The price of a NBDP - Non-Beckham Designated Player - could be increased by more than a factor of two, if RBNY - Red Bull New York - closes the deal on the player it is pursuing. According to a source with knowledge of the negotiations, MLS and English club Aston Villa have agreed on a transfer fee (undisclosed) for Colombian striker Juan Pablo Angel, who will join the Red Bulls if he and the club can agree on compensation. That may prove to be impossible if Red Bull is trying to get him to play …

This impasse between Shalrie Joseph and the Revs/MLS is about more than money, and Joseph can prove it, or at least so claims his agent, Ron Waxman. "He will play for any other team in MLS under his current contract," says Waxman of a deal that will pay Joseph a base salary of $157,500, plus bonuses, the same as last year. The salary is not guaranteed, unlike last year. "I would love for them to come back to the table, but I don't live in fantasy land. I have been told negotiations are over. I …

Los Angeles Galaxy president and general manager Alexi Lalas has acknowledged that an MLS ban on charter flights came under discussion when the Galaxy began outlining its security and travel arrangements once David Beckham arrives. Red Bull New York has been denied permission by the league to travel by charter. (The players were, however, taken on a tour of the Red Bull facility in Santa Monica, Calif., on Wednesday during their preseason stay in Southern California.) Without specifying how the Galaxy will travel -- although the coach of a rival team is convinced LA will fly …

Gamblers call it the choking point, that threshold of betting tolerance at which boldness melts and fear sets in. Judgment falters, confidence erodes, and more often than not, losses ensue. At the poker table, once that stack of chips to be pushed into the pot gets high enough and thick enough, the player quavers. At the race track, the hand trembles once it fingers a certain sum to be pulled out of the wallet. At the negotiating table, the zeros run together into a noose not everyone is willing to let encircle the neck. No two people have …

Quietly, without much fanfare, ground was broken Friday in Swope Park, Mo. for a training facility, a four-field complex to be used by thousands of local youth players. Yawn Grande, right? Well, hardly. Shovels in the ground does not a franchise revive, but what has begun is the transformation of the Kansas City Wizards from shoestring operation to professional sports enterprise. OnGoal LLC, the entity formed by Cerner executives Neal Patterson and Cliff Illig and their partners may fail in their quest to make pro soccer go in Kansas City. But I disagree with …