Alex M. Silverman🏒⚽️

New at @SBJ: Inter Miami owner Jorge Mas criticized @MLS' decision to suspend Lionel Messi from tomorrow night's match against FC Cincinnati for skipping the All-Star Game earlier this week. Full story: 🔗sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2025/…

MLS will enforce its rule peanlizing All-Star Game no-shows, keeping Lionel Messi and Jordi Alba out of Inter Miami's home game against FC Cincinnati on Saturday.

More than 81,000 fans packed MetLife Stadium for Sunday's FIFA Club World Cup Final, but the tournament as a whole only filled 62% of available seats. Some early-round matches had swaths of empty seats. Here's @alexmsilverman with some takeaways 🔻 ow.ly/pxwR50Wpin4

NWSL's national TV viewership is down 8% so far this season, according to @SBJ's @AustinKarp. The league is are averaging 189k viewers across ESPN nets, ION and CBS after 38 matches. CBS is averaging 416k through four matches this season, down 13%. sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2025/…

New at @SBJ: @MLS Commissioner Don Garber dropped a rare numerical nugget about viewership of the league’s matches under its partnership with @Apple, but what does it mean? We break down what we know and what we don’t. sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2025/…

MLS Commissioner Don Garber says matches on Apple TV’s MLS Season Pass service are “averaging 120,000 unique viewers” per match. Very rare transparency on viewership metrics.

Hearing MLS owners did not vote today on a shift to the European calendar. Should get some more context at the Commissioner’s pre-game press conference at 630 CT.

New at @SBJ: MLS owners are set to meet in Austin, but there’s no huge sense of urgency to vote this week on the proposed shift to the global soccer calendar. Still, many view the move as a “when, not if” development. sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2025/…

Denver’s NWSL expansion franchise will be known as Denver Summit FC 🏔️ The club will begin play in the 2026 season. Read more from @AlexMSilverman: ow.ly/PfWH50WtkMs

The NHL dropped its schedule for next season earlier this week. Here are @alexmsilverman's five main takeaways you'll want to know before the first puck drops this fall 👇

MLS All-Stars will wear Old Spice-branded jerseys at next week’s All-Star Game in Austin 🧼 This is the first time since 2009 a brand logo will appear on the front without broader presenting sponsorship rights for the event. Read more @AlexMSilverman ⬇️

KC Current owners Angie and Chris Long continue to widen their lead in women's soccer infrastructure investment. The NWSL club broke ground today on a new phase of development around their training center in Riverside, Mo., including a 2,000-seat stadium. sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2025/…

The NHL announced the complete 2025-26 regular-season schedule, with home openers beginning Oct. 7 and running through Oct. 16. Full schedule and notable games: media.nhl.com/public/news/19…

The Queen City knows how to throw a party. 🎊 MLS All-Star is headed to Charlotte in 2026: soc.cr/4ltPMW5

Closing the loop on this one: MLS and the MLSPA did reach an agreement on Club World Cup bonuses, per sources. A minimum 40% increase of the $1 million spelled out in CBA, plus 30% of all performance bonuses. Seems hard feelings still remain, though. nytimes.com/athletic/64933…

MLS and LIGA MX All-Stars to Compete Alongside U.S. Women’s National Team and LIGA MX Femenil Standouts and League Greats in the 2025 @MLS All-Star Skills Challenge Presented by AT&T mlssoccer.com/news/mls-and-l…

CHAMPIONS OF THE WORLD.

Apparently there are reports about the future of the NHL draft There is a vote right now, not yet completed. But from what I'm canvassing -- unless there is a wild swing in the few remaining to be submitted -- the vote will be to stay with the de-centralized format.