Comments on: United Soccer Leagues Week in Review 5/17/09

By: Brian Quarstad

Brian Quarstad — Wed, 20 May 2009 21:10:55 +0000

Joey Suputo does quite well for himself as does his family. I would expect that the Revs would stay put and Montreal would be come another expansion team. However, being that I said that probably means you will be proven correct and me incorrect. Thanks for following George and for the kids words.

By: George H

George H — Wed, 20 May 2009 20:15:19 +0000

Brian,

Awesome summary, this is some serious heavy lifting.

Have you heard anything relating to the Revs relocating to Montreal? While I would be surprised if the Krafts sold, I do have to think that they could put that money to good use. I went to the Santos Laguna-Revs match at Gilette last summary and the amount of development that was ongoing around the stadium was impressive.

Perhaps they’re looking to harvest their investment in the Revs now that they have been able to finish the master development plan in Foxborough.

By: Brian Quarstad

Brian Quarstad — Mon, 18 May 2009 19:06:40 +0000

Thanks for your support Chris. I’m not saying the site is necessarily a bad thing and as you stated, it is certainly a sign of the leagues growth. They did come up with a clarification statement this morning concerning rumors and news. Evidently they got the message.

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 18 May 2009 18:12:09 +0000

To me, the fact that the authors of USL News are hiding behind anonymous handles (“the operator” and “the fifth official”) speaks volumes about how seriously they should be taken.

Posting stories about or based on rumors, as long as they’re identified as rumors, is fine in my book. So why the secrecy? Unless they’re dishing information that they know should be off the record, perhaps? Or maybe they’re just rehashing old BS to drive traffic to their site.

I guess it’s a sign of the league’s growth that such a site would appear. Too bad it seems so shady. Don’t worry, Brian. They’re a very long way from replacing your site’s feed in my newsreader!

By: Chase Hoffman

Chase Hoffman — Mon, 18 May 2009 15:59:21 +0000

>Is it a good idea to be recklessly throwing rumors around concerning the league? >How will rumors effect possible negotiations? Is this responsible journalism and >good attention for the league (any pub is good pub?), or is this irresponsible >blogging with no regard for the effect it has on the league and its dealings and just >looking for advertising revenue?

Welcome to journalistic ethics 101. There are no good answers to these questions. In your case, you were asked by the source not to report it, and you didn’t. Good on you. I have no idea where these guys got their information, but obviously they felt it was important enough to report.

…and it is. A journalist (and I note that blogs are still fleshing out where they fall in the spectrum of journalism) has a responsibility to report the news. It is not for them (generally) to determine whether that news will do more harm than good.

I’m pretty sure that MLS Rumors/USLNews/etc. are probably not going to hit Soccernet or FSC any time soon. I suspect that most of the sources in these negotiations, whatever they may be, are already aware of the league’s problems, and this won’t be a blip on the radar.

The only direct consequence of this I can think is Chantico’s Army asking our own FO if there’s any truth to it. Past that, more power to them.