Unsung Executive Finally Gets to Sing

MLS Deputy Commissioner Ivan Gazidis was named CEO of Arsenal yesterday. An original MLS staffer, Ivan has been the quiet, guiding force of all MLS competition issues since Sunil Gulati's departure almost ten years ago. We exchanged emails this morning and Ivan expressed true pain in leaving the League which "has been (his) heart and soul for so long." Getting into the spirit of his new club he even expressed regret over his boyhood club Manchester City's recent thrashing of his new side.

While the Gunner's gain will surely be MLS' loss, Ivan has already given the League everything he has to offer and MLS is much better positioned to absorb his loss now than it would have been at any other time over the last decade.

While Ivan's office has been responsible for signing more players (international and domestic) than any other team in the world, it has been his consistent intelligent design, which has maneuvered MLS into the mainstream of world soccer leagues. His vision and direction have improved the quality and credibility of the League tremendously through normalization of rules, an emphasis on player and referee development and easing the acquisition of international talent.

Farewell Ivan.

Expansion Draft

As one of six MLS GMs who have participated in expansion drafts, i can tell you that getting the list of unprotected players is a bit like Christmas morning where you don't get all the presents you were hoping for. MLS teams announced their protected and exposed lists today for Seattle's expansion draft.

As usual, the exposed lists were full of veterans underperforming their expensive contracts and young players that have not fulfilled their potential. Some of the deeper teams were forced to expose one or two players that they really do not want to lose.

Terms of engagement include a maximum of one lost player per team and only ten of the 14 teams will lose a player.

Following is a list of the players I would consider choosing from each team along with their 2008 compensation and a note about each:

Toronto - Johann Smith ($47,666.67), young athletic forward whose pace would benefit from the Qwest Stadium artificial surface.

San Jose - Ned Grabavoy ($90,000.00), former New Lenox prodigy still trying to find a good professional fit. An expansion team with a quick surface could be a good situation for the skillful midfielder.

RSL - Dema Kovalenko ($207,618.75), tough, competitive, passionate and expensive veteran...most of those are good qualities.

New York - Chris Leitch ($60,000.00), versatile player who can provide defensive stability and depth.

New England - Khano Smith ($46,305.00), dangerous budget friendly forward with speed and strength who can fly on Seattle's in-fill surface.

Los Angeles - Mike Randolph ($33,000.00), probably wouldn't select anyone from the once proud Galaxy, but if I did, I would add back line speed with Randolph.

KC - Abe Thompson ($33,000.00), again, I probably wouldn't add anyone from the Wizards, but Thompson always seems to add a spark off the bench, so he may be worth a flyer.

Houston - Nate Jaqua ($174,125.00), this deal was done months ago and will be a great situation for the Portland native to return home to the Pacific Northwest.

DC - Quavas Kirk ($136,500.00), probably wouldn't take anyone from DC, though Kirk would be tempting if not for his six figure salary.

Dallas - no one, really, there's not a single exposed player I would want on my expansion team from FC Dallas.

Columbus - Eddie Gaven ($165,000.00), no surprise that the best team in MLS was forced to expose a player they'd prefer not to lose.

Colorado - Preston Burpo ($55,116.18), Kasey Keller will need a veteran backup who won't sulk about his backup status and Burpo would handle the return to Seattle well, where he starred with the USL Sounders.

Chicago Fire - Marco Pappa ($33,000.00), I'm guessing that Pappa's loan deal includes some sort of poison pill that would give the Fire confidence that Seattle won't select him, because Pappa is a young, dynamic and talented future star that the team doesn't want to lose.

Chivas USA - Ante Razov ($258,750.00), his age, high salary, injury risk and aversion to artificial grass are all good reasons not to pick Ante, but he's still a very good MLS forward, competitive and worth the risk.

The 2008 salaries of the ten players I would choose add up to $1,137,582. Some of their 2009 salaries would be higher and some would be lower.

Check out the exposed lists here and tell me who you would pick.

Chicago Red Star in Hollywood

Rumor has it Los Angeles was 75 degrees and sunny yesterday, but i really wouldn't know as i spent sun up to sun down in WPS meetings several stories beneath the surface of the earth in a bunker politely called the Westwood Room on the California Level of the Hyatt Century Plaza on the Avenue of the Stars. i did manage to meet up with a few soccer luminaries in the WPS meeting, in the hallway during breaks and at the Commissioner's Party in Hollywood last night. Here's a roll call:

Pam Perkins - US Soccer General Manager US Men's National team for the last decade plus.
Ridge Mahoney - Soccer America, the best soccer writer in the United States
Nick Sakiewicz - Philadelphia MLS CEO & Operating Partner
Tom Veit - Consultant for Philadelphia MLS and former XFL GM
Paul Mott - MLS Head of Team Services and former President New Orleans Hornets
Paul Caccamo - President America SCORES, a great literacy program that uses soccer as an incentive to develop at risk kids in urban areas throughout the United States
Ashley Doneker America SCORES, National Director of Marketing and Sponsorships
Curt Johnson - US Club Soccer Sr. VP of Marketing and Former GM of Kansas City Wizards. Curt and i had several prominent disagreements while in MLS, but we've always had a mutual respect. We enjoyed catching up during a shared a cab ride back from the Commissioner's Party in Hollywood.
Bakary Soumare - We had a nice talk about his decision to accept Mali's National Team invitation and his plan to stay in form leading up to his February debut and anticipated 2010 African Nations Cup participation.
Dwayne DeRosario - Houston Dynamo and arguably the best player in MLS over the last five years.
Jon Busch - Really enjoyed talking to Jon and his wife Nikki. One of MLS' true good guys and good to see him rewarded this year with MLS GK of the Year.
Jeff Duback - GM of Primo Sports and former US National Team and Olympic GK in the late 1980s.
Donnie Sandusky - President Primo Sports
Tommy Isirov - Member of my first championship team, the 1990-91 Chicago Power
Gloria King - LA Galaxy Manager, Community Development/Director,
Los Angeles Galaxy Foundation
Martha Romero - LA Galaxy Director of Administration
Mary Pat Durkin - Sales at E&J Gallo and former LA Galaxy Marketer
Dondi Kingsbury - O'Brien Media Advertising Sports Marketing, Executive Vice President
Yuki Zeigler - MLS Consultant and former LA Galaxy Executive
Carie Goldberg - President, Gold Standard Sports
Andy Swift - Consultant and Former President and GM Dallas Burn. It's always great to see Andy. He's one of my most respected and best friends in soccer. MLS is better off for his years of service.
Maria Vega - Los Angeles Galaxy Manager, Ticket Operations
Kevin Frank - Senior Marketing Manager, Panasonic
Pat Donnelly - Long time LA Galaxy Director, Communications
Luis Arroyave - Chicago Tribune Soccer Writer
Bill Sage - Executive Director US Club Soccer
Craig Sharon - Director of Business Development and Legal Affairs
Don Garber - MLS Commissioner and Party Host
Denis Hamlett - Chicago Fire Head Coach
Ives Galarcep - Soccer Blogger
Ryan Robbins - Chicago Fire Director of Ticket Sales
Tom Payne - LA Galaxy President of Business Operations
Tom Mulroy Founder, Copa Latina
Carrie Skillman - Chicago Fire Coordinator, Corporate Partnerships
Lisa Bregman - Chicago Fire, Marketing Coordinator
Eric Smith - Chicago Fire - VP, Corporate Partnerships
Ted Howard - CONCACAF Deputy General Secretary
David Sternberg - EVP COO Fox Soccer Channel
Howard Goldberg - Player Representative, CDS Soccer Inc. Sports Management
Kathy Carter - Executive VP, Soccer United Marketing
Mike Gandler - Business development, SUM
Steven Goff - Washington Post Soccer Reporter
Craig Merz - MLSNET.com contributor for Columbus
Andy Mead - Yellow Card Journalism Photo Service
Charlie Cuttone - Sports Vue Interactive
Wade Jackson - Yellow Card Journalism, LLC Partner
Diego and Ginna Gutierrez - Chicago Fire Legend and his wife who will be honored tonight for work with Nothing But Nets anti-malaria campaign.
Mark Noonan - President, Focal Sport, LLC and former MLS Marketing Executive
Tim Leiweke - President and CEO AEG
Dan Beckerman - AEG CFO and Executive VP
Mike Whitehead - WPS Consulting CFO
Joe Quinn - Washington Freedom President/General Manager
Sheri Kamakani - Director of Business Operations, AEG Sports, Los Angeles Sol
Brian and Nancy NeSmith - FC Gold Pride Owners
Ilisa Kessler - FC Gold Pride GM
Scott Hanley - VP AEG Sports
Jeff Cooper - St. Louis Soccer United Owner
Caryn Chasteen - St. Louis Soccer United President
Joe Cummings - Boston Breakers President/GM
Jeff Mallett - WPS Investor
Ian Sawyers - Sky Blue SC GM and Head Coach
Mary Harvey - WPS COO
Rob Penner - WPS Director of Communications

More meetings today and the USC vs. UCLA women's NCAA tournament derby tonight!

U.S. Soccer Central

The Hyatt Century Plaza in Los Angeles will be the center of the United States professional soccer world the next couple days as both Major League Soccer and Women's Professional Soccer are hosting important League meetings in conjunction with Sunday's MLS Cup.

i arrived yesterday evening and had the opportunity to speak with the following people from the soccer world:

John Guppy - First person i saw when i walked into the hotel. We sat at the bar and had great conversation for more than an hour. i'm sure there are many people that would have wagered against us being friendly, but i never held a grudge against John and have always been friendly with him.
Dave Mosca - Consultant for Soccer United Marketing and Philadelphia's MLS Expansion Team
Jack Cummins - Chicago Red Stars Legal Counsel and investor
Karyn Lush - WPS Managing Editor and Internet Producer
Jason Cohen - WPS Director of Business Development/Associate Legal Counsel
Curt Onalfo - Kansas City Wizards Head Coach
Tonya Antonucci - WPS Commissioner
Aileen Nasypany - WPS Office Manager, Assistant to the Commissioner
Patrick McCabe - Well known and successful player representative with First Artist
Barry McLean - Canadian based FIFA licensed agent
Aaron Burch - WPS League Development/Relationships Manager
Charlie Stillitano - Legendary new Jersey based soccer executive
Dr. Joe Machnik - Legendary goalkeeper, camp owner, soccer executive and referee leader, but i'll always remember Doc as the American Indoor Soccer Asociation's Commissioner when i started with the Milwaukee Wave.
Rachel Epstein - WPS Director of Marketing

And that was just the first few hours i was here. More updates later.

Can't We All Get Along

The Chicago Fire and its supporters, Section8Chicago, have gotten entangled in a disagreement over payment of ticket commissions for the 2008 season and the Megabandera (above) that the Fire apparently misplaced (How DOES one misplace a 10,000 square foot banner?). There is certainly more than one side to this story, but it seems that the team should be able to work directly with its own supporters to resolve this issue.

Its good that it's in the offseason, which will allow plenty of time for resolution before it impacts team support at games.

Can't we all get along.

John Guppy Launches Soccer Consultancy

Former Chicago Fire President John Guppy announced the formation today of Gilt Edge Soccer Marketing, LLC, a boutique soccer consultancy focused on helping both soccer and corporate brands connect with the US soccer consumer.

John has more than 20 years of experience that will be valuable to his clients. It is great that John has decided to remain in Chicagoland and i wish him all the best.

i think it's also worth noting that the Fire's success this season is a credit to John's work. He hired a very good team staff and helped assemble a very deep team that nearly made it to MLS Cup where it would've been favored.

I doubt many people will acknowledge it, but he should be proud of this year's Fire team.

Right Here, Right Now

Had a restful weekend that began Saturday morning at the Highbury Pub watching Fulham top Tottenham and Michael Bradley draw Bayern Munich with Kenn Tomasch and Chris Doran.

Fulham's 2-1 victory means the Cottagers are now 9th in the table and Red Stars Head Coach will don a Clint Dempsey Fulham jersey this Tuesday to pay off a friendly wager on the match.

Caught the second half of the Western Conference Final last night....ugh. Methinks the MLS Cup champ was decided Thursday night in Columbus. Congratulations to Sigi Schmid and the Crew.

Today i watched Chris and Kenn call the Big 10 soccer semifinal on tape delay and then i watched them call today's 1-0 Michigan State victory in the conference championship over the Indiana Hoosiers. Kenn and Chris make a nice broadcast team. Both have a good understanding of the game, communicate it well and inject the right amount of color and humor. It was also good to see Dean Linke on the sideline. While serving as the Colorado Rapids' publicity man in 1997, Dean coordinated the news conference for my introduction as Chicago MLS' general manager. i still get chills when i hear Jesus Jones' "Right Here, Right Now", which was used as the news conference's intro music. Dean went on to serve in a similar capacity for the WUSA Carolina Courage where he worked alongside current Red Stars GM Marcia McDermott.

Despite the mismatch in Carson and the wildfires surrounding LA, i'll be heading to SoCal this week for WPS meetings and the first presentation of the Philip F. Anschutz Trophy. i'll be checking in then.

$1 Brats and Priceless Memories

Hundreds of Chicago Fire fans will make their way to Ohio's state capital tomorrow to cheer their beloved Men in Red on to a victory which would earn the team its fourth MLS Cup final spot in team history. Some will fly, some will drive, but most will be on several buses making the trip eastward.

The host Columbus Crew is promoting Buck a Brat Night, but the real lure will be the battle between the top two teams in the Eastern Conference. Fire fans relish the idea of turning Crew Stadium into "Firehouse East". The rejuvenated Crew Supporters are eager to show Section 8 Chicago, that they have earned their stripes this year and will no longer need the assistance of a Crew-retained marching band to drown out Section 8 on tour. The battle of support will be as intense as the battle on the field. i look forward to being in attendance, having a dollar or two worth of brats and cheering the Fire to victory - i already have my tickets in LA for November 23rd.