• MUNCIE, Ind. — Western Michigan cooled off an in-form Ball State squad with a 2-nil road win on Oct. 9. The Cardinals had previously been unbeaten across their last seven matches. Follow Robbie on Twitter: @RobbieMeh. Support Soc Takes on Patreon for access to exclusive content and supporter benefits. Click here to…
• INDIANAPOLIS — Playing in their final home match of the season on Oct. 8, the Indy Eleven hung four goals from the 40th minute on en route to a 4-1 victory over the visiting Charleston Battery. Follow Robbie on Twitter: @RobbieMeh. Support Soc Takes on Patreon for access to exclusive…
• INDIANAPOLIS — A Luca Sowinski hat trick helped carry visiting FC Tulsa past the Indy Eleven 4-2 on Saturday. Dario Suarez added the other tally for Tulsa, while Ayoze provided a brace for Indy. Follow Robbie on Twitter: @RobbieMeh. Support Soc Takes on Patreon for access to exclusive content and…
• MUNCIE, Ind. — A surging Ball State team scored four unanswered goals after falling behind 1-0 early to secure a 4-1 win against Northern Illinois on Thursday. Following a slow start to the season, the Cardinals are now unbeaten over their last five matches, racking up three wins and…
• INDIANAPOLIS — An Ayoze penalty conversion in the 68th minute was all that separated the Indy Eleven and Loudoun United on Sunday as the hosts held on for the 1-0 win at Carroll Stadium. Follow Robbie on Twitter: @RobbieMeh. Support Soc Takes on Patreon for access to exclusive content and…
• MUNCIE, Ind. — Four different Cardinals found the back of the net Sunday in Ball State’s 5-nil rout of Eastern Michigan. The win pushed the Cardinals’ record to 2W-4D-3L on the season. Follow Robbie on Twitter: @RobbieMeh. Support Soc Takes on Patreon for access to exclusive content and supporter benefits. Click…
• INDIANAPOLIS — Butler hosted Ball State at the Sellick Bowl on Thursday, and the visiting Cardinals rebounded from a 2-nil deficit to earn a 2-2 draw against the Bulldogs. Katie Soderstrom produced both tallies for Butler before Ball State answered through Avery Fenchel and Sammi Corcoran. Follow Robbie on…
• INDIANAPOLIS — A high-scoring affair between the Indy Eleven and Birmingham Legion FC culminated in a 4-3 Indy victory Saturday evening at Carroll Stadium. Stefano Pinho’s 78-minute tally broke the tie after previous goals by Indy’s Neveal Hackshaw (2) and Juan Tejada, and Birmingham’s Enzo Martinez and Marlon Santos…
• MUNCIE, Ind. — Ball State blanked Valparaiso 3-0 behind two goals from Avery Fenchel and a third from Delaney Caldwell on Sunday afternoon, a day in which the Cardinals celebrated Senior Day. Follow Robbie on Twitter: @RobbieMeh. Support Soc Takes on Patreon for access to exclusive content and supporter benefits. Click…
• INDIANAPOLIS — Days after stunning Western Conference-leading San Antonio FC, the resurgent Indy Eleven knocked off Eastern Conference rival and first-place Louisville City FC 2-1 on Wednesday at Carroll Stadium. A brace by Stefano Pinho brought Indy back from 1-0 down after an early goal by LouCity’s Ray Serrano….
• MUNCIE, Ind. — The Xavier women’s soccer team moved its record to 3W-1D-0L over the weekend with a high-scoring 4-2 victory at Ball State. Follow Robbie on Twitter: @RobbieMeh. Support Soc Takes on Patreon for access to exclusive content and supporter benefits. Click here to become a patron today….
• INDIANAPOLIS — The Indy Eleven ended their recent run of poor form Saturday with a 1-0 win over league-leading San Antonio FC. SAFC entered with 57 points, the most in the USL Championship, and has already clinched a playoff spot. Follow Robbie on Twitter: @RobbieMeh. Support Soc Takes on Patreon…

INDIANAPOLIS — A wild first half Wednesday evening saw USL regional rivals FC Cincinnati and the Indy Eleven combine for four goals. FC Cincy tacked on a third after the break to depart Lucas Oil Stadium with a 3-2 win.

Click the thumbnail images to view the full-size versions:

Photo credit: Robbie Mehling/Soc Takes






Photo credit: Robbie Mehling/Soc Takes

Follow Robbie on Twitter: @RobbMeh.

Support Soc Takes on Patreon for access to exclusive content and supporter benefits. Click here to become a patron today.

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Are we ready to return to play? I’m sorry, but we are not. Not even close.

Photo credit: Robbie Mehling/Soc Takes

It feels as though it has been years since I watched Tyler Pasher terrorize Tim Howard in Indy Eleven’s away win against Memphis 901. Since then, U.S. Soccer has come to a complete standstill.

The impact of COVID-19 has been global, and the number of cases and deaths in the United States have been remarkable. Currently, over a quarter of the world’s cases and deaths have occurred in America. The impact on global and local economies has been catastrophic and a fifth of Americans currently find themselves unemployed.

One of many economies struck by the pandemic is professional sport, and particularly my favorite niche, professional soccer. Leagues all across the world have rightly canceled matches and training over the past two months, but are now exploring resuming sporting activities. In England, suggestions are that the Premier League may resume in early June, even though it must be noted that mother nature was so upset at the idea of a Liverpool Premier League win, that she imparted a global pandemic upon us.

Closer to home, Major League Soccer (MLS) and the United Soccer League (USL) are all beginning to explore a return to training, while the professional National Independent Soccer Association (NISA) and multiple amateur leagues have suspended play for the spring season.

But should we start playing soccer?

While there has been no statistical analysis of this yet, the downturn in the economy is undoubtedly negatively affecting club finances. Based on the financial instability of American club soccer — even before the pandemic — it is likely that we stumble to the other side of this thing with more defunct clubs and more irresponsible behavior directed toward players and staff. The latest example of this will be possible cuts to player salaries.

So, in the unfortunate roller coaster that is American soccer, financial implications demand a return to play. And, likely, a return to play that includes incorporation of supporters. Unlike the financial behemoths of England, Spain, etc., which can account for sponsorships and TV revenue as a significant portion of club income, American soccer continues to rely heavily on ticket revenue to remain financially solvent.

In other words, the ecosystem of players, technical and non-technical staff, referees, administrators, vendors, etc. need the game to return at some point. Fans, too, need a distraction from the terrifying reality of the world around us.

But are we ready to return to play? I’m sorry, but we are not. Not even close.

In order to return to play, we must be able to test players regularly. How regularly? Every day. Every day that they train and/or play a game. Can we achieve this?  We — and I cannot stress this enough — cannot.  Harvard Global Health Institute analyzed that the country should be conducting approximately 900,000 tests every day by May 15th. Our current rate of testing is far short of that at around 350,000 tests. So, even in a best case scenario, we are not close to our testing goal.

Beyond that, there are significant ethical considerations to prioritizing testing professional athletes over healthcare personnel, the elderly and other at-risk populations.

But, let’s assume that we do get to a panacea that allows for us testing everyone. There are two more things we should consider: a methodological and epidemiological concern about testing.

The first has to do with the test itself. You see, there are two ways we are testing for COVID-19. The first and most common test is a Reverse Transcriptase-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR)-based test. That’s a fancy way of saying: It is a test for presence/absence of viral particles in a patient’s blood. The other, the antibody test, looks for signs of a patient’s immune response to the virus, and is therefore an indirect measure of infection.

To put it simply, the former allows you to test for current infections more accurately. The latter — depending on the type of immunoglobulin (A flag your immune cells produce in response to infection) being tested — can affirm current or previous infections.

Here’s the kicker. Neither test is perfectly accurate. The current estimate for the RT-PCR (viral-particle)-based test suggests that it inaccurately diagnoses between 10-20% of tested individuals as COVID-19 free. Other tests can be less accurate.

Using those statistics in an overly simplistic way, that means that if we test our 10 outfield players — let’s ignore goalkeepers because they don’t really matter — it is possible we misdiagnose one of them as being COVID-19 free when they are not.

The assumption above is that all 10 players are COVID-19 positive, so it is far from a perfect illustration and forgive me the imperfect analogy. The key is to understand that with a big enough population, this false negative will eventually manifest. If we test every player, every day, this will manifest. Given the close quarters professional athletes find themselves in — locker rooms, hotel rooms, contact on the field, etc. — this could be the beginning of a focal breakout.

A focal breakout, where a potentially asymptomatic individual infects multiple other people during a training session or a game.

Does either league have a plan for this scenario? Or are we in – “let’s figure it out later” mode?

As a proof of concept, the CDC reported a scenario where one individual infected multiple other individuals during a 2.5-hour choir rehearsal. While I don’t anticipate watching Bastian Schweinsteiger and Mark-Anthony Kaye singing harmony on “Bridge over Troubled Waters,” anytime soon, the same issue of close contact during a soccer game presents potential superspreader risk.

The second problem with the testing is the latency period of the virus. Let’s return to our current scenario of testing, where people are being tested when they start to show symptoms. To put it simply, if you are exposed to the virus on May 12, it is likely that you will show symptoms by May 15. But, it may be between 1-24 days until you show symptoms.

And, as many of you know by now, it is possible that that player can spread the virus during that time.

So, please, I implore you, we are not ready.

One commonly cited method of returning to professional support envisions a scenario where players are sequestered from the outside world. They live in hotels, do not physically interact with their families, and simply train and play football. 

In premise, this seems reasonable. But, how realistic is it in practice? Sure, we can sequester players in a hotel. But, what about coaches? Sure, let’s throw them in there, too. What about referees? Alright, get Howard Webb the presidential suite at the Ritz Carlton. Sorted. Ummm… what about non-technical staff who interact with players? What about hotel workers? What about the mental toll of separating players from their families during a global pandemic?

Sure, if the question is: Would a player accept being separated from his family over not getting paid? The answer is likely “yes.” But, I implore you to recognize that the problem is THAT question.

The question should be – “How dare a millionaire or billionaire ask a player to decide between his health (and that of his loved ones) or a paycheck?”

And how dare Major League Soccer and United Soccer League – who will continue to generate revenue – allow owners to do so?

So, please, I implore you, we are not ready.

Let’s take a hypothetical scenario. We restart MLS/USL seasons. All goes well for the first couple of game days. Indy Eleven is top of the table, per usual. Players are enjoying their hotels, spending their time playing video games, eating delicious lasagna at the hotel and FaceTiming with their loved ones. But then, it happens. (And it undoubtedly will at some point.)

One of the players tests positive for COVID-19.

What’s the plan? If you are an MLS player, you’re covered by medical insurance. If you’re a player in the USL, are you paying out of pocket in absence of medical insurance?

OK, let’s look past the uncomfortable reality of player insurance that we all like to avoid. Let’s look at logistics. In terms of logistics, quarantining the player is the easy part. Who else gets quarantined? His roommate? Easy. Check. Every person he has interacted with? Yeah, probably. Since everyone is coexisting in a hotel, that means the entire team. Players, technical staff, everyone.

So, please, I implore you, we are not ready.

I know, I know. I’m a complainer not a doer. It’s easy for me to point out the problems and not give you a solution.

And, you know what, I’m fine with that characterization. Because, the only solution right now is — we need more time. We all do. We are in the middle of an unprecedented pandemic that is evolving before our eyes. We are still understanding the scientific mechanisms, spread (have we considered the possibility of a soccer ball as a disease vector?), evolution and the likelihood of a second wave. In the absence of achieving an estimated 70% recovery-contingent herd immunity, we must wait. We must wait for access to a reliable and safe treatment modality. Ideally, we must wait on a vaccine.

So yes, there are significant financial implications at stake. But, the burden of those questions SHOULD be on MLS and USL owners. Those owners should not be placing the health of their employees over their own short-term financial stability.

While I don’t have clear-cut solutions other than “more time,” I know what isn’t a responsible decision — players should not face salary cuts. Whether owners have to take short-term hits, this is what they signed up for. In an environment where lower-division soccer players are paid low wages and occasionally don’t have medical insurance, truncating their salaries is unacceptable.

Across the country, states are reopening businesses as the scientific consensus has taken a backseat to right-leaning politicking. As a soccer community, let’s not make the same mistake.

I implore you, we are not ready.

Follow Nipun on Twitter: @NipunChopra7.

Support Soc Takes on Patreon for access to exclusive content and supporter benefits. Click here to become a patron today.

Related

Image credit: Chattanooga FC

With his team almost a decade old, Tim Kelly, chairman of Chattanooga FC, is equal parts concerned and bullish about the future of American soccer. During our conversation, he repeatedly pivoted his concerns with statements of, “We need to end the divisiveness,” and “I’m not going to throw stones.”

Kelly’s goal for organizing the summit was centered on the concept of unity and building a healthy ecosystem for community-based clubs and sustainability. “(I wanted to) elucidate some common vision that we can all agree on,” he said. The goal was to have “teams with sustainable business models playing in stable leagues against quality opponents with enthusiastic community support.”

The vision

While details about the exact structure of the new system are scarce and fluid (Soc Takes will have a separate article on this next week), the summit attempted to get teams to sign up for five common principles:

• Club > League. “The central malfunction in American soccer is that we have placed leagues above teams. What is extraordinary is that we now have clubs, like ours that are a success in spite of their leagues, not because of it,” said Kelly.
• Commitment to the community. Will never pick up and leave.
• Club is bigger than the game. We do as much work in the community as we do in the field. We have a non-profit arm doing work in the community.
• World’s game, World’s rules – Promotion/Relegation is the right course – legally, ethically and economically. Kelly argues that Pro/Rel would help generate investment into the US Soccer pyramid.
• Supporter ownership. At the meeting, Kim Arnome, Vice president of Cutting Edge Capital presented the attendees with ideas to generate community capital, via crowdfunding, via public offering or via community investment funds. Per her presentation (provided to Soc Takes), each method of revenue generation has its own pros and cons, including caps on money raised, costs, etc. Per Kelly, the idea of supporter ownership received pushback from some of the attendees.

Kelly said that as of March 14, 12-13 teams have signed on to these principles.

NISA

It is noticeable that some of the ideas shared in the vision align well with those postulated by NISA. Therefore, it is no coincidence that Chattanooga FC was “one of the first teams who spoke to Peter (Wilt) about NISA, “ Kelly says, “We visited him in Chicago and tried to reform the terms of agreement with him.”

Luis Hernandez of Pint after Podcast  was the first to report that Chattanooga FC is not expected to play in NISA.

Hearing that Chattanooga may officially be out of #NISA.

I have not confirmed this.

— Luis Hernandez (@DeltaReaper) March 10, 2018

Per Kelly, Chattanooga FC has backed away from its commitment to NISA. “In some ways, this meeting was a consequence of how long (NISA) was taking,” Kelly said, later adding, “The clock is ticking, if they get critical mass, we will take a look at it again.”

In recent weeks, Soc Takes has been told that some other early proponents of NISA are exploring other options and reneging on commitments to NISA. Unanimously, each conversation has heaped praise on the integrity of NISA co-founder Peter Wilt, but raised concerns about the other partners involved in the NISA project.

When asked if he had such concerns (about Wilt’s partners), Kelly refused to comment.

Soc Takes reached out to Wilt for comment. Wilt said:

“Tim and I communicated today. We agreed that for them, NISA needs to solidify behind critical mass. There are many teams like them that want to be team number nine, 10 or 11. We have five qualified commitments now and expect a sixth tomorrow. We are working to add several more before April 1. When we reach eight, we will submit to US Soccer for sanctioning consideration. If Chattanooga would like to join NISA once we achieve that critical mass, they will be welcomed.”

Wilt was not in attendance at the summit last weekend.

Unity

Kelly plans on scheduling another meeting to finalize the next steps. Those steps involve finding ways to reach “critical mass,” working on the NPSL’s full-season play and continuing to unite the leagues.

.@SocTakes understands that @NPSLSoccer has appointed Scott Frauenhofer (co-owner of FC Buffalo) to oversee the likely transition to full-season play in 2019. Frauenhofer will vet interested teams in the next few months.

— Nipun Chopra (@NipunChopra7) March 14, 2018

In order to unite the leagues, Kelly (and other interested owners such as Robert Palmer) will have to find ways to bring the UPSL and NPSL to the table, two leagues that have an uneasy relationship. Kelly is cognizant of the issues. “Yeah, there is some antagonism. But, we had a couple of UPSL teams at the meeting, and I want them (UPSL) to be a part of it.”

Also post-Chattanooga worth noting @JaxArmadaFC owner @rp_robertpalmer is emerging quickly as a real leader in independent US soccer. Not partial to any league, personality or ideology, and has in short-time won the trust of many in #NPSL #NASL & #UPSL .

— Kartik Krishnaiyer (@kkfla737) March 13, 2018

“If we (NPSL/UPSL) can just agree on common principles and suspend all the bullshit, we can make it work. We don’t have to agree on every single detail, and that’s OK.”

Kelly is also concerned that setting up to play a full season for the NPSL may provide logistical, financial and legal challenges going forward. Soc Takes has reported on some of the logistical issues, which include the new USASA standards.

The legal pushback may come from other sanctioned leagues. If the NPSL operates as a professional league (it would likely have to pay players to play a full season) sanctioned by the USASA, as opposed to the USSF, that would raise questions about the need for stringent Professional League Standards as codified by the USSF.

Soc Takes understands that Robert Palmer, who was in attendance at the meeting, along with Riccardo Silva, are expected to help provide financial backstops for some teams. Kelly clarified that Chattanooga FC is “self-sufficient,” but suggested a financial backstop for other teams would help reach critical mass.

Conclusion

From the perspective of conversation, the summit in Chattanooga was a success. Multiple teams and US soccer personnel were in attendance. Yet, the follow up to the summit will be ultimately be more interesting. Meanwhile, while ideologically similar, Wilt’s NISA league may suddenly find itself in competition to secure “independent” markets, as owners suddenly find themselves with other options.

Follow Nipun on Twitter: @NipunChopra7.

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Trevor James. Credit: Indy XI

Multiple sources inform Soc Takes that Indy XI has terminated the contract of experienced assistant coach and scout Trevor James. The decision was made on Thursday, March 1.

James was the sole holdover from last year’s coaching staff, and Soc Takes understands that James helped identify many of this season’s players. While the writing was on the wall — Indy XI currently has two other assistant coaches — the news is yet another example of the club’s questionable approach towards its players and staff.

It has to be said that Indy XI’s approach to its personnel is business savvy. Nothing the club has done, including its repeated application of player termination clauses, has been illegal. An argument can be made that the club is functioning as a responsible business – that Indy XI owner Ersal Ozdemir is ensuring financial prudence. Certainly, the club has never, to the extent of Soc Takes’ conversations, missed any payroll commitments. That fact alone places Indy XI in an elite group of ex-NASL clubs.

Yet, eagle-eyed Indy XI supporters should be concerned about a consistent lack of regard for players and staff and their futures. Soc Takes understands multiple exiting players were informed about their futures via email or by non-technical front office staff, with player requests for meetings with current coaching staff being declined.

James is a popular figure at the club and possesses a long history of coaching and scouting via his work at LA Galaxy, Chicago Fire and Portland Timbers. James’ exit leaves the club without any semblance of a technical director to help identify players.

Yes, Indy XI is a business. But, the sport of soccer is much more than a business to the supporters who have stood by it through hard times. Just like any business, the club must find a way to remain financially solvent. Yet, just like any business, the club must find a way of not alienating it’s number one clients — fans. Ceasing the callous termination of beloved players and staff would be a good start.

Trevor James declined Soc Takes’ request for comment. As of last night, an Indy XI spokesperson was not made aware of the termination of James’ contract.

Follow Nipun on Twitter: @NipunChopra7.

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Photo credit: New York Cosmos

Recently, we discussed the potentially troubling interpretation of the USL’s player contract in the contract termination of FC Cincinnati’s Tommy Heinemann. From our perspective, the troubling clauses in the USL contract have the potential to be abused to limit the validity of player contracts. Unfortunately, another similar contractual clause exists in the NASL version of the player contract.

Clause 12b states:

“Club may terminate this Contract between any seasons at any time after the day of Club’s last game in a season (regular season or playoff) and Club’s first game of the following season. Player acknowledges that part of the compensation paid to Player is in consideration for this right to terminate this Contract.”

The interpretation of this clause is potentially troubling. On face value, it allows teams to terminate a player’s contract without any justification, as long as the date of termination is before the start of the season.

Soc Takes spoke to three legal experts who also cover the beautiful game for their understanding of clause 12b. They suggested that the clause is fairly standard for most (non-soccer) employment contracts and in this case would permit teams to decline extra-year options. In effect, rendering all contracts as rolling one-season contracts.

However, except in the case of one USL expansion team, it should be pointed out that this termination clause does not exist in the generic USL player contract.

Another question arises from that clause. Does the section stating “part of the compensation paid to Player is in consideration for this right to terminate this Contract” suggest that players have a right to compensation of the balance of their contracts or not? The legal experts, the players as well as staff we spoke to all unanimously agreed that that clause facilitates contract termination without any further financial obligations.

APPLICATION

How often is it used? The short answer to this question is “rarely.” Out of a hundred-plus contracts signed by NASL players last year, the number of terminations Soc Takes has learned about is in the single digits. Additionally, certain clubs are more guilty of using it than others. Per club personnel, in recent years, Miami FC and the Jacksonville Armada have not terminated any player contracts using section 12 (b).

Club sources inform Soc Takes that the Jacksonville Armada player contracts have removed clause 12b from their contracts entirely. Club personnel said that the clause was taken out two years ago to protect the players as well as the club from potential legal troubles. (Note: Soc Takes has seen one Jacksonville Armada player contract and it does not contain clause 12b).

The New York Cosmos used clause 12b to terminate multiple player contracts during their financial troubles at the end of the 2016 season. The club did not activate the clause in any player contracts at the end of the 2017 season and is believed to be paying players still on contract.

Club sources have confirmed to Soc Takes that Indy Eleven has executed Clause 12b this year. Soc Takes has learned that the club has executed the clause at least four times in the last two years. On one occasion, the club picked up a player’s contract at the start of the season and then terminated the contract before the season kicked off, citing clause 12b as justification. Indy recently joined the USL and will not be able to use this method to prematurely terminate player contracts any longer. 

The San Francisco Deltas only played for a year, therefore this clause would not apply to them. Soc Takes understands that most Puerto Rico FC players were on one-year contracts, and therefore this clause would not apply to them. Soc Takes was unable to determine the usage of this clause by FC Edmonton and North Carolina FC.

WHAT THIS MEANS

Players in the NASL can have their contracts legally terminated via a specific clause. Soc Takes understands that senior NASL personnel have long debated elimination of this clause, and believe that it has the potential for misuse.

This author hopes to see the NASL survive and play in the fall of 2018. But if the league wants to support its general perception of being player-friendly, it should certainly abandon clause 12b, as it is yet another example of limiting player power at the lower levels of American soccer.

Follow Nipun on Twitter: @NipunChopra7.

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