https://www.law360.com/newyork/articles/1152309/us-soccer-federation-shuts-out-foreign-matches-suit-says
US Soccer Federation Shuts Out Foreign Matches, Suit Says
Law360 (April 22, 2019, 9:16 PM EDT) -- The U.S. Soccer Federation has repeatedly blocked a global promoter’s attempts at hosting international matches on U.S. soil in an abuse of its power designed to protect Major League Soccer, Relevent...
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https://www.sportbusiness.com/news/relevent-sports-sues-us-soccer-federation/
Relevent Sports sues US Soccer Federation
Relevent Sports, the match promoter which owns and markets the International Champions Cup (ICC), has filed a lawsuit against the US Soccer Federation (USSF) for failing to sanction moving an Ecuadorian League match to Miami.
The law suit effectively means the federation is the subject of seven active legal actions and is under increasing pressure to reform from within.
Relevent was seeking to play a match between Barcelona SC and Guayaquil City in the US city on 5 May but the game will now be played in Ecuador due to the USSF’s refusal to give it the green light.
Included in the complaint filed by Relevent are concerns about the USSF’s relationship with MLS-owned Soccer United Marketing (SUM). These concerns are similar to those that have been raised in the antitrust lawsuit filed by the North American Soccer League (NASL) against the USSF.
In the complaint, Relevent outlines what it sees as conflicts of interest between the USSF and MLS/SUM, as a motivation for the USSF not sanctioning the Ecuadorian League match. Relevent also reveals in its complaint that it has paid the federation over $19m (€17m) in sanctioning and gate receipts fees to the federation over the past six years.
“In refusing to sanction Relevent’s application, USSF has thus elevated the economic interest of a select group of its members over its statutorily mandated purpose,” the complaint states.
The USSF is also the subject of a gender discrimination lawsuit filed by the US Women’s National Team (USWNT) in March this year. 28 members of the current women’s squad accused the organisation of ‘institutionalised gender discrimination’ and called for pay parity with their male equivalents.
Relevent, which was also behind plans to bring a regular-season LaLiga match Miami, filed suit Monday against both the USSF and the federation’s Secretary General Dan Flynn.
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http://www.espn.com/soccer/major-league-soccer/19/blog/post/3832063/david-beckhams-inter-miami-whats-the-latest-with-his-mls-team
David Beckham's Inter Miami: What's the latest with his MLS team?
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https://www.latimes.com/sports/soccer/la-sp-soccer-newsletter-20190423-story.html
Soccer! Major League Soccer keeps growing
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https://www.france24.com/en/20190423-champions-cup-promoter-sues-us-soccer-over-sanctioning
Champions Cup promoter sues US Soccer over sanctioning
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https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2019/04/23/espn-profiles-inter-miamis-high-stakes-countdown-mls-expansion-debut
ESPN profiles Inter Miami's high-stakes countdown to MLS expansion debut
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https://www.tbpremierfutsal.com
Tampa Bay Premier Futsal League
June 9th - July 28th
Why FUTSAL?
Futsal is played between two teams of five players each, one of whom is the goalkeeper. It's a form of indoor soccer, that is played on a hard court surface delimited by lines. Futsal is also played with a smaller ball with less bounce than a regular soccer ball due to the surface of the field. But what makes it so unique? It won't be a surprise if you go online and search for what benefited some of the best footballers in the world like Messi, Ronaldo, Xavi, Pele, Neymar when they were teenagers and even younger. Or have you asked yourselves why Brazilians are the best technically? It's Futsal. According to a FIFA report, “an average 40-minute futsal game, a player will touch the ball roughly every 29 seconds, or 80 touches.” Now compare that to a 90-minute outdoor soccer game where it’s only around 30-40 touches; that is more than double in just half the time. The game places considerable demand on technique, movement and tactical awareness. And it is not just the technical side of it. The U.S. Futsal says that “futsal is therefore a great skill developer, and demands quick reflexes, fast thinking, and pinpoint passing. The speed of play is such that you are forced to make quicker technical and tactical decisions.
As the balls have less bounce they tend to stay in play longer and promote close ball control. After playing in enclosed areas and learning to think and react quickly, players find when they play to the full game, they react well under pressure. It develops creativity; players are also constantly placed in demanding decision making situations which is a major reason why Futsal is one of the finest teachers of the quick pass and move.
Slide tackles and excessive bodily contact is forbidden.
Futsal quickly develop skills required for soccer: balance, motor ability, agility and co-ordination, ball mastery, accurate and quick passing and receiving, perception insight and awareness. Players learn through repetition and practice in small area. This occurs naturally.
It is exciting, many goals are scored, there is no offsides, you are allowed to substitute players (unlimited) on the fly while the game is being played, one of the reasons we recommend 8-10 players per team. Great for goalkeepers as there is constant work. Look up how David de Gea's futsal technique is changing goalkeeping!!! Futsal is fast and action packed, fitness is improved while learning and having fun.
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https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/apr/23/cricket-stadium-texas-allen
Does Texas really need a $500m cricket stadium?
The Lone Star state – like much of America – has a growing south Asian population. Some see enough interest to justify massive investment
The city of Allen, a northern suburb of Dallas, occupies a special place in the history of sports stadiums: it was the instigator of what once was dubbed a high school football stadium arms race. In 2012 it unveiled Eagle Stadium, the 18,000-seat, $60m home of the Allen High School Eagles. Not too many years later nearby McKinney opened a stadium for its own high schools worth $70m.
Lately, Allen once again has taken center stage in a curious stadium proposal, one that until recently formed part of an ambitious multibillion-dollar plan to spread cricket across the US.
The Allen proposal calls for a $500m, 15,000-capacity stadium, the anchor of a mixed-use complex that would also include training facilities, residential and retail units, and office space. For a game not exactly part of the sporting firmament in Texas’s sprawling Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, that’s an incredible potential investment.
The aim is to establish a footprint for the world’s second most popular sport in a country that, outside of a few communities, pays cricket little heed. In the grand vision, the stadium would eventually play host to a professional team competing in a US-wide Twenty20 league. It would also stage visiting international teams and exhibition matches as well as other sports and events, according to reports.
At first blush, Dallas is not exactly fertile country for cricket. Texas is Friday night lights country, Dallas located close to its beating heart. The city and its suburbs are home to franchises playing five major league sports: the big three of football, baseball and basketball, followed by hockey and soccer. It would take a mammoth effort to avert the gaze of Dallas Cowboys and Texas Rangers-loving north Texans.
The Allen Sports Village, the name for the new cricket complex, has generated a lot of buzz since the plan was unveiled at the end of last year. Not all of it has been positive. The stadium has incurred the wrath of local residents concerned about its impact on traffic levels and noise pollution. The future is uncertain after one of the developers pulled out, leaving the local partner and owner of the site, Thakkar Developers, to insist plans for the stadium project were still going ahead, perhaps with other investors.
Meanwhile, the Allen Sports Village’s national partner has talked big. The Philadelphia-based businessman Jignesh Pandya aims to help professionalize cricket in the US and has touted a nationwide plan, worth $2.4bn, to bring cricket to America. Crucially, Pandya’s plan includes an eye-popping eight arenas spread across the country specifically designed for cricket. But his plan has been floating around for at least a couple of years now with few signs of tangible results. Pandya could not be reached to discuss the status of his nationwide plan, while Thakkar Developers did not respond to questions about the status of the stadium in Allen.
Yet local reports have suggested a $25m economic incentive grant and tax incentives had been promised should the complex materialize. The City of Allen offered no such guarantee when asked by the Guardian what contributions would be offered by the public purse. “The concept plan is currently under staff technical review with the City of Allen. Projects must go through the planning and zoning process before it is determined what, if any, incentives would be given to a developer,” a statement from the city government said.
Pandya’s initial plan highlighted the eight stadium sites as Atlanta, Washington DC, Florida, Texas, New York, New Jersey, Illinois and California. Recent reports out of Atlanta suggest Pandya is leading an effort to purchase a mall site that would be turned into a similar 20,000-seat cricket stadium and mixed-use development.
The wider ambition of sprinkling cricket stadiums around key cities and states is undoubtedly a tall order, one that has drawn allusions to the struggles soccer confronted in the 1990s before Major League Soccer was launched. At first glance, even that might strike as slightly ambitious.
But the Allen initiative and the larger plan hatched by Pandya strikes on what some observers view as an important fundament to the sport’s growth: the growing, five million-strong south Asian community in the US.
Ipsita Dasgupta, president of Hotstar International, an Indian streaming platform delivering Indian Premier League cricket to thousands of south Asian households across the US, highlights illuminating viewing patterns for the ongoing T20 extravaganza that so captivates India. She declined to disclose specific Hotstar US viewing figures but offered outline streaming data that superficially marries up with some of the grand stadium plans. Unsurprisingly, California (19%) and the Tri-state area (15-16%) account for the largest shares. Illinois, Texas and Florida also drew large pockets, Dasgupta says. Dallas was by some distance the biggest market in the Lone Star state and the fourth largest in the US, she adds.
Dasgupta, who is Indian American, tackles the question of cricket’s limited reach in the US asymmetrically: “How does it break out of that cricket-first box – or how does it actually leverage the cricket-first box,” she says. “It’s clear that there are three sports that are prevalent in the US and a whole bunch more that kind of play a role well before cricket will. I still think that cricket will have to be led by the south Asian and West Indian community to drive real progress.”
Referring to investments such as the one proffered by Pandya, Dasgupta adds: “What you see is there is an affluent community that can move a sport in a country that there’s a lot of potential in because there’s such an affinity to sport in general.”
In the Dallas area, a burgeoning south Asian community is the sport’s captive audience and building block. But there’s skepticism.
Kuljit-Singh Nijjar, president of the Dallas Cricket League, sees a stadium as a potential catalyst for the game outside the kind of cricket-first communities that populate the grassroots leagues of the US – should ground ever be broken on the development. But he believes spreading cricket in the States is still a tough task. “Right now the growth is from mostly cricket-playing countries. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh. Aussies, Nepalis,” says Nijjar. “Local parents are not interested, nobody seems to be interested in the sport. I don’t see real growth in the US until we see something big happen. Like international teams traveling, stadiums.”
Parind Doctor, a Gujarati who came to the US to study and stayed for work, has played in the Dallas-area leagues and noted the struggle for recognition. He is ambivalent: “It is going to take a gutsy investor, that is a lot of money with a lot of questions being asked,” he says. “To begin with, if you see a cricket stadium with people playing the game might look more attractive to people like your soccer moms. In the local leagues we play in parks. I went to the opening day of the Texas Rangers baseball season with some of my American friends recently. They all said they would love to go see a cricket game in a stadium. So it would be good for cricket in the USA but right now I don’t know that the level of interest is there. You’re looking at seven to 10 years down the road with a stadium in place to see the impact, I think.”
In a January report in the Dallas Morning News detailing the concerns of the would-be stadium’s future neighbors, the Thakkar Developers chief executive Poorvesh Thakkar described the enthusiasm for cricket among south Asians. North Texans may understand such a notion given the fervor with which they embrace the Cowboys. It takes an extraordinary leap of faith to imagine cricket squeezing out a space in this claustrophobic sports environment.
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https://www.thesports.biz/ussf-sued-by-relevent-sports/
International Soccer Promoter Sues US Soccer Federation For Failing To Follow Rules
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http://www.sportspromedia.com/news/us-soccer-mls-USWNT-womens-world-cup-headspace
US Soccer, MLS partner with Headspace
Mindfulness platform to develop World Cup programmes for USWNT.
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https://www.thebluetestament.com/2019/4/23/18511917/mls-expansion-update-30-teams-st-louis-sacramento-republic-austin-fc-don-garber
MLS Expansion Update: 30 Teams, St. Louis, Sacramento, Austin
Don Garber goes deep on MLS Expansion, St. Louis releases new renderings and Austin has stadium troubles.
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https://houston.sportsmap.com/juventus-psg-clinch-league-titles-mls-announces-expansion-to-30-teams
Juventus, PSG clinch league titles; MLS announces expansion to 30 teams
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http://www.capradio.org/articles/2019/04/23/oakland-as-president-on-new-downtown-ballpark-sacramento-mls-river-cats-break-up-and-more/
Oakland A’s President On New Downtown Ballpark, Sacramento MLS, River Cats Break-up And More
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https://www.tristatehomepage.com/news/local-news/indiana-lawmakers-ok-tax-zone-to-keep-pacers-create-soccer-stadium/1947700678
Indiana lawmakers OK tax zone to keep Pacers, create soccer stadium
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https://borneobulletin.com.bn/mls-red-bulls-deny-reports-henry-in-talks-with-club/
MLS Red Bulls deny reports Henry in talks with club
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https://www.wibc.com/news/local-news/indiana-lawmakers-ok-tax-zone-create-soccer-stadium
Indiana Lawmakers OK Tax Zone To Create Soccer Stadium
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5fXpA86Wfw
Helmet Questions - Game of Thrones
Tampa Bay Rowdies
Published on Apr 23, 2019
Goalkeeper John McCarthy and midfielder Zach Steinberger answer a random question from the goalkeeper's helmet.
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https://stpetersburgfoodies.com/podcast/interview-with-kelly-alex-rodriguez-from-lolitas-wine-market-st-petersburg-foodies-podcast-episode-34/
Interview with Kelly & Alex Rodriguez from Lolita’s Wine Market – St. Petersburg Foodies Podcast Episode 34
Interview with Kelly & Alex Rodriguez of Lolita's Wine Market, and Sophia's Cucina & Enoteca
Welcome to the St. Petersburg Foodies Podcast Episode 34. Our featured interview today is with Kelly & Alex Rodriguez of Lolita's Wine Market, and Sophia's Cucina & Enoteca. We talk to Kelly & Alex about how they met, their first restaurant together in Ohio, their super successful Lolita's Wine Market here in St. Pete, and their new Italian small plates eatery that is opening any day now. Today, our musical artist is Danielle DeCosmo from Blackbird Morning. We will feature the song "Leaving Home" from the "Elements" Album right after Danielle answers The Fast Five Foodies Questions.
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