ezbeezy214
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Wonder if a USL guy may take the super draft more seriously. I’m probably just talking myself into making the draft exciting.
2026 Roster and Transfer Discussion Thread
- Thread starter LionNYC
- Start date
Anything to create any buzz during late December.
According to the club’s announcement, his first day isn’t until January 1. Hopefully, he’s involved in some capacity before then, but the timing, once again with this club, is just bizarre. Why January 1? And even if there’s a legitimate reason, why go out of your way to include that detail in the press release? Just say you hired him. There’s no need to emphasize that he won’t officially start until after the SuperDraft and nearly a full month of the offseason, when other teams are already making moves.
ZYanksRule
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The hiring of an academy director is a pretty strong piece of evidence that Dunivant is already working even though he hasn't officially started yet.
Flax and Acito signing homegrown deals
ezbeezy214
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Oh man. Forgot about that. He’s gotta have some sort of connection to the personnel dept at this stage?
Is Dunivant still under contract with and actively working for Sacramento?
What I'm really asking is why was his official hire dater delayed.
What I'm really asking is why was his official hire dater delayed.
Because people would be screaming why isn't Dunivant doing anything if there aren't any moves before Jan 1 and screaming louder about typical lack of CFG transparency when it inevitably came out?
Especially bc all the weird contract negotiation stuff, as well as the drafts, are right before he joins.
Maybe they wanted to take care of it internally before he joins given that he doesn't know much about the team yet?
I think that's the case. The announcement was just, what, Dec. 1? He needs to wrap up affairs with Sac Republic (they just began construction of a stadium of their own, too), plus pack up the family and move cross country. During the Holidays.
So, chances are he's working remotely but won't appear in the office until after New Year's.
ZYanksRule
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Yep. That seems right to me. I'd be shocked if he wasn't involved in some way right now.
With their 1st pick in the 2026 MLS Super Draft, NYCFC select: 27. New York City FC: Ransford Gyan, F, Clemson
www.mlssoccer.com
MLS SuperDraft 2026 Tracker | MLSSoccer.com
The MLS SuperDraft 2026 is underway. Club selections through three rounds will be listed below.
www.mlssoccer.com
ezbeezy214
Registered
Apparently the only downside with him is he’s 5’4”
The issue is straightforward.
Are we paying him? If "yes" then he works for us and so why is he not officially SD yet? If not, it is illegal to work for free for a for-profit entity outside of irrelevant internship exceptions, and AFAIK there is no prep work exception for high level executives starting in a month. Just 2 options. Paid and employed or unpaid and not employed.
The release says: "Dunivant’s first official day with New York City FC will be on January 1, 2026, becoming New York City’s third Sporting Director in franchise history."
If he is working behind the scenes and is on the payroll, why pretend he is not the SD? He can pack, move, and celebrate holidays all the same regardless of whether he's officially SD of NYCFC or not. Reyna and Lee took vacations while they were SD. Technically Dunivant can be in California, Guam, Taiwan, Timbuktu or Paris and be SD of NYCFC.
If he is secret acting SD, it's just more NYCFC/CFG shadow operations bullshit. If he's not -- why not? Screw Sacramento. Lee left NYCFC for an in-league competitor during an active MLS season.
I highly doubt there's any cloak-and-dagger here. It looks like pretty standard executive preboarding to me. As far as I know, there's nothing to bar an executive from strategizing with their new organization while they transition out of their old one. It happens all the time.
One thing Dunivant can't do is sign any documents, make any official announcements, or even appear at a presser or something. You might notice, he wasn't even quoted in the Nicholls announcement. But I'm sure they ran the hire up the flagpole and gave him a chance to salute it.
(See? I may be a man of letters, but I can talk the walk with the best of 'em.
)
