We learned last night, via a big fancy announcement at a (rainy) CHS Field in St. Paul, that Minnesota United FC will begin play in MLS in 2017. We sort of already knew that; it’s been widely assumed that the move would happen next year, to give Atlanta an expansion partner and keep an even number of teams in the league. The big announcement was probably that United would still be called United after all, not Minnesota FC or Minnesota SC or something like that, as everyone thought until about Thursday this week.

My Star Tribune column was about what MLS looks like, from a roster perspective. Much attention is given to salary caps in the NHL and NBA and NFL, and to the roster and waiver rules in baseball; MLS has all of that and more.