Latest news with #Sounders
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Sounders owner angrily confronts players over 'Club World Ca$h Grab' warm-up shirts, per reports
The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup kicks off in less than two weeks. The players and ownership of the Seattle Sounders are still fighting over their pieces of the pie. Amid a stand-off over the upcoming FIFA prize pool, the Sounders player took the field Sunday wearing warm-up shirts reading "Club World Ca$h Grab." The shirts received considerable attention on social media, and even more attention from the owner's box. According to Sounder at Heart and GiveMeSport, Sounders owner Adrian Hanauer angrily addressed the team in a profanity-laced postgame address. The exact comments aren't reported, but the players felt pushed enough that they discussed the issue with reporters in a joint address on Monday. Advertisement At the center of the fight is a tournament where players are only guaranteed to receive less than 1% of the prize money if they pull off a miracle run. Why are the Sounders players angry about the FIFA Club World Cup? While the idea of the expanded Club World Cup, in which 32 teams from across the world will compete in the United States this summer, is exciting, it comes with on major issue. Those teams' players already play a full, taxing schedule, and the Club World Cup adds between three and seven games to that docket. FIFA addressed this concern the way soccer governing bodies usually do: with enormous amounts of cash. The tournament has a prize pool of $1 billion, up from the $16 million offered in the previous tournament. Advertisement By simply showing up to their own Lumen Field in Seattle and playing three group play games, the Sounders organization is guaranteed to receive $9.55 million in participation money, For every game they draw, they get $1 million. For every win, $2 million. If they get out of group play? $7.5 million. If they win the tournament, which no one expects them to do, the Sounders will walk away with more than $120 million. And it is now at this point we will tell you the players' cut of all that money, no matter what happens, is capped at $1 million. Not each. To split. The Sounders players have some issues with their Club World Cup compensation. (Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images) (IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect / Reuters) As Sounder at Heart broke down, the reason for this is a provision in the MLS CBS — signed in 2021, back when the Club World Cup was a minor, seven-club competition — that says players can receive a total of no more than $1 million per tournament. Advertisement So basically, the Sounders organization is on track for the deal of a lifetime, and the Sounders players want payment that reflects three games of elite soccer. And now they are publicly fighting over it less than two weeks before their tournament opener. Where does the MLS stand on the Club World Cup prize money fight? Soon after the Sounders took the field that infuriated their team owner, the MLS Players Association released a statement saying the union and its players stand united with the team and demand "a fair share" of the Club World Cup prize money. The union claimed it had "respectfully" invited the league to the table for months and had not received a reasonable proposal. It specifically called the $1 million clause out of date and ignorant of longstanding international standards for player payment in global competitions. Per GiveMeSport, one MLS source claimed the league office had regular discussions with the MLSPA over the past few weeks, with no official proposal from the union, argued that the $1 million clause is not out of date Advertisement It's also worth noting the MLSPA did agree to this CBA, but without the foresight that FIFA would springing a multi-million cash cow on the league's better clubs. The Sounders are one of three MLS squads who made the tournament, alongside LAFC and Inter Miami. Seattle was placed in Group B, alongside France's Paris Saint-Germain, Spain's Atlético Madrid and Brazil's Botafogo. Neither of the other American teams have aired out their grievances like the Sounders have, but it's hard to imagine either of those groups of players being happy with what the league is currently arguing.
Washington Post
2 days ago
- General
- Washington Post
Tani Oluwaseyi scores twice in the second half and Minnesota claims its first-ever win in Seattle
SEATTLE — Tani Oluwaseyi scored two goals in the second half and Minnesota claimed its first-ever win in Seattle with a 3-2 victory over the Sounders on Sunday. Minnesota (8-3-6) beat the Sounders (7-5-5) for just the second time in 16 meetings — and won in Seattle for the first time in nine tries. The Sounders also knocked out Minnesota in the 2020 Western Conference championship.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Seattle Sounders protest Club World Cup bonus structure with MLSPA support
The Sounders players posed with their protest shirts before kickoff v Minnesota United on Sunday. The Sounders players posed with their protest shirts before kickoff v Minnesota United on Sunday. Photograph: Nick Wagner/AP The Seattle Sounders wore shirts in the warm-up for the team's game against Minnesota United on Sunday reading 'Club World Ca$h Grab,' in protest over the manner in which bonuses from participating in the Club World Cup are being distributed. Afterwards, the MLS Players Association released a statement expressing solidarity with the Sounders players who, according to the statement 'demanded a fair share of Fifa Club World Cup prize money.' Advertisement 'Fifa's new tournament piles on to players' ever-increasing workload without regard to their physical well-being,' the statement reads, before pointing out that Fifa will pay MLS teams large amounts (about $9.5m) to participate in the tournament. 'Despite this windfall, the league has refused to allocate a fair percentage of those funds to the players themselves.' Related: LAFC stun Club América in extra time to qualify for Club World Cup In addition to the $9.5m for participating in the tournament, clubs earn more based on performance in the games, drawing from a Fifa prize pool of around $475m. However, the current collective bargaining agreement between the league and its players stipulates that players can only earn 50% of bonuses from outside tournament, capped at $1m for the entire team. In effect, that makes for an initial 90/10 split of prize money, with the ratio potentially getting worse if MLS teams advance in the competition. Advertisement The MLSPA said in its statement that the players have sought to meet with MLS to make changes to the arrangement, but that the league has 'failed to bring forward a reasonable proposal.' Fifa itself does not have any rules governing how teams distribute prize money between front office, players, and associated parties. The Club World Cup will feature three MLS teams: Inter Miami, who were nominated to the field by Fifa president Gianni Infantino, the Sounders and now Los Angeles FC, who qualified via a one-game playoff.
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Seattle Sounders protest Club World Cup bonus structure with MLSPA support
The Seattle Sounders wore shirts in the warm-up for the team's game against Minnesota United on Sunday reading 'Club World Ca$h Grab,' in protest over the manner in which bonuses from participating in the Club World Cup are being distributed. Afterwards, the MLS Players Association released a statement expressing solidarity with the Sounders players who, according to the statement 'demanded a fair share of Fifa Club World Cup prize money.' 'Fifa's new tournament piles on to players' ever-increasing workload without regard to their physical well-being,' the statement reads, before pointing out that Fifa will pay MLS teams large amounts (about $9.5m) to participate in the tournament. 'Despite this windfall, the league has refused to allocate a fair percentage of those funds to the players themselves.' In addition to the $9.5m for participating in the tournament, clubs earn more based on performance in the games, drawing from a Fifa prize pool of around $475m. However, the current collective bargaining agreement between the league and its players stipulates that players can only earn 50% of bonuses from outside tournament, capped at $1m for the entire team. In effect, that makes for an initial 90/10 split of prize money, with the ratio potentially getting worse if MLS teams advance in the competition. The MLSPA said in its statement that the players have sought to meet with MLS to make changes to the arrangement, but that the league has 'failed to bring forward a reasonable proposal.' Fifa itself does not have any rules governing how teams distribute prize money between front office, players, and associated parties. Sign up to Soccer with Jonathan Wilson Jonathan Wilson brings expert analysis on the biggest stories from European soccer after newsletter promotion The Club World Cup will feature three MLS teams: Inter Miami, who were nominated to the field by Fifa president Gianni Infantino, the Sounders and now Los Angeles FC, who qualified via a one-game playoff.
Fox Sports
2 days ago
- Sport
- Fox Sports
Tani Oluwaseyi scores twice in the second half and Minnesota claims its first-ever win in Seattle
Associated Press SEATTLE (AP) — Tani Oluwaseyi scored two goals in the second half and Minnesota claimed its first-ever win in Seattle with a 3-2 victory over the Sounders on Sunday. Minnesota (8-3-6) beat the Sounders (7-5-5) for just the second time in 16 meetings — and won in Seattle for the first time in nine tries. The Sounders also knocked out Minnesota in the 2020 Western Conference championship. Seattle (7-5-5) dropped its first game at Lumen Field this season, moving to 5-1-2. FC Cincinnati is the only MLS team yet to lose at home. Minnesota and Seattle combined for four goals in seven minutes, marking the ninth time in MLS history that two teams had four goals in eight-or-fewer minutes in a half. Oluwaseyi opened the scoring in the 51st minute when he was left alone at the penalty spot for a redirection of Robin Lod's back pass. Oluwaseyi scored again in the 58th on a rebound attempt for a 3-1 lead. Lod scored on a penalty kick in the 54th for a two-goal advantage. Kalani Kossa-Rienzi and Nicolas Romero scored for Seattle. PROTEST The Seattle players wore T-shirts before a match that read 'Club World Cup Ca$h Grab' to demand a share of the prize money for participating in the upcoming international tournament. ___ AP soccer: recommended in this topic
