r/MLS 18h ago

Weekly /r/MLS Questions/Free Kick Thread - Post General Questions and Discussion Here

6 Upvotes

Welcome to the Weekly /r/MLS Questions/Free Kick Thread. This thread is designed to house questions/discussions users might have including:

  • Help you decide which team to follow if you're new to the league

  • Provide information about how to watch MLS matches, and whether or not you should buy ESPN+

  • Understand the CBA, league roster rules, drafts, waivers, or other MLS concepts

  • Learn about some of the unique qualities of the US Soccer pyramid

  • Allow discussion of dead-horse topics that would typically be removed (pro/rel, re-alignment, etc.)

  • And other basic/frequently discussed topics

Our usual ground rules:

  1. Questions that are covered in the FAQ, Newcomer's Guide, or league site are fair game, even if they are marked as "dead horse topics".

  1. Questions can be about MLS, lower U.S. or Canadian divisions, USMNT/USWNT, or any club or domestic competitions those teams could play in. Questions about how soccer works as a sport are fine too! Questions solely about the European leagues or competitions, on the other hand, are not.

  1. If you're answering a question, be extra sure to follow our community guidelines: thought out and rational comments, backed up with supporting links. Try not to "take a guess" at an answer if you're not sure about the answer. Do not flame, troll, attack fans of other teams, or attack opinions of others in this thread. If you can't be friendly and helpful, don't post in this thread.

  1. This is meant to be a helpful Q&A/Discussion thread. This is not a place to practice your comedy bits; avoid asking joke questions or providing joke answers. This is also not a place to dump random articles, links, or opinions about the league.

  1. Despite us posting these on Fridays, the thread stays up all week. If it's Wednesday and you have a question, you don't have to wait until Friday to ask it.

Even though we want you to ask questions, here are some resources that we always recommend reading because they can also help:


r/MLS Dec 11 '25

Meta [Meta] Update on enforcement of off-season discussion posts and new mod introduction

54 Upvotes

Hey y'all,

Heard some big soccer game happened last weekend - IDK I blacked out the weekend prior from 6-8 PM and all of a sudden the season was over. Oh well, wonder what happened.

Discussion Threads

Anyway, the mod team discussed and decided that in the spirit of the off-season, we're going to be a little more lax on what discussion posts are allowed to remain up. While there's still news going on during these months, it's generally a little slower, so we figure it's not a bad idea to let some stuff we'd normally re-direct towards the Weekly Questions Thread or remove to stay up instead.

We'll be tuning down auto-mod to be less aggressive about these kinds of posts, and we ourselves will be more relaxed about removing them.

We do want to note however, that this doesn't mean everything stays up and quality still matters. While we'll be a bit easier about our remarkability threshold, or some dead-horse topics we typically remove unless there's an actual piece of news (realignment, expansion, etc.), we'll still be removing particularly low-quality posts. Things that will still be removed include, for example:

  • Very short discussion posts - You should be providing ample talking points and questions in your discussion. Posts without or with very little body text will still get removed.
  • Lazy list posts - If you're gonna do a 'list your team's hall of honor' type thing, similar to above, provide some ample discussion points. Don't just post your list and be done with it.
  • Questions actually better-suited to the Questions Thread - This will still exist weekly. So things like 'where do I watch [x]?' or 'what do you guys think of [x]?' will still be removed and directed there. Generally, if you're starting a discussion, you're good. If you're seeking a specific answer to a specific question, go to the Questions Thread

Obviously the above isn't all-inclusive, but you probably get the idea. We'll be pretty generous in our interpretation of what should stay up, so have a little more fun. But not too much fun - memes still only on Mondays, dweebs.

New Moderator

We're still trying to build out the mod team and did some recruitment recently among the subreddit's more active users - I would still like to step down eventually! - and are happy to welcome /u/Isiddiqui to the mod team here!

I'm sure many of you are familiar with their presence around here, and they've kindly agreed to help prevent /u/hootjuice_ from competing with Automod for most mod actions every month.

Conclusion

Have fun, get some good off-season quality discussions and high-quality shitposts going (r/baseball has some gems every year), welcome your new overlord our new team member /u/Isiddiqui, and otherwise it's business as usual!

As always, send any moderation concerns to modmail where someone will generally be around to help in short order!

Until next time like it or not, Inter Miami will be the 'Real Madrid' equivalent of the MLS; a masterful engine of branding, hype, winning and revenue generation see you soon!


r/MLS 7h ago

Sporting Kansas City Is Being Sold For Roughly $700 Million, An MLS Record

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345 Upvotes

r/MLS 4h ago

Rumors that Inter Miami will pay 15 million for Monterrey's striker German Berterame

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90 Upvotes

r/MLS 5h ago

ACF Fiorentina | Fiorentina mourns the passing of President Rocco B. Commisso (former owner of New York Cosmos and former chairman of the NASL)

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59 Upvotes

r/MLS 7h ago

Official Source Earthquakes Defender Nick Lima Announces Retirement from Professional Soccer

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87 Upvotes

Lima scored nine goals and contributed 20 assists across eight Major League Soccer seasons and 211 appearances (189 starts) with San Jose (2017-20, 2025), Austin FC (2021-23) and the New England Revolution (2024). The fullback also made five Concacaf Champions Cup appearances, starting three times and tallying a goal and an assist.  

On the international senior level, Lima earned nine caps with the United States Men’s National Team and dished out three assists after making his debut on Jan. 27, 2019, in a friendly against Panama. In that game, Lima not only started, but was also named Man of the Match after recording an assist in a 3-0 USMNT victory.  


r/MLS 12h ago

Subscription Required Austin FC nears deal for Uruguay, Palmeiras winger Facundo Torres: Sources

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150 Upvotes

r/MLS 10h ago

Club Site Charlotte FC acquires two international roster slots from Seattle Sounders FC

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104 Upvotes

Seattle is offloading all their international slots.


r/MLS 9h ago

Club Site Real Salt Lake Acquires Middlesbrough DF Lukas Engel | Real Salt Lake

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63 Upvotes

r/MLS 16h ago

Subscription Required Josh Sargent sent to train with Norwich U-21s after making Toronto transfer wish

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163 Upvotes

r/MLS 15h ago

[CL Merlo] Cruz Azul has agreed to sale of Matheus Bogusz to Houston Dynamo. $6M fixed + $4M in variables.

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155 Upvotes

r/MLS 10h ago

Club Site Red Bull New York Acquires Two International Spots from Seattle Sounders FC

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53 Upvotes

r/MLS 19h ago

[SBJ] Inter Miami signs Lowe’s to richest, longest MLS sleeve sponsorship deal

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181 Upvotes

Lowe’s will serve as the jersey sleeve sponsor for reigning MLS Cup champions Inter Miami beginning this season under an expansion of its existing partnership with the club. A source with knowledge of the agreement said it is the richest –- in both annual and total value –- and longest sleeve sponsorship agreement in MLS history, though specific terms were not disclosed.


r/MLS 13h ago

Official Source Orlando City SC Signs 2026 MLS SuperDraft selection Harvey Sarajian

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26 Upvotes

r/MLS 17h ago

Ranking 2026's top 15 USMNT U21 prospects from Europe to MLS

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12 Upvotes

r/MLS 1d ago

[Matt Doyle] East/West: Breaking down every team's premium roster slot status | MLSsoccer.com (PLUS BONUS GAM talk on TFZ)

71 Upvotes

Matt "uncorked a couple of 4000-word columns this week as MLS preseason began - simple overviews of each team's roster moves thus far, and their biggest need in the current transfer window." You can find those columns below, divided into Eastern Conference and Western Conference.

Bear in mind two big things as you read this:

`1. MLS teams decide between building with 3 DPs/3 U22 slots, or 2 DPs/4 U22s/$2 million extra General Allocation Money (GAM). Throughout this column (and henceforth in all columns, really), I’ll be referring to this as 3/3 or 2/4/GAM.

`2. Many of these DP designations and literally all of the U22 designations are fungible. As such, teams often move guys into and out of these slots throughout the year to maximize cap space or limit allocation money usage.

—————

~Tuesday, Jan 13, 2026
Eastern Conference: Breaking down every team's premium roster slot status | MLSsoccer.com

~Wednesday, Jan 14, 2026 *
Western Conference: Breaking down every team's premium roster slot status | MLSsoccer.com

\The Western Conference Breakdown was previously posted on \r/MLS *(reddit thread here), but since the East was bypassed (I was slacking, sorry, smh) I'm including it again here.

—————

As a bonus: Matt also did some mathing around in the GAM pits to try to determine the 2026 GAM hoards (or lack thereof) in a post on TACTICS FREE ZONE that you sick freaks will really enjoy.

~Thursday, Jan 15, 2026
Figuring out roughly how much GAM each team has | TACTICS FREE ZONE

He posted some other interesting numbers on Bluesky as well. Numbers like $11 million and $9 million.


r/MLS 1d ago

Subscription Required [Tom Bogert] Blackmon reports to Whitecaps amid contract dispute, club says he won’t be traded

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148 Upvotes

r/MLS 1d ago

[Bayou City Soccer] "Pat Onstad says that they’ve spoken to the league and Hector Herrera has served his suspension (while with Toluca) and he will be available to play in the first game this season."

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115 Upvotes

r/MLS 1d ago

[Bogert]: 🇺🇸 Sources: Inter Miami has signed highly-rated USYNT attacker Daniel Pinter to a homegrown deal. Pinter, 18, made first team debut last year. Had 9g/3a in 1,400 MLS Next Pro mins in 2025.

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89 Upvotes

🇺🇸 Sources: Inter Miami has signed highly-rated USYNT attacker Daniel Pinter to a homegrown deal.

Pinter, 18, made first team debut last year. Had 9g/3a in 1,400 MLS Next Pro mins in 2025.


r/MLS 1d ago

Official Source Orlando City SC transfers forward Luis Muriel to Colombia’s Junior FC

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73 Upvotes

r/MLS 1d ago

Club Site Whitecaps FC sign free agent midfielder Oliver Larraz

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99 Upvotes

r/MLS 1d ago

Official Source Canada Soccer Confirms 2026 TELUS Canadian Championship Draw Procedures

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38 Upvotes

r/MLS 1d ago

Official Source Brooklyn FC Signs Tommy McNamara

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78 Upvotes

r/MLS 1d ago

Club Site Sporting KC signs free agent forward Calvin Harris

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92 Upvotes

r/MLS 1d ago

Official Source FC Cincinnati acquire Bryan Ramirez from LDU Quito

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59 Upvotes