolution will host FC Dallas at Gillette Stadium for their 11th league match and two hours later Brazil will face Venezuela.
Brazil is expected to have most, if not all, of its big names in the lineup for both matches to make final adjustments before they travel to Paraguay for a WCQ on the 14th of June.
Note: The Revs rescheduled from June 8th in order to take part in the marquee double header. -K. Avila for MLS Rumors
This blog post itself appeared here and was written by Craig Stouffer at the Washington Examiner.
POSTED April 29, 1:44 PM So, [REDACTED] was wearing a D.C. United jersey today with VW on it. What does this mean? Could be nothing at all, as there's no sign of a confirmed deal.
However, here's some of what we know: First, D.C United cleared that space on the front of its jersey this year for the express purpose of selling it. It's been glaringly in need of a corporate logo ever since.
Second, heard an account of a Verizon deal that fell through last fall.
Third, Volkswagen of America announced last fall that it was moving its headquarters to Herndon from Auburn Hills, Mich. VW also is hoping to massively increase its presence in the American market.
Fourth, Volkswagen United? What a coincidence.
And of course, some perspective on how much it could all be worth. The going rate is $3-5 million per year: Real Salt Lake -- XanGo -- four-year deal reportedly worth between $4 million and $5 million Houston -- Amigo Energy -- four-year deal worth $7.5 million LA Galaxy -- Herbalife -- between $3.5 million and $5 million a year through 2011 Chicago -- Best Buy -- three years, multi-million
The three Cuban defectors who made their way west from florida in order to have a tryout with LA Galaxy and CD Chivas USA are now moving north to Seattle. Having failed to make either Los Angeles team's squad they will try their luck with the Sounders, where Cuban start striker Maykel Gallindo first got his start. It doesn't hurt that the Seattle is moving to MLS next year either.
In preparation and promotion for the 92nd Indianapolis 500, a.k.a. "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing," English driver Dan Wheldon will show off his skills at the FC Dallas training on Wednesday, 30 April.
Wheldon won at Kansas City Speedway over the weekend and was Indy 500 winner in 2005. "I enjoy soccer, but I really haven't played it too much," Wheldon said. "I have some soccer playing skills, but they aren't on par with my driving skills," he admitted.
Could the Crew pull off a coup and snag the 28 year old South African striker? Courtesy of FoxSports Australia:
ADELAIDE United boss Aurelio Vidmar's second end-of-season player cull is turning into an annual treasure hunt for rival A-League clubs, while South African striker Philani wants to be a Red.
Vietnam's Binh Duong creative forward exclusively told The Advertiser that he's ready for a move to United.
"I want to come to Adelaide," Philani said from Ho Chi Minh City yesterday. "I'm going to be sent something (a contract) soon.
"I like the place, Australia I like it, my contract comes up this August.
"But I can sort it out (earlier) - not a problem." Adelaide, however, may have a fight on its hands with American MLS club Columbus Crew edging for Philani's signature.
Rating: 3 (Possible) 4/26/08 5:39 AM We just received the following by anonymous email: "Not sure it's much of a rumor, but Ioday I saw DC United's new shirt sponsor over at the uni-sport.com'a office in LA..
Looks like VW will be joining the league as a shirt sponsor not Verizon as many thought.The big VW in front looks better than the stupid herbalife logo in front my beloved team's shirt.Pass message to the masse.
Rendering of what the jersey might look like.
Normally such an email would warrant a 1 or a 2 rating without further corroborating evidence, however both one of our sources a year ago, as well as a recent report by Steve Goff have hinted at a "foreign autmobile manufacturer" being the frontrunner as far as sponsors and Volkswagen is moving into the Washington DC area.
Uni-Sport would most certainly be involved as they supply all the teams in MLS with the official names, numbers and sponsor logos.
If what this emailer said is true then an announcement must be imminent, as it is doubtful a mockup would just be laying around an office unless they were ready for production.
4/26/08 8:22 PM Update:
We have another email from our anonymous source:"
"btw, This is the real deal, on your scale of likely to happen (0 -5) this is a 12. . Furthermore it will only be the round VW found in the Wolfsburg jersey, roughly about 6" - 8". Black and Silver (could be white, I couldn't tell as I wasn't wearing my glasses) for the away white jersey, and Silver or white on black for the home jersey.
No wording, only the round logo...you can take that to the bank...it's a done deal."
"Gregory Probert, the president and chief operating officer of Herbalife Ltd., was caught embellishing his academic credentials by a fraud investigator.
"Herbalife, a Los Angeles marketer of weight-loss products, has said Mr. Probert received a Master of Business Administration degree from California State University, Los Angeles. It mentioned the degree in at least 19 filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
"But Mr. Probert never finished Cal State's M.B.A. program, where he took classes in the early 1980s, the university said. The disclosure came after a critic of the company, Barry Minkow, hired a private investigator to verify Herbalife executives' biographies.
"In response, Mr. Probert, 51 years old, said he nearly completed an M.B.A. at Cal State, but 'the truth is that my vanity prevailed and I did not take action' to correct Herbalife's biography of him 'even though I was aware it was not accurate.'"
Herbalife is the official presenter and jersey-front sponsor of the LA Galaxy. The deal is worth approximately $3.5 million per year through 2011.
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