🚫 USL PLAYERS VOTE TO APPROVE STRIKE

Life comes at you pretty fast. This edition of the newsletter is a short one given how much my own life got in the way of my ability to write. Nonetheless, it's still one I hope you can enjoy this Tuesday morning. Lets get into it!

🚫 USL Players Vote to Approve Strike

🌊 Rapids Claim Statement Win Against Portland Timbers

🌎 Summit National Team Callups

🚫 USLPA and USL Championship Dispute Heats Up Ahead of Season Opener

This edition of the newsletter was always meant to hype up the upcoming Switchbacks season. There's a lot to be excited about including Alan McCann at the helm; a revamped squad featuring ballers like Adrien Perez, Frank Daroma, and Talen Maples; and an increased Box State Footy presence via our newest photographer Payton Berman. This 2026 season was one to keep a close eye on.

However, the elephant in the room still remains and it's getting impossible to ignore now. The USLPA player pool voted, with approximately 90% approval, to authorize a strike. Both parties have now been negotiating for 560 days dating back to August 2024.

Players have spoken.

Players have overwhelmingly REJECTED the league’s latest CBA proposal — and AUTHORIZED A STRIKE if necessary.

This isn’t about extras.
It’s about basic professional standards.

The message is unified.
The players are ready. pic.twitter.com/J01j7rnU8D
— USLPA (@USLPlayers) February 27, 2026

One of the ugliest and most heinous sides of American soccer – and what continues to limit the sport from reaching it's true potential in this country– is just how fervorous the extraction of capital is at every one of its cornerstones. Whether it's the ridiculously expensive youth system, overpriced and heavily marked up footy kits, the market and financial requirements of Division 1 teams, and the current state of modern ticket prices: it's everywhere and it's gotten more venomous the more time passes.

You could never have a Cinderella story like Wrexham, billionaires wipe their ass with Germany's 50+1 rule, and despite the size of the country, the sea of players that have fallen through the cracks largely stems from financial hardships. The system is fucked from top to bottom.

We can now add the USL's hard bargain and their handling of this situation to the never ending heap of road blocks of soccer's popularity in the U. S. of A.

The USL's push for Pro/Rel is comical given how much they've refused to take care of the single thing responsible for ensuring their product's success. Their pursuits to win over the soccer "purists" who believe Pro/Rel is the true catalyst to making soccer in this country a phenomenon fail to address the skeletons in their own closet. Not taking care of the players is actively hurting their product.

These aren’t abstract issues.

This is housing.⁰This is visas.⁰This is medical risk.⁰This is someone’s livelihood.#StandUpForStandards pic.twitter.com/wV4AJOPlAR
— USLPA (@USLPlayers) February 26, 2026

With just four days until the season opener, again, we support the USLPA and their union efforts to ensure professional standards for the players.

🌊 Rapids Light Up Portland Timbers for a signature Home Opening Win

It was a highlight win for Matt Wells and the Colorado Rapids in their season opener against the Portland Timbers. There are nitpicks sure to come from yours truly in the coming days but for now lets celebrate each of the facets that made this such a great game.

The win itself.

For years, following early season less-than-favorable results at home, the de-facto "they're still gelling" argument would be propped up. I've hated that word ever since. This team had an immediate identity out of the gate. We saw some of it in Seattle, but as Wells said in the presser: it was an imitation.

In front of a home crowd, the Rapids secured a very strong early three points that they can now build upon. I've still maintained that we won't truly know what the Wells system is like until we see more ganes. This is a very encouraging indicator of what's to come.

The VIBE

Waiter, waiter. More day games please!#Rapids96
— Juanners (@Juanners715) March 1, 2026

If it's one thing the calendar switch is sure deliver more of, its more of these day games. Putting aside the impending doom heat of the global climate, it was one to truly relish in and enjoy.

The BSF team of photographers was there to capture some amazing moments. You can see them in our latest Gallery article here!

There's still more to come.

I'm going to let Matt Wells do the talking here:

Dominant display 😤

Go inside the locker room to hear Matt Wells’ postgame speech 🗣 #Rapids96 pic.twitter.com/F0AdHoulQ0
— Colorado Rapids (@ColoradoRapids) March 2, 2026

🌍 International Summit Players Check-In

As mentioned in last week's newsletter, Denver Summit FC had six players called up to national team camps for this window ahead of the NWSL Season Opener. An additional two players were called up totaling eight players called up – nine if you count Lindsey Heaps.

Ayo Oke, Yuna McCormack, and Jasmine Aikey were called up to the U-23 domestic training camp.

A late update ahead of this Newsletter drop, Aikey left camp due to injury and was replaced by Olivia Thomas, another Summit FC player.

But at what cost etc
— Jack Saxonburg (@jacksaxonburg.bsky.social) 2026-03-02T21:19:55.165Z

The details of the injury are unknown at the time, but Aikey is projected to have a meaningful role in this Summit team as a...well, I'm not quite sure where she will play to be honest.

The former Stanford Cardinal and 2025 MAC Hermann winner scored 21 goals in college as a forward, but in the Summit's preseason game played deeper in midfield.

Forwards Melissa Kössler and Natasha Flint look to be ahead of her on the depth chart, but getting Aikey on the pitch seems to be of utmost importance for head coach Nick Cushing. Summit fans hold their breath as they await more news about the injury.

Elsewhere, Summit players are lighting it up in The SheBelieves Cup.

First, Lindsey Heaps continues to do it at the international level. She scored the opening goal and assisted the winner in a comfortable 2-0 win against Argentina. Heaps, still technically a OL Lyonnes player, joins Denver Summit FC in the summer and while I may have concerns over the timing of the transfer, given the quick turnaround between the French Première Ligue and the NWSL Summer restart in July, seeing Heaps in top form remains a very encouraging sight.

Looking towards Canada's team, Janine Sonis and Emma Regan were both starters in their 4-1 win over Colombia. Megan Reid, a late call up, was an unused sub.

Sonis also scored and assisted on two of Canada's goals. Her versatility and ability to play in different roles, for me, projects her as one of Denver's most important players. Her set piece prowess on Canada's goal first via corner and her free kick strike for the second was on full display. Between her and Heaps, Denver have a menacing duo to look forward to come the closing stretch of the season. Summer can't come soon enough.

Finally, Pauline Peyraud-Magnin will look to start for France this week for Les Bleues in their chase for a World Cup berth.

France's path to World Cup Qualifying begins today with their match against Ireland in just two and a half hours from the release of this newsletter. They play Poland on March 7th. Peyraud-Magnin is expected to start both games and should be a comfortable presence along their backline.

It wouldn't be a Summit post in the Newsletter if we didn't also hype up their local efforts. Their One Month Out Event was a lot of fun and seeing Larimer jazzed up for a pro soccer team is always a welcome sight.