Major Link Soccer: FC Dallas pay out portion of Castillo fee to season ticket holders

Major League Soccer

It’s safe to say that FC Dallas season ticket holders in general were not happy to see Fabian Castillo depart the team. But what they didn’t know was that they were Castillo investors, not just fans. The club announced that from now on (and retroactively to #Cashtillo), one percent of funds the club receives for transfers will go directly to season ticket holders. We have yet to learn the size of each check, but one thinks it will be rather small.

RSL Soapbox Power Ranking Averages are back again, and Seattle has dropped precipitously into a pretty sad 13th. Luckily there’s a long way to go.

Sure the new kids like Atlanta and Orlando are putting up some impressive attendance numbers, but opening-day attendance for some established clubs was pretty lackluster.

Hot Time in Old Town is taking another look at what they call ‘Carryover Minutes’ for each club. It’s a stat that describes what percentage of minutes played in a season were by players who remained with the club from the previous season. Does CMP = success?

You may recall that Toronto FC did not win the MLS Cup in 2016. They did, however, win the Voyageurs Cup in Canada. This would normally qualify them for CONCACAF Champions League, but due to the change in format they will need to play a one-off game against the 2017 winners of the Voyageurs Cup. Or they could just win that Canadian championship again to simplify things.

Orlando City SC’s opening match against NYCFC in their new stadium didn’t go so well as far as ‘keeping fans of opposing teams away from each other’ goes. The Third Rail, NYCFC’s largest supporters group, wrote an open letter to the two clubs demanding answers for the failures of the security plan in place at the stadium.

USL

Sacramento Republic FC has a new naming partner for its home pitch and facility — Papa Murphy’s. “Just as soccer and pizza gather people together, so does Papa Murphy’s park,” Republic FC’s Warren Smith said in the statement.

NWSL

You thought the stars were in a mass exodus from NWSL? Not so fast, because Brazilian superstar Marta is said to be joining the Orlando Pride in the coming days. Needless to say, the five-time FIFA World Player of the Year would be a massive addition to NWSL.

US Soccer

Bobby Wood is the latest to feature in the Players’ Tribune, where he describes his unlikely ascent from Hawaiian nine-year-old who preferred American Football to Bundesliga success, and all the setbacks along the way.

Also, lets check up on DeAndre Yedlin, as we like to do from time to time, for various reasons. According to the Newcastle SBN blog, Yedlin has been fantastic, admired by his coach and fans. And the fact that he doesn’t start every match is nothing to worry about.

World

Arsenal is struggling. Arsenal’s board has released a statement, of sorts. It says, more or less, that Arsene Wenger is the coach, and that if he’s going to leave Arsenal they will be sure to let everyone know. Good to know!

Here is an ode to Neymar, whose greatness can no longer be denied.

Drone racing is amazing. If I could start all over I would train from birth to be the world’s top drone racer.