Hey friends,

Welcome to all 47 new subscribers since last week. 20 days till MLS soccer is back. We. Can. Do. It.

• 💰️ MLS Team Valuations

• 🏆️ New Leagues Cup Format

• 🧤 Former MLS Goalkeeper Makes A Splash

• 🤫 MLS Kits Leaked

• ⚽️ Goal of the Week

• 😂 Tweet/Meme of the Week

MLS Team Evaluations

Sportico released their 2024 MLS team valuations so of course we’re here to summarize it for ya. Valuations are based on the MLS franchise, team-related businesses (i.e., if they own an NWSL team), and real estate holdings (i.e., if they own the land the stadium is on).

Quick Stats:

• LAFC stays on top for the third straight year

• Inter Miami had the biggest gain of 74% (shocking, I know😆)

• The average team is worth $678M, up 16%

• Total League revenue reached $2B last year, up 27%

• St. Louis City is the only team to not go up in value (interesting because they had such a good year)

While much of the massive growth over the past year can be attributed to Messi, the Apple TV deal and launch of the Leagues Cup have helped as well. They outlined a bull case for the MLS as Don Garber and the league prepare to be showcased to the world in 2026 - “World’s most popular spot in the world’s richest sports system, cost controls, long-term owners with “patient” capital, new stadiums, blue chip partners, and a single-entity structure impacting ownership collaboration and innovation.”

Enough said.

Leagues Cup Groups

Yesterday the MLS announced the groups for the 2024 Leagues Cup as well as changes to the tournament.

The Leagues Cup is a month-long tournament between every team in the MLS and Liga MX. Inter Miami won last year's inaugural Leagues Cup led by Messi’s ten goals in seven games.

After some frustration with the tournament from Liga MX officials, changes have been made this year including:

• All clubs except for the two league champions are divided into three tiers based on how they finished in their respective league

• 1 team from each tier forms a group and each group is regionalized to minimize travel

• The top 4 Liga MX clubs are granted hub advantages to minimize travel and give them hosting privileges

• PKs will decide ties

All games are still hosted in the US. These changes are meant to appease the Liga MX teams as they’re naturally at an unfair advantage due to the travel and the fact that they don’t have any home games. It makes sense. But I imagine this won’t be the last time the tournament sees changes.

Former MLS Goalkeeper Making a Splash

Djordje Petrovic, Chelsea's goalie hero, is shaking things up at Stamford Bridge. Stepping in for the injured Sánchez, this 24-year-old MLS star has been curing Chelsea of their 4-year goalie issues. With a stellar 73.9% save success rate, he's become the talk of the Premier League.

With all of Chelsea’s big-name signings, the transfer of the former MLS Goalkeeper went under the radar. Petrovic was originally brought in as a backup, someone Chelsea can develop and sell to make a profit. With his outstanding performances, he may earn himself the starting role for the rest of the season. That makes two former New England Revolutions Goalkeepers now playing, and starting in the Premier League. You might be wondering what exactly is going on in New England to develop these star goalies. The answer lies with Goalie coach Kevin Hitchcock. 

Under the mentorship of the Revolution's coach, their goalkeepers achieved remarkable success, with Djordje Petrovic securing a top-two finish in the MLS Goalkeeper of the Year voting for 2022, following in the footsteps of Matt Turner, who achieved the same feat in both 2020 and 2021. Hitchcock also played a pivotal role in the development of Matt Turner, who rose to prominence as Arsenal's goalkeeper and represented the US as the starting goalkeeper at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

EA Sports Leaks Kits

Somebody’s in troubleeee. EA Sports just released a new update for their video game, EA Sports FC 2024, and it looks like they accidentally revealed several new MLS kits. In the ultimate team mode, kits are shown exposing the yet-to-be-released jerseys of 19 MLS teams.

MLS teams have a primary and a secondary kit, updating them in a two-year cycle so they have a new kit to reveal every year.

A tiny PR disaster for the video game that is supposed to be succeeding FIFA. Oh well, more fun for us. Respond to this email with which kit you love the most.

Goal of the Week

Yes, it’s a meaningless preseason game. No, we don’t care. A sneak peek of what’s to come for Red Bulls fans this season.

Tweet/Meme of the Week

🤣 🤣 🤣 

Quick Hits

• Is Divock Origi on his way to LAFC? (Link)

• FC Dallas sign Petar Musa for a club record deal from Benfica (Link)

• Eintracht Frankfurt exploring load options for Paxton Aaronson (Link)

• Blackburn Rovers signing of Orlando City’s Duncan McGuire collapses while McGuire is on the flight to England 🤯 (Link)

• Nottingham Forrest acquire Gio Reyna on loan from Dortmund (Link)

• Chicago Fire are finalizing a massive deal for Hugo Cuypers from Gent (Link)