It's all in the Translation

Things are going swimingly with Red Bull New York. Red Bull's offer to road trip a load of fans for the opener against United is exactly the type of smart, reach-out to the fans that not only shows why MLS was eager to introduce them as owners in the league, but will shortly make memories of the Metros days seem not as painful.

The only interesting story I've heard is AEG's polite suggestion to Red Bull that they don't name the new soccer stadium, Red Bull Arena. AEG explained that in the United States that the word arena tends to have a connotation of a small, indoor facility - where in other languages it translates into a big stadium. So AEG has pushed them to Red Bull Park.

Clint's Problem is Bruce's Problem

Clint's fight with Joey Franchino possibly did more damage than just a suspension from his Revolution team. Arena decided to not invite him to play in the German friendly while he investigates what happened. This might raise a red flag that Dempsey's well-known 'self-confidence' might have started to rub Rev teammates the wrong way. Arena is definitely all about "chemistry" and is in no mood to add someone to the mix that might screw that up.

Well, that was sudden...

Wow. What a turn of events.

Here is what I know. The organization will be called "Red Bull New York", but the actual team will be referred to as the "New York Red Bulls". There won't be a press conference and the speedy nature of this change certainly shows the efficient, get-it-accomplished ability of the Red Bull organization.

While there has been some flapping of the gums by certain old school soccer stars, do not take that as anything other than public airings of "I want that job". One would be a fool to imagine an MLS team would work with NASL Comos-type thinking.

What will happen in the front office is nothing, for now. Red Bull understands that this happened very fast and smartly will allow the front office and coaching staff to stay put and prove itself. But, Red Bull is also very experienced, smart and will be expecting the aforementioned existing staff to quickly acclimate themselves to the "Red Bull Way" of doing business.

Overall this is an amazingly good thing for MLS: Massive cash infusion, elevates the overall value of existing teams, allows the league to relieve AEG of its team load and adds another passionate owner and voice on the board. That new owner, Dietrich Mateschitz, is a billionaire that knows how to promote and has international soccer ownership experience. While it may be a harsh change for Metros fans, in the big picture it is something MLS will benefit from in spades.

Thank God MLS is a Summer League

Don Garber has worked up a reputation of opening his yapper and saying things that have not fully formed or come together. The latest example of such is when he let out that Cleveland was on the expansion list and all but guaranteed it's eventual addition to MLS.

That was met with a lot of, "Oh crap!" from related and responsible people in Cleveland that while they are very close to getting it done, they were not ready to let the cat out of the bag.

It does appear that Cleveland will be joining Toronto as the two cities that expand into MLS for the 2007 season.

Will Red Bull Fly?

It may not smell so sweet, but like everyone else I heard about Red Bull trying to buy MetroStars, it's been floating around for a few weeks now behind the scene. I went and did some digging at the offices in NY and I would say it is 75/25 that the deal gets to the stage DC was at last year in their purchase agreement (letter of intent, deposit, etc), and that might happen today (Wednesday) as Michael Lewis is reporting. But I would only put it at 50/50 that the deal actually ever goes all the way through.

The snag will be on who gets naming rights, as Red Bull wants stadium naming rights in Harrison. This, specifically the price, could eventually be the deal breaker. Funny how some fans are up in arms about the team name and it's the stadium name that may "save" MetroStars.

Here's my speculation part; is this why AEG has been holding off on naming a new Galaxy General Manager? If AEG sells Metro, Tim Leiweke can then move his golden boy to the Galaxy, who have been GM-less ever since Doug Hamilton got "promoted." Just a theory.

KC Master Piece

A week or so ago Bob Gansler was talking at some fan question and answer session type thing and he mentioned possible midfield help that would be added when the transfer window re-opens. I poked around a little and my man on the inside in KC says it's this guy: Dave van den Bergh.

I wonder what happened to the reported FC Dallas interest? Anyone think maybe Kenny Cooper happened?

Houston здравствулте!

Hot off the Not Doug Logan wire. Houston is about to get a new name and it's looking like it will be one I find... interesting. Eastern European interesting, maybe even say... Russian interesting. Stay tuned.