Mercury News Exploits Nashville Expansion to get Hate Clicks from Sacramento

I don’t have to tell you that no matter your opinion of the odds, Sacramento Republic are not out of this round of expansion just because Nashville got a slot. But if you’re reading this, you’re not one of the millions of people who get their soccer info from corporate papers like the Mercury News.

That particular publication, jumping on the fact that Nashville today grabbed one of the two (2, TWO - can your editors read that, Merc News?) expansion slots slated to be gifted by MLS this year, decided to post the following headline:

“Sacramento loses bid for MLS expansion franchise to Nashville”

I put the screener below lest the good people at the Merc News decide to back down.

Again, it goes (almost) without saying that Republic’s bid - the only one on the West coast with shovels in the dirt but who’s counting - is not exactly dead. In fact, after reading the article on MN, I’m convinced that they know this. So why lie in the headline?

I get it. You want clicks. We all like clicks. But it’s really weird that I have to tell a major daily that clicks are best earned with honesty, trust, and all that jazz.

What do you think? Leave a comment below!