The Braves are "making money" and team owner Liberty Media "plans to stick around for a while." Liberty Media President & CEO Greg Maffei said, "There is a lot of good stuff that is going to go on at the Braves that we’d like to remain involved with for a period." He added, "We are making money now at the Braves at a pretty serious clip, where historically the measurement was we didn’t lose money. ... I don’t think we’re in the exit mode today" (ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION, 11/15).
SOUND DECISION MAKING: Sounders GM & President of Soccer Garth Lagerwey has been retained with a 87.3% "affirmative fan vote in balloting by season ticket holders," a move that "wasn’t a surprise." The Sounders are in the midst of a MLS-record 14-2-1 second half turnaround and secured a first-round playoff bye, making "any talk of canning the GM ... largely moot." Taking Lagerwey’s entire body of work into account, including an MLS Cup in '16 and reaching a second final in '17, it is "debatable whether the team would have followed through on any vote to fire him" (SEATTLE TIMES, 11/14).
STAY WITH WHAT YOU KNOW: It appears FC Cincinnati will limit payroll in its inaugural season in MLS and will not be "immediately going with the multiple-Designated-Player route." It instead will introducie a team with "players already familiar to a dedicated fanbase." Given that FC Cincinnati is "joining MLS with the same, short runway that Minnesota had to build its club and not the multi-year luxury that Atlanta and LAFC enjoyed, perhaps it shouldn't be that surprising." Laying the groundwork to "land a big fish takes considerable time" (SI.com, 11/13).
