MLS Franchise Notes: Pujols Joins Group Vying For MLS Team

Pujols Looking To Help Buy MLS Expansion Franchise

EARTHQUAKES: SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL's Mickle & Mullen report the Earthquakes have signed the William Morris Agency to a "broad representation agreement that will see the agency help with everything from securing jersey and stadium naming-rights partners to booking concerts and consulting on real estate development." Earthquakes Owner Lew Wolff said that the club "interviewed four other agencies before settling on William Morris." Wolff: "What really impressed us is the team that they allotted to us." Mickle & Mullen note the immediate focus of the relationship "will be on securing a jersey partner and a naming-rights partner." Both "could offer a significant boost to the Earthquakes' bottom line." Philip Button will lead the relationship for William Morris (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 11/17 issue).

CREW: In K.C., Randy Covitz reported Hunt Sports Group Chair Clark Hunt, whose group owns the Crew and the Chiefs, Sunday will watch the Red Bulls-Crew MLS Cup final at The Home Depot Center instead of the Bills-Chiefs game at Arrowhead Stadium. Hunt: "Championship games come along so few and far between that when you get a chance, the right thing to do is to go there." Hunt added, "My brother, Lamar Jr., will be here for Chiefs duty. I'm actively involved with the Crew, so it made sense for me to go to the game, and Lamar is here in Kansas City" (K.C. STAR, 11/19). Meanwhile, in Columbus, Shawn Mitchell noted that according to the MLS CBA, the Crew stands to "share up to $211,000 in bonus money if it wins the MLS Cup." A regular-season victory is worth $2,750, and the championship game is worth $165,000. If the Crew decides to split its postseason bonus money 31 ways among all players and wins the Cup, a share would be worth $6,800, "more than half of [D Ryan] Junge's salary" (COLUMBUS DISPATCH, 11/19).

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