An end to my days at MLS, and my plan for what's next

Fifteen years ago I got my dream job. Last week, that came to an end.

I was informed last Thursday that, due to some slight org restructuring and a retargeting of MLSsoccer's written coverage, my services were no longer needed. It was not acrimonious, it was just quick. The dream job was gone, the 15 years came to an end, and I'd been let go.

This wasn't entirely out of the blue – my role had been steadily shrinking for a while. By the time 2025 rolled around, the writing was on the wall.

And I'll be honest with you: that's exactly why I started this newsletter. I knew when the inevitable happened I'd be staring at the abyss, and I was desperate to make certain the void wasn't the only thing staring back. In my industry, that always meant hoping you could land a job with a mainstream outlet. Sadly, those jobs have become fewer and fewer over the past quarter-century, and I didn't want to rely upon good luck or good timing or both.

So instead I'm relying on you. I'm about to ask you for money.

I am monetizing the newsletter

Yeah, I'm officially going to hang my own shingle.

As grim as the world of journalism has been for decades, I've seen glimmers of hope in recent years as journalist-owned platforms have been sprouting up and sticking around. Defector is the ne plus ultra example, and Hell Gate's coverage of New York City has been incredible. Meanwhile, here in our little slice of the culture I've been inspired by what I've seen from sites like Backheeled, Sounder at Heart, and so many others.

And now it's my turn. My intention is to take all the stuff I've been doing at MLSsoccer for the past 15 years and... just do it here. I’m extremely excited to work for myself, to take some risks and to build something – including a direct relationship with all of you. The Armchair Analyst lives on!

So here's my coverage plan:

• ⁠⁠Sunday night: The weekend recap (paid)
• Monday / Tuesday: Power Rankings (free to all!)
• ⁠⁠Wednesday: Tentpole topics (Tiers, Transfer Grades, Team Needs, etc.) + news reactions (paid)
• ⁠⁠Thursday: general pondering & weekly round-up (free to all!)

I also intend to do tactical analysis videos like the ones I was putting on BlueSky and Instagram for a while, and should revive my long-dormant YouTube page. I have not quite figured out the potential cadence on those, nor where they live in the membership system (i.e., I might just send them out into the world rather than make them exclusive at any level), but will obviously keep you updated.

Here's how membership and paid tiers will break down:

• The basic tier will just be a free membership. You'll have access to the rest of my season-preview coverage, and then once the season itself starts, I'll keep the Power Rankings and the weekly round-up in front of the paywall. Meaning you do not have to pay for those.
• There are three paid tiers, all of which will have access to all of my written coverage – the Sunday night recap, the second midweek column, and anything else that pops into my head (I haven't thought enough about my World Cup plans yet; more to come there).
• The second-highest paid tier will get access to monthly Brown Liquor Specials I'll be hosting with a rotating cast of MLS friends. Think the old Extratime Brown Liquor Specials, but with fewer guardrails. Uh oh.
• The highest paid tier will get access to all of the above, plus an exclusive, monthly, live video Q&A with me that I intend to treat as an AMA. I promise to be as honest as possible!

I'm excited about this. I think it's going to work out for me, and for you. I hope you're excited about it, too, and I hope you share this newsletter (or Friday's, whatever) far and wide. That'd be a great way to help.

But fully launching this newsletter is not the only thing I'll be doing in 2026 and beyond...

I'm officially joining Kickback Soccer Media!

You may have already guessed this given my increasingly frequent guest appearances on Soccerwise, as so:

And as a matter of fact, we're recording our annual Golden Boot Draft episode as I'm hitting "send" and launching this news into the world. There'll also be a release and some more granular info on Kickback's website.

I couldn't be more excited about this. I missed podcasting badly last year, and now I've got a weekly (probably more than that) platform to talk about the league I love, and to break down the USMNT, and to do anything else that pops into our heads. In corporate terms I believe that's called "iterating."

The rest of us call it "figuring out what works," and that's going to be my new life for a while. I was extraordinarily lucky to have a stable job I loved for 15 years, and I'm extraordinarily lucky I now have the runway to try to do something new – some on my own, and some with a little help from my friends.

Including all of you. See you soon.