So we were all wondering which men's professional sports team would be the first to actually sign an out gay player. It turns out it won't be MLB. Nor the NFL, the NBA, or the NHL. MLS, or major league soccer. The New York Times reports that
The Galaxy are expected to introduce [Robbbie] Rogers, 26, as a member of the Major League Soccer team at a news conference Saturday. Rogers announced that he was gay in February, when he also announced his retirement from soccer.
Oh, there are complications involving who owns the rights for him and some international stuff since he had played in England most recently,
but the offer was made.
ESPN
has more details. It seems that Rogers was speaking to an audience at the Nike Be True LGBT Youth Forum in Portland, Oregon when it struck him that he could make a bigger statement:
"I seriously felt like a coward," he told [USA Today]. "These kids are standing up for themselves and changing the world, and I'm 25, I have a platform and a voice to be a role model. How much of a coward was I to not step up to the plate?"
Rogers is a midfielder who plays either on the wing or as a withdrawn forward, and he's good enough to have been on the national team under Jurgen Klinsmann.
As SB Sports reports:
Rogers has been training with the Galaxy and will presumably be ready to make their 18-man gameday squad as soon as he is registered. He many not be as productive as Magee immediately, but LA seems willing to take the risk that Rogers will return to the form that he enjoyed as a Columbus Crew player before he departed for Leeds United.
In other words, he's GOOD.
There has been no flack at all here, and MLS is taking this as a very matter-of-fact thing. Is this not exactly what we're aiming for? NHL, NBA, MLB, NFL, you are now officially on the clock!