Sporting Announce New Broadcast Team

Sporting Kansas City announced their broadcast team for the 2017 season. Late in 2016 when Sporting announced their new affiliation with Fox Sports Kansas City they said that there would be changes to the broadcast team, out was color commentator, Andy Gruenebaum and sideline reporter/color commentator Jake Yadrich. The team announced yesterday that replacing the pair will be Matt Lawrence and Jillian Carroll.

Lawrence comes to Kansas City from England, where he had a successful playing career with the likes of Fulham, Millwall, and Crystal Palace as a defender. He captained Millwall in their 2004 FA Cup final loss to Manchester United. After his playing career, Lawrence eventually became color commentator for MLS games that showed on Sky Sports in the UK. His move to Kansas City will see him fill a similar position with Sporting, joining current play by play announcer Nate Bukaty on broadcasts.

Carroll has experience on the sideline with the KC Chiefs, the KC Comets, and FC Kansas City having spent time working with all three organizations. She also has experience herself in the game, playing soccer in college.

While for me personally I'll miss Yadrich on the broadcast, I thought he brought a lot of good insight to the game, I feel both of these additions are good for Sporting KC. My hope is that with Lawrence coming from outside Kansas City, he'll be a little more neutral in his color commentary as one of the things that has bugged me over the last few years has been Sporting's broadcast becoming more "homerish" in the tone of the broadcast. It was one of the reasons I enjoyed Callum Williams so much when he did the broadcasts, he was for Kansas City and you could tell in the broadcasts, but he wasn't afraid of praising the other team when the opponent did something good during the broadcast.

A Look at Sporting KC's Television Conflicts with the Royals

The Kansas City Royals today released the start times for all their games this season. This relates to Sporting KC because with Sporting's new television partnership with the Fox Sports Kansas City, the two are on the same network. In the agreement between Sporting KC and FSKC, should there be a conflict with the Royals, Sporting would be the ones that would jump to Fox Sports Kansas City Plus. When the schedule came out I'd mentioned that there were 19 dates when Sporting KC was not on national television that they and the Royals played on the same day, so how many times is Sporting set to move to Fox Sports Midwest Plus because of the Royals? Quite a bit by looking at the schedule.

Taking into account the Royals pregame and postgame shows that will presumably also bump Sporting KC, there are really only a couple handful of games that will be shown in their entirety on FSKC. KC has six games that are not on national television that don't conflict with a KC Royals game, three before the season starts (3/4 at DC, 3/11 vs Dallas, 3/18 vs San Jose), one in the middle of the season (7/6 vs Philadelphia), and two at the end of the season (10/15 vs Houston, 10/22 vs Salt Lake). The other 19 games are played on the same day as the Royals play. Sporting has said now that the Royals schedule is finalized, the club will be able to work with FSKC to finalize their television schedule.

Baseball games last just under three hours on average based on some of the searching that I've done, so factoring three hours in for the game, plus a half hour pregame and postgame show and the Royals take up at least a four hour time slot for every day they play. With a four hour time window, that means for every game where the Royals start before Sporting KC, Sporting will be starting on Fox Sports Midwest Plus, and then may jump over to FSKC once Royals post game is finished up (and vice versa if Sporting kick off first) according to what Thad Bell has heard. Of the 19 days, 13 of them have the Royals first pitch before KC starts, two times the Royals start after Sporting, and there are still four games that are currently TBD for the start time. For the games where the Royals start after, soccer games are generally about two hours and Sporting has a half hour pre-game and postgame show as well, meaning they'll need a three hour window for Sporting KC broadcasts.

So looking at the schedule, I see just a few days where both Sporting and the Royals play on the same day without stepping on each other’s toes. The first day is June 24th, when Sporting KC is in LA for a 9:30 kick off while the Royals have a 1:15 first pitch in Toronto against the Blue Jays. A three hour game for the Royals plus a half hour post game should see Sporting fine for their 9:30 kick off. The second one is going to be tight, but if the Royals play a fast game, May 27th. The Sporting has a 7pm kick off against the Colorado Rapids in Denver while the Royals have a 3:10 game at the Cleveland Indians. If that game can go under three hours, postgame would be done just before Sporting pregame starts, but if the Royals game runs long, pregame for SKC at least could be bumped. The third game is actually one where Sporting plays first, August 12th, when Sporting travels to Seattle for a 3pm kick off. The Royals first pitch is at 6:10 against the White Sox. Sporting's broadcast would start at 2:30, kickoff at 3, postgame around 5 should see it finish up just in time for Royals pregame to start on FSKC at 5:30, although it could be tight if things run long for the soccer game.

There is one other game that likely will work as well for Sporting and the Royal. Sporting's lone trip to Vancouver on May 20th is currently one of KC's four to be determined start times on the list due to Canadian television, the Royals meanwhile have a 1:10 first pitch at the Minnesota Twins. If the game in Vancouver follows what happened last year, the game kick off at 9:30 Central Time. This would make the trip to Vancouver like the trip to LA, as the Royals should be done by the time Sporting pregame is scheduled to start.

The other 15 games though look like they will be broadcasted (at least in part) on Fox Sports Midwest Plus and all of the games will be available via the Fox Sports Go mobile app. The good news is that most cable providers seem to have Fox Sports Midwest Plus available for customers to watch the games. The annoying thing for Sporting fans may be if FSKC decides to do like what Bell mentioned, and switch Sporting KC from one channel to another in the middle of a game. This is especially true if you're someone who likes to go out to watch away games.

Here's the full list of conflicts and start times.

4/15
Sporting KC at Portland 9:30
KC Royals vs Anaheim 6:15

4/22
Sporting KC at Dallas 7
KC Royals at Texas 7:05

4/29
Sporting KC vs Salt Lake 7:30
KC Royals vs Minnesota 6:15

5/3
Sporting KC vs New York 7:30
KC Royals vs Chicago White Sox 7:15

5/13
Sporting KC vs Orlando 6:30
KC Royals vs Baltimore 6:15

5/17
Sporting KC vs Seattle 7:30
KC Royals vs New York 7:15

5/20
Sporting KC at Vancouver TBD
KC Royals at Minnesota 1:10

5/27
Sporting KC at Colorado 7
KC Royals at Cleveland 3:10

6/10
Sporting KC vs Montreal TBD
KC Royals at San Diego 3:10

6/17
Sporting KC at San Jose 8
KC Royals at Anaheim 7:15

6/24
Sporting KC at Los Angeles 9:30
KC Royals vs Toronto 1:15

7/22
Sporting KC at Salt Lake 9
KC Royals vs Chicago 6:15

7/29
Sporting KC vs Chicago 7:30
KC Royals at Boston 6:10

8/12
Sporting KC at Seattle 3
KC Royals at Chicago 6:10

8/19
Sporting KC vs Dallas 7:30
KC Royals vs Cleveland 6:15

8/26
Sporting KC at Houston 8
KC Royals at Cleveland 6:10

9/6
Sporting KC at NYCFC TBD
KC Royals at Detroit 6:10

9/16
Sporting KC vs New England 7:30
KC Royals at Cleveland 6:10

9:30
Sporting KC vs Vancouver TBD
KC Royals vs Arizona 6:15

Sporting Sign New TV Deal

After spending the last three years showing games on KMCI-TV, Sporting Kansas City will have a new broadcast home in 2017. The KC Star is reporting that Sporting is on the verge of signing a multi-year partnership with Fox Sports Kansas City to broadcast non-national Sporting KC games.

The new deal will have it's pluses and minuses for the club and it's fans. On the plus side, Sporting will now be working with a station that specializes in broadcasting sports, and as part of the deal, SKC will have access to some of FSKC's on-air production elements, which should increase the level of the broadcast going forward. It will also allow SKC to have a more centralized regional TV deal as some of KC's games will be on Fox Sports Midwest, broadcasting to all of MO, parts of Iowa and Nebraska as well. Sporting will also be able to have all games available on the Fox Sports Go app, another benefit of the move. While Sporting will still produce their own shows, hopefully the club will take advantage of the on-air production elements and return to having their announcers travel to the away games. That's something the club got away from late in the 2016 season and the production value of the games dropped dramatically because Nate Bukaty, Andy Gruenebaum, and Jake Yadrich would be calling the game from a screen in a studio in Kansas City.

There are some initial draw backs that come to mind though regarding the switch. While FSKC is used to broadcasting sports, the primary tenant on the channel will be the Kansas City Royals, who will obviously get top billing over Sporting KC. When there is an overlap, Sporting games would be moved to FSKC Plus. This is something that will certainly cause some ire among Sporting fans who won't want to go searching to try to find FSKC Plus when the Royals are playing (For those that had never even heard of FSKC Plus like me, here's a handy link to look at to see if you have it.). At least the club won't be in a situation of having tap delayed games like New York City FC have had with YES.

Another draw back of the move, at least in some fans' eyes is the move from broadcast TV. The argument many are making is that there are a growing number of younger Sporting fans who are "cord-cutters" and don't have any cable television, which will keep them from being able to watch the games at home.

There are certainly both benefits of the move and legitimate concerns that fans are right to have heading into the season.

Sporting's broadcast home isn't the only thing changing either, the Star reported that Bukaty will be the only on-air personality returning for games in 2017. Both Gruenebaum and Yadrich will no longer be part of the broadcast team on air. Yadrich for me will be the biggest loss from the team simply because of the knowledge and information that he would share during the entire broadcast (pre-game, game, and post game). Sporting is still struggling in many fans eyes to properly replace Callum Williams on calls for games.

Hopefully this ends up being a really good move for KC all around, making them look more professional and win over new fans on a channel specifically for sports.

Another Tweet and Fly with Robb Heineman

Sporting KC's Robb Heineman gave another one of his Q&As on Twitter tonight, another #TweetnFly time as Heineman made his way down Tucson to observe some preseason there.

As expected, one of the topics that brought out the most questions was the current roster and fan concern over the loss of Krisztian Nemeth to Qatar. Heineman came out with his first question attempting to address the situation, at least a little bit saying that they were looking for a "#9" to back up Dom Dwyer, also saying that they were currently negotiating a contract. Heineman seemed confident that the team would have a player in time for the home opener on the 12th, but that the player wouldn't be a big name. Over the course of his answers he also said that they'd like to find themselves a young DP. A young DP offers the team more salary cap flexibility because they offer the team a lower cap hit, only $150,000 if the player is 20 or younger, only $200,000 if he's between 21 and 23 ,instead of the standard $436,250 that DPs are paid. Adding to that, Heineman said that the club was in negotiations with several DPs, and that the target position for those players is forward. On the topic of signing new foreign players, he said that it has gotten easier for the club to add those players, but that it's still not a slam dunk convincing players to play in KC.

Of players on the team currently, one of the recent rumors has been Marcel de Jong being on his way out of Kansas City, being told he has no place in the team. Heineman didn't confirm that he was gone, but when asked if de Jong was saying said "likely no." On the team's other players that appear to be on the outside looking in, Heineman again didn't give much away, but doesn't' expect Bernardo Anor or Amobi Okugo to be in KC's 18 for opening day.

Heineman was also asked about his team's coach, Peter Vermes and the reported interest in him by teams abroad. He believes that Vermes was never really interested in the rumored clubs that were supposedly trying to get him to coach their team. That led to a follow up question about Vermes and the national team, something that has been talked about quite often when Jurgen Klinsmann has struggled with the team. While Heineman thinks he'd be good in the position he doesn't see Klinsmann leaving for a while.

On the topic of Vermes, Heineman was asked about the rumors of his changing formations this season, Heineman said that Vermes had the team practicing in a 3-5-2 a lot. While it's a nice thought, it's something that's been discussed over the last few years since teams really started to catch onto KC's style of play. But each time KC may trot out the new formation in preseason or in a game but then revert back to the traditional 4-3-3 that the team has played since Vermes took over as the team's head coach. I'll belive that switch happens when I see it happening. He also was asked about the injuries and what the team has done to address the number of injuries over the past two years, saying that they're trying some new training techniques in 2016 to help with that.

On the topic of Sporting Club's latest team, the Swope Park Rangers, Heineman was asked about how the club was going to utilize the new team. Heineman says that the team will get several loaned players and he expects them to develop quality players for KC, standard line, but it's got to be the hope of pretty much everyone since the team was announced. On the topic of the Rangers, Heineman confirmed (like Sporting did earlier in the day) that the foreign center midfielder he'd mentioned on Twitter back in January was in fact Kevin Oliveira, the Cape Verde midfielder from Benfica. The team though seems very high on him as Heineman expects Oliveira to be on the first team by the end of this season.

As always with his Q&As he was asked a number of questions that he always gets asked giving more answers. The one that has probably come up every time is the expansion of Children's Mercy Park. In the past in these Q&As Heineman has said that there were plans and possibilities to expand the stadium, but as time has gone on those expectations have changed in Heineman's response. Tonight he came straight out and just answered "no" when asked if there were plans in the near future to expand the stadium. Since the news about potentially purchasing Everton surfaced, Heineman has had to face a number of questions about whether Sporting Club would go out and purchase another foreign team, but Heineman shot that idea down as well fairly quickly. He was also asked again about the training facility and when it would break ground, Heineman said that they are waiting on grading permits and that they'll be breaking ground in April.

Heineman also touched on a number of topics on MLS as a whole, from his feeling that the magic number of MLS teams is 28 to the league's biggest hurdle being getting better "average" players as he put it, although he also talked about fewer synthetic fields in the league as well. He also stated how he felt the league wasn't quite ready to get out of the teams ways yet, and instead still needed to go with metered growth for the league, and the the teams' academies need to catch up. He also took the political way out when discussing the LA Galaxy's ability to bring in players as well as when he was asked about the new Columbus Crew jersey.

Finally, there were all the random questions he answered that provided some insight on a number of topics, from his agreement with Peter Vermes' quotes about how an MLS team in St. Louis would be great for the team and the league to confirming that the team was still looking to put a PDL team in Garden City/Western KS. He also shot down the rumored Sporting KC/KC Royals television network that was rumored this offseason, saying that it'd be news to him. He also played coy about a pro futsal team in KC after the reports that Mark Cuban had joined up with the new professional futsal league. He also talked about jerseys, once again stating the league was doing away with "third jerseys," but saying that it would be two years before the club had an alternate jersey that featured a nod to the club's old rainbow jersey, maybe a throw back to the team's old original jersey, which is apparently his favorite.

It's always fun to get Heineman's insight, but it may be more fun to read the questions that don't actually get answered by him. And as always take it with a grain of salt, it took us years to get through a Q&A without a question about blue turf.

Sporting and the Royals to Form a Network? Would that be a Good Move?

Just a passing comment in an article on an MLB blog about the Kansas City Royals, their current TV deal, and its potential affect on their ability to compete, but it is one to certainly take a look at. The article on Today's Knuckleball talked about the Royals potentially creating their own network, something the club did in the early 2000's at the height of the team's futility. Apparently part of the buzz with them working on their own network is that the Royals could partner with Sporting Kansas City to help offset costs.

For the last two seasons Sporting Kansas City's games have been broadcasted on 38 The Spot in Kansas City. All of the club's games that have not been televised on national TV have been broadcasted on the local channel along with a 30 minute pregame and another 30 minute post game show. It's certainly not been a bad deal for Sporting as they've been on an over-the-air network that has allowed them to reach more people who may not necessarily have cable television.

The idea of creating a network with the Royal does have its draw backs and things that Sporting should keep in mind before proceeding down that path. One thing that Sporting and the Royals would need to do is to make sure they have the network lined up with local cable providers in Kansas City. It's one of the issues of sports networks around the country have to deal with when cable networks don't choose to carry a channel. In MLS such a thing happened with the Houston Dynamo (along with the Astros and Rockets) with CSN Houston not being carried on the majority of cable providers in the Houston area. It kept a number of Dynamo fans from being able to watch their team when they were on the road and not on national television.

Another thing that Sporting KC may want to be mindful of is their key demographic and their use of television. While I personally don't see myself getting rid of cable in the near future, I'm also not really in the target demographic that Sporting KC is really chasing any more. Sporting has really seemed to try to make more of a play for those in their 20's, and they've done a decent job of doing it with the atmosphere at Sporting Park. But one thing that demographic seems to be doing is that they're not watching television as much any more. You hear a lot about cord cutters and people ditching cable as a whole, moving away from a channel like 38 The Spot to a cable channel may cause a drop in that demographic that SKC wants.

The final thing that Sporting will likely want to keep an eye on regarding any deal with the Royals would be how exactly that relationship would work on a network. Sporting and the Royals' seasons overlap for the vast majority of it, and if both were to go into business together on a network, the question is who would get first billing. And in reality it wouldn't even be a question, the Royals still pull better ratings than Sporting KC can pull, even when the Royals weren't actually winning. The worry here would be SKC getting put into a position where their games are not even being broadcasted live, instead being put on tape delay for a Royals game. Such things have happened to other MLS teams in the past, like New York City FC having a game of theirs against the Philadelphia Union shown on tape delay on the YES Network, or DC United just a couple of years ago having similar on CSN Washington, as well as other examples.

Being part of their own network though would allow for Kansas City to have more of their own program. Over the last couple years the team has done a few things with 38 the Spot and prior television partners, specifically around the playoffs, having some shows to hype them up (I remember appearing on one myself). That sort of thing could be expanded on a network of their own with the Royals. A weekly show run by the team, just a way to get more information out to fans.

The fact that the Royals see Sporting as a legitimate business partner for a network is certainly a plus. But if Sporting KC is serious about something like this they're going to have to be very good with their negotiations or else they run the risk of alienating fans if the deal is too lopsided for the Royals.

Sporting KC Announce New PBP Announcer and Other News From Heineman Interview

Robb Heineman made an appearance on Between the Lines with Kevin Kietzman and made one big announcement and dropped news on other announcements coming. The main reason for his appearance was the announcement that Nate Bukaty will become the team's new play-by-play announcer for the club. Heineman said the move had to do with the club's commitment to being local. It also addresses Heineman's earlier comment about someone who will be here for the long term. I know that Cal Williams had high hopes for his career and while I'll definitely miss hearing him on the call, or even just having a in depth soccer talk with him in the Members' Club, I understand the move from that aspect. As long as Bukaty's play-by-play doesn't go full Brad Feldman or Shep Messing homer talk I should be able to survive the move.

In regards to the broadcast, Heineman also mentioned other work that they are trying to do. The club will keep Jake Yardrich on the broadcast team last year. After spending the past few seasons as Williams' color analyst, Yardrich moved down to be the sideline reporter in 2014. Heineman also mentioned that the club is current talking with a former player about returning to the team as well to fill out the broadcast team.

The second half of the interview moved more to on the field player movement. Heineman admitted that the moves made were motivated both by the poor finish to the season and salary cap considerations. He put the trade of Aurelien Collin firmly into the cap consideration move, explaining that with the deal Matt Besler signed during the summer, KC didn't want to put that much of the cap into just the center back position for the team.

Heineman did mention that there was some other movement that was done, including a new goalkeeper. The assumption with the goalkeeper is that it is Chilean, Luis Marin, who is linked with a move to MLS and Kansas City. Marin, from the highlights I've seen looks like he should fit in well and looks comfortable with quick distribution, which is something I think that KC could do more to exploit next season against teams. After his tweet over the weekend, Heineman also confirmed that the team would be making a formal announcement on the re-signing of Dom Dwyer.  This on the surface would appear to be the biggest move that the team has made of the offseason. Not only does it keep Dwyer in KC, it also means that should he continue to do well and teams in England come after him, the price KC can command goes up because of how long the team has him locked up.

The final bit of player news that Heineman brought up was that the team was signing another forward to be Dwyer's back up. Kietzman didn't touch on it, but the fact that Heineman said that a forward was being brought in to back up Dwyer would seem to signify that Claudio Bieler's tenure with the club is going to be ending in the near future. With Dwyer signing a new contract, and how much that contract will be, having a designated player as his back up would continue to be a mistake for the club.

In the final bit of the interview, Heineman talked about the league currently and where it stands. One thing that he brought up was that the league needs to clean things up. The example he specifically brought up was the playoff system. The league has had a new playoff system almost every year that it's been in existence, and with the rumored expansion to six teams from each conference, it could very well be changing again next year.

Heineman also talked about the transparency of the league, mentioning that the league needs to explain things more to fans with regards to the league. This has been one of the big complaints from fans was the inability to follow the league as closely because of the lack of transparency in how things are done in the league.

So it seems we could be in for a busy week of information from the team.

Sporting Blue Wedding Continues, Sporting Waive 2 More, Will Have New Announce Team

The changes to Sporting KC roster continue, and they've now expanded beyond the field to the broadcast booth as well.

The team has made no formal announcement, but with the waiver draft this afternoon, after the expansion draft, two more Sporting KC players appeared on the list available to be drafted, Christian Duke and Martin Steuble.

Duke, a Sporting KC academy product that the team drafted in the 2013 Supplemental Draft. He never appeared in a competitive game for Sporting Kansas City but has spent part of the last two seasons on loan to Sporting's two USL affiliates, Orlando City and Oklahoma City.

Steuble, a midseason acquisition along with Jorge Claros, made just three appearances for the club after signing, one start. The other two were late game substitutes, totaling just 69 minutes for the club. Recently he's been away with the Philippines national team at the AAF Cup where he'd played every minute of their three group games. In the semifinals, he played 90 minutes in their 0-0 draw with Thailand, but in the return leg was sent off in the 82nd minute as the Philippines fell 3-0.

Williams and Gutierrez Will Not Be Back

The other news today was that Sporting KC's broadcast team of Callum Williams and Diego Gutierrez would not be back next season. Williams had been with the team since the 2011 season, covering play-by-play duties for SKCTV. He'd developed a following of fans in KC and around the league. One thing I've heard consistently was his even balanced commentary that was never too bias for the home team. Whoever replaces him will certainly have some big shoes to fill in the eyes of the fans.

Gutierrez, the former KC Wizards captain, was in his first season in the booth. He'd replaced Jake Yadrich, who moved from the booth to the sideline this season. Gutierrez didn't have as many fans as Williams did, a lot of the comments regarding him was that his commentary was too bias towards Kansas City and that he struggled to stay in the flow of the game. There's been no announcement on who will replace them in 2015.

Sporting Announce Expanded Television Deal

Sporting Kansas City announced an expansion of the Sporting KC Television Network today. The expansion will see Sporting games that are not on national television broadcasted to portions of nine states around the Midwest. KC already had a deal with KCMI (38 the Spot) to broadcast all 23 of KC's games that are not on national television.

Joining KCMI in broadcasting all 23 games is WIBW out of Topeka, KMTW in Wichita, Cox Channel in both Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Cox Channel in Omaha, and MyUTV in Sioux Falls, South Dakota (although four of the games will be broadcasted on the same day on tape delay). 

Then up to 20 games will be broadcasted in parts of Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, South Dakota,  Minnesota, and Wisconsin on Mediacom (MC22) (5 will air on tape delay in select markets).

Finally, KZOU in Columbia will broadcast 16 games.

So Sporting KC will be all over the place in the Midwest. Without looking up the other team's contracts I'd guess this gives KC one of, if not the largest media footprints in the league.

Compared to just 10 years ago when I remember "watching" a Wizards game at a bar in KC this is fantastic. And by watch I mean follow it live on match tracker after a meeting. The team's attempts to become the regions team with this deal is great, it's similar to the Royals regional radio deal or the Chiefs past where one of their logos even showed them as a regional team.

There are a few questions I've seen. The biggest from fans in those areas is how this affects MLS Live or Direct Kick. Whether the black out rules will apply, if fans won't be able to watch the game, having previously purchased the plan, in part, to make sure they would be able to see Sporting to begin with.

A Look at Heineman's Q/A on Twitter Tonight

Tonight while on his way to Orlando, Robb Heineman did another one of his impromptu Twitter Q/A's. As always, there were a number of lighthearted questions and some trolling, but there were some good questions in there as well that he answered.

One of the early questions that Heineman was asked had to do with the team adding players to the current squad. A number of fans have questioned whether KC would add to their roster and if they could possibly fall behind other teams. Heineman's response to the question doesn't sound to optimistic at least at this moment.

Hard 2 say....summer window more likely RT @zachbettis: @RobbHeineman Any more signings before the start of the season?
— Robb Heineman (@RobbHeineman) February 18, 2014

In regards to the recent rumors about Juniors signing, Erik Palmer-Brown and Juventus, Heineman responded "Noooooo" when asked if the team had agreed to sell him abroad. And take it for what you will, but Heineman also had some high praise for the 16 year old later:

Epb RT @JaredSevers: @RobbHeineman Which young players do you expect to contribute this year that didn't last year? #skctweetandfly
— Robb Heineman (@RobbHeineman) February 18, 2014

He also fielded questions about the state of the league as it is now. Specifically he was asked if he felt he was concerned that KC hadn't done enough to improve while other teams like Toronto and DC had. Heineman said he wasn't concerned about that. But when questioned further about whether he was concerned about smaller market teams being "out-priced," Heineman responded with an affirmative. And it's certainly a concern that I think many KC fans feel, especially having seen similar things happen with the Royals over the years as the team has been "out-priced" (plenty of that of their own doing). Another question in that same vein asked if a 4th designated player spot was inevitable, to which Heineman responded no. That topic had come up for discussion recently with the fact that the Seattle Sounders had been linked with Didier Drogba. With them already having three DP's on their roster, assumption immediately turned to the league adding another DP spot for teams to use for Seattle to bring in the Ivory Coast international.

A topic that Heineman has used to troll numerous times in the past is the playing surface, starting the infamous "blue turf" a few years ago. When asked about the surface tonight, he said that the field would be changed to Bermuda grass this summer. When jokingly asked about the blue turf though, Heineman gave a response that I'm sure will cause worry for a number of fans around the league:

If bermuda fails....turf inevitable RT @DoctorJayhawk: @RobbHeineman When does the blue turf go in?
— Robb Heineman (@RobbHeineman) February 18, 2014

The bane of many MLS fans' existence, turf. It'd be extremely disappointing if KC were forced to install turf at Sporting Park, especially since only a few years ago Sporting's grounds crew were given awards for the work that they'd done at Community America Ballpark. Hopefully the fungus, or disease, or whatever was causing the problem is resolved with the switch to Bermuda grass and we don't have to see a game played on turf at Sporting Park.

Heineman also reiterated a comment he made in an earlier Q/A in regards to a USL-Pro team for Kansas City. The team recently signed an agreement with the Oklahoma City Energy to be their affiliate, but Heineman said that OnGoal is still working on creating their own USL-Pro team, similar to the LA Galaxy II that was announced recently. Whether this team would be KC based or potentially in another market is certainly something that will likely be discussed.

Another thing in the Q/A tonight that I liked were his comments regarding a TV deal. Heineman was asked about an expanded TV deal that would see KC expand outside the KC area. In the past the team has made references to wanting to be a regional team that could have fans throughout the Midwest. Heineman in response to the question said that they are apparently looking to broadcast games in 5 states. Later in the Q/A when asked by the American Outlaws chapter of Sioux Falls, if they'd be able to watch games on local TV he said yes. So that would mean Kansas, Missouri, and South Dakota would seem to be three of the five states. I could also see the likes of Nebraska, Iowa, and Oklahoma being included in that list of five when things are all said and done. I love the idea of KC becoming a more regional team in regards to pulling in fans. They're solidifying themselves in the KC metro area, and with them doing that, they can now look to pull in people from around the region.

The topic that probably brought up the most questions tonight though was the possibility of a summer friendly for Sporting KC this year. Heineman shot down the idea of a friendly against a Bundesliga team and a rematch against Manchester United. But did say Sporting Park when asked about a venue, and that he'd "given plenty of hints"  in regards to the team.

So the question becomes was this Tweet from the 14th a hint:

Tale of 2 cities
— Robb Heineman (@RobbHeineman) February 14, 2014

If so could it be a reference to the rumored Manchester City friendly that Oriol Rosell let slip in an interview? That would make some sense, but then again, City is playing in the Guinness International Champions Cup in the US from July 26th through August 4th. So who knows, it might not have been a hint at all, maybe he just likes Charles Dickens.

On one final question that is a personal crusade of mine, Heineman was asked about the soccer hall of fame and bringing it to KC. This is something I would truly love, specifically the archives (which I would love to work at). In the past it's something that's been brought up, specifically in conjunction with the training complex that OnGoal wants to build with US Soccer. This time Heineman again left the door open for it, but said that the format needs to be considered.

38 the Spot to Broadcast Sporting Games Next Year

Sporting Kansas City will have a new television partner next season. KMCI, 38 the Spot announced today that they will be broadcasting up to 26 games of Sporting's next year. It was also announced that their sister station, KSHB will be broadcasting some programing as well throughout the season.
Sporting will move away from KSMO after they'd broadcasted games for the last few years. The 26 games seems a little low considering the fact that Sporting played 34 games this past year, but KC had a number of games on national television this year, both home and away so the expectation has to be that Sporting will have a number of games on national television again next year.

Open Cup Final and Player Salaries

For those of you that don't already have tickets for the US Open Cup final a week from today against the Seattle Sounders, you may want to get them.  Today it was announced that the US Open Cup final for this year (and the next two after that) will be shown on Gol TV.  The station that most people have to get another tier on their cable provider to be able to watch the game.  Needless to say not too many people are happy about this.  Most people would even rather have an online stream readily available instead of having to deal with figuring out how to get Gol TV on their plan.  Word is that Fox Soccer (also a channel on another tier under most cable providers) was also trying to get the game for a national broadcast and that KSMO was trying to get local rights, along with 810AM trying to get radio rights but apparently the asking price from US Soccer was not one that they were willing to meet.  So instead soccer fans in KC (and around the US looking to watch the final) will either be contacting their cable provider, or finding an illegal stream.

While I understand US Soccer wanting to make as much money as possible, the US Open Cup final on Gol TV could be a bit of a step back for them as they look to continue to try to give the tournament more legitimacy.

The good news for Sporting fans?  The last time Gol TV had the finals was the 2004 and 2005 finals, and we remember how the 2004 one finished up.  If not, enjoy this great video that Sporting put out today.



Update Player Salaries

The players union today released updated salaries for all the MLS teams.  Sporting KC only had 3 changes to their list from the previous one in May to this release.  Gone from the list is Shawn Singh and his $33,750.  On the list now are new signings, Neven Markovic, who is making $90,000 and Kyle Miller who is making $33,750.  KC is still on the hook for Luke Sassano's salary at this point which is why he still appears on the list.  So far from Markovic I like what I've seen although I'd like to see a little bit more in competitive games instead of friendlies before making a decision.

A Look at a Week Off

While reading some post game thoughts on the Montreal game, someone made the comment that Kansas City was poor when coming off a bye week, it got me thinking about KC getting time off and how they've done.  So what I did is I took a look at all games KC has played since Peter Vermes took over as coach of Sporting KC where KC has had at least 10 days off from their previous game.  Here's a look at those games.  Scroll down further for more.

8/16/2009 vs Chicago - Days since last game 15.  Days since Chicago's last game 7. 2-0 loss.  In his first game in charge after the firing of Curt Onalfo after the team's 6-0 thrashing at Dallas, Vermes and KC came out and lost 2-0 at home to the Chicago Fire.

4/10/2010 vs Colorado - Days since last game 14.  Days since Colorado's last game 7.  1-0 win.  In the second game of the 2010 season, KC road a header goal by Kei Kamara to a 1-0 win Colorado 2 weeks after a 4-0 win over DC.

5/15/2010 vs Chicago - Days since last game 10.  Days since Chicago's last game 7.  2-2 draw.  KC came back from a 2-1 loss in DC on Cinco de Mayo to draw with Chicago.  KC came from 2 goals down to tie the Fire at the death on a goal by Kamara.

6/26/2010 vs New York - Days since last game 16. Days since New York's last game 21.   0-3 loss.  New York had a longer break, but KC went into the World Cup break on the back of a 2-0 win over Philadelphia, but were throughly beaten by the Red Bulls on their return from the break.  The game was the last in a Wizards uniform for Aaron Hohlbein as he was beat bad for two of the goals, including twice by Juan Pablo Angel. 

7/31/2010 vs Toronto - Days since last game 14.  Days since Toronto's last game 4 (7 in league play).  1-0 win.  KC tied Colorado in Colorado on 7/17, then came home and defeated Toronto 1-0 thanks to a headed goal by Teal Bunbury.  Toronto had played a CONCACAF Champion's League game on Tuesday, but had a league game the Saturday before.

9/19/2010 at Chivas USA - Days since last game 15.  Days since Chivas' last game 9.  2-0 win.  KC had a weekend off after their 1-1 draw in Philadelphia.  Out of the break they traveled to LA and pulled out a comprehensive 2-0 win over Chivas at the Home Depot Center.  Chivas had a friendly vs Guadalajara, but their last league game had been the Friday before.

4/16/2011 at Columbus - Days since last game 10 (14 in league play).  Days since Columbus' last game 7.  1-0 loss.  After the disappointing 3-3 draw in Vancouver, KC had the next weekend off in league play, but had an away Open Cup qualifier against the Houston Dynamo that KC won 1-0.  They came out of that break and played in Columbus against the Crew.  A red card to Juilo Cesar (remember when everyone wanted him to never start again?) later and KC lost 1-0 to the Crew.

5/14/2011 at Los Angeles - Days since last game 14.  Days since LA's last game 3.  4-1 loss.  Still on the extended road trip, KC traveled to Los Angeles after losing to the Red Bulls 1-0 in their previous outing.  KC took an early lead through an own goal, but then gave up 4 unanswered to lose 4-1.  LA on the other hand had played in Philadelphia against the Union only 3 days before.

8/17/2011 vs Portland - Days since last game 11.  Days since Portland's last game 3.  3-1 win.  After suffering their first league loss at Livestrong Sporting Park, KC had 11 days to stew before playing the Portland Timbers.  KC came out and beat the Timbers 3-1 fairly easily.  Portland had played the Sunday before in Houston against the Dynamo.

10/15/2011 vs New York - Days since last game 14.  Days since New York's last game 11 days.  2-0 win.  Coming back from an international break, KC took care of business and clinched themselves a playoff spot.  The last game had seen KC pull out a 1-1 draw with San Jose.  New York's break got started late due to a rescheduled game against the Galaxy.

5/5/2012 vs Montreal - Days since last game 14.  Days since Montreal's last game 3 days (7 in league play).  2-0 loss.  A disappointing performance coming off of the team's first loss of the season.  Little fire in the team as they fell to the expansion Impact, KC's first loss to an expansion team in their first meeting.  Montreal had played at home against Toronto in the Canadian Championship only a few days before coming to KC.

So KC is 5-5-1 under Vermes once they've had more than 10 days off.  Not a great record, but it does match up with KC's overall record in MLS play more or less, where they're also .500.  In all but 1 of those situations KC has had more rest than their opponents.  What's probably the more interesting stat is KC's 2-2 record when the team they're playing comes in with 4 or few days rest in all competitions.  An area that Vermes appears to struggle with is the extended break.  Is it that Vermes over thinks things with the extended break?  Or is it that the level of training isn't the same when you have the extended break?  Or could it be a player issue with staying up with the time off?  Whatever way, wanted to get this out for people to see.

OTHER NEWS

Seth Sinovic is back in training this week for the first time since breaking his left hand in the team's 1-0 loss to Portland a few weeks ago.  Vermes doesn't seem set to rush back Sinovic, but it'll be interesting come Saturday if Sinovic is out there in place of Michael Harrington. 

WIBW to broadcast KC away games.  Good news for those KC fans in the Topeka and more central Kansas area.  WIBW out of Topeka has picked up Sporting KC away broadcasts for the rest of the season.  A great move by the club to get this worked out, expanded their fan foot print by getting games shown in a market nearby that wouldn't get a great chance to see the games otherwise.  Love this move.

Athletics game location changed.  The KC Athletics first round US Open Cup game has had the location of the game moved.  The game was originally scheduled to take place at Shea Stadium in Littleton, CO.  The game now will take place at the Colorado School of Mines Soccer Stadium in Golden.

Sporting KC Extend Deal With KSMO

Sporting KC today announced a new TV deal with KSMO today. Not only today did KC announce that KSMO will be broadcasting the 2012 season, but KSMO will also be broadcasting the 2013 season as well. There's plenty of good news out of the deal that was announced today.

First, all 28 games that are not being broadcasted on national television will be shown live on KSMO. So outside of the games on ESPN, ESPN2, and NBC Sports, KSMO will be the home of Sporting KC. To add onto how good the relationship between KC and KSMO is, KC will have two of their games this season on sister station, KCTV5, the local CBS affiliate. They will be showing KC's home game against the Houston on 7/7, the first of three Eastern Conference final rematches. That game's kickoff time has been moved up 30 minutes to accommodate the new station. KCTV5 will also be showing the September 22nd game from Saputo Stadium. This is a good sign of how well Sporting KC has done this past year in KC, reports were that KC's ratings improved as the season went on and were higher than anyone really expected I think. It shows good faith in the team by KCTV5 that they're going to put the games on.

As part of the deal, the 30 minute preshow continues on KSMO, which I really like. It continues the "major league" feel of the broadcast. The fact that there is pregame, hyping the game and looking at both Sporting and the opposition just seems to give the broadcast that extra level of legitimacy.

Also returning is the Sunday evening Off the Pitch. The weekly recap show was another step forward for KC last season. Good content and good insight into the week that was for KC. I'd like to see some of the production values improve, but overall I'm extremely happy that this show has returned for me to watch.

In unsurprising news, Callum Williams and Jake Yadrich will be returning together to the booth. I like the move, Williams is extremely good in the booth and will only continue to improve. Yadrich brought stability to the color position after the first bit of the season saw KC rotate through who was in the booth with him.

Broadcast Change

During "Off the Pitch" Sunday night in the closing of the program, Callum Williams made mention that the game was Sasha Victorine's last game in the booth for a while. Today we got more of an explanation as to what is happening. Victorine is gone from the booth and will take another position in the organization. Based on a post by Williams on Bigsoccer, it sounds like it had plenty to do with family and Victorine wants to spend time with his kid.

The team has not announced a permanent replacement, but for this week in New York, Williams will be joined by Brian Kilmeade of "Fox and Friends". Kilmeade is a former college player, and was a sideline reporter for New York when they were the Metrostars. His work on Fox though has overshadowed this announcement in some fans eyes who look at his political views and are not really happy with some of the comments that Kilmeade has made in the past. Personally I don't really care, I'm not watching the game for his political views, and honestly I likely won't hear many of his comments.

New Broadcast Partner for KC

Sporting KC announced tonight that they'll have a new broadcast partner for the upcoming season. The Wizards will not be back on KCWE this year. Instead they will be moving to KSMO-TV. KSMO will be showing all games that are not nationally televised on FSC or ESPN. The games will be preceded by a 30 minute pregame show. There will be no post game show this year, which is a bit of a disappointment, but they will have a 30 minute weekly soccer show on 9:30 on Sunday nights, which is a plus, I look forward to what that show brings to soccer in the city.

Wizards on KCWE this Season

Just announced on KMBC tonight, the Wizards will have every one of their games this season over on KMBC's sister station, KCWE. All the games will be shown in high definition as well. This is a great move for the Wizards in the long run in my opinion, while Metrosports has been a good location for Wizards games the past few years, it didn't get the games to the entire metro area of KC. This move to KCWE allows the Wizards to reach a much bigger audience than it has in previous years. The Wizards have obviously listened to their fans earlier this offseason when Robb Heineman and the team asked for some feedback from their fans. One of the topics that was popular in the comments section was the Wizards television contract. Once again, I really like this move by the team, it allows more people the chance to see the team play.

Arena, Gansler, and Waldo OH My!

The Wizards have announced that Bruce Arena, Bob Gansler, and Eric Wynalda will be joining Wizards play-by-play man, Sean Wheelock in the booth at different times over the rest of the season. The three will work any Wizards game that is not exclusive to ESPN, FSC, or HDNet.

Arena will be in the booth, May 17, June 21, Aug 2, Aug 16, Sept 7, & Oct 25. Gansler's dates are June 28, July 27, Aug 9, Aug 23, Oct 5, Oct 11, & Oct 18. Wynalda will be making his token appearance Aug 30.

Of the Wizards 10 remaining games, 1 is an ESPN exclusive (July 17), 2 are FSC (May 3, Sept 27), 3 are HDNet exclusive (May 24, July 4, Sept 20), and 2 games are still TBD (June 7, Sept 13) on who will be in the booth for those games. The final two games (June 14, July 10), Wheelock will be joined in the booth by Dave Borchardt.

Basically, how it breaks down, is Arena has all the non exclusive away games except for the TBD and the game Wynalda will be in the booth. Gansler gets all the non exclusive home games, except for the TBD (LA Galaxy game) and the two that Borchardt will be there.

And congrats to Team Shook on winning the poll for the best fantasy team.

Watch Harrington, Hohlbein, and U-23 Team Take on China

For all you night owls out there, the US under-23 team takes on China's U-23 team in the second of two games in the team's tour of China. The game takes place at 12:30 central time for those of you that will be up late tonight. If you want to watch, there are a few feeds of the game that you can catch online to watch the game.

You also have the chance tomorrow to possibly watch a future Wizards player play, as the college cup final will be on ESPN2 this Sunday at 2pm Central time.

VIVA Los Wizards

Earlier this year it was announced that every Wizards game would be broadcast live on MetroSports here in Kansas City. Today comes this news as well. Not only will the rest of the season be broadcasted in English, but also in Spanish. After having very few games shown on TV the past few years, the Wizards become one of the first team's to have their games simultaneously broadcasted in English and Spanish. This is a big step for the Wizards and shows the continued smarts shown by Wizards owners, OnGoal LLC.