Major Link Soccer: Relegation will never happen

MLS

The talk is always about baseball losing ground to the American population, but it continues to dominate the summer field at the regional level. Mike DeCourcy with Sporting News points out that national numbers for MLS games mean little in the end. The real money and growth is made at the local level, and MLS clubs are taking advantage of this potential revenue stream.

Granted, Caleb Porter was in a tight spot following an injury to Kyle Beckerman. It is hard to get All-Star quality players on less than a day's notice, but he probably could've done better than choosing Timbers defender Liam Ridgewell as Beckerman's replacement.

A Chilean media outlet reported Argentine striker Sebastian Jaime is joining Real Salt Lake.

Toronto FC has been pretty quiet during the summer transfer period, but Waking the Red writes the team might be close to plucking Turkish international Colin Kazim-Rchads from Bursaspor.

MLS president and deputy commissioner Mark Abbott sat down with the media before the All-Star game on Tuesday. He went over a variety of topics, but as Don Ruiz noted, one of the more important discussion points was on a subject many soccer supporters in America wish MLS would switch to.

Absolute words like "never" aren't generally spoken by executives during press conferences, but Abbott said MLS will never go to a relegation system.

Europe

A German billionaire has loaned Hamburg 17 million euros to help finance the squad for this upcoming season.

The EPL has new medical rules and policies in place surrounding concussions on the pitch, following criticism from many media outlets during the 2014 World Cup that saw players frighteningly staying on the pitch despite head trauma.

Messi is back in Barcelona. The results are awesome.

Xavi has officially retired from the international scene.

Games to watch