Union ready to part with Miglioranzi; NBC Sports Group hires Arlo White

Philadelphia Union defender Stefani Miglioranzi and reserve goalkeeper Chase Harrison have been made available for the MLS Re-Entry Draft, the team announced Wednesday.

The Re-Entry Draft sets the stage for a form of free agency. The rules are a bit complicated, as is explaining who is eligible, but suffice to say that eligible players not drafted in either of the two rounds are free to move to another team in the league.

There are some interesting names available. I won't go through the entire list here, because it's pretty long.

But since we know that defender and forward are the two positions the Union most need to improve, I'll give you some names to watch:

- D Bobby Boswell, Houston Dynamo
- D Hunter Freeman, Houston Dynamo
- D Frankie Hejduk, Los Angeles Galaxy
- D Ante Jazic, Chivas USA
- D Jonathan Leathers, Vancouver Whitecaps
- D Carlos Mendes, New York Red Bulls
- M John Thorrington, Vancouver Whitecaps
- F Jeff Cunningham, Columbus Crew
- F Jason Garey, Houston Dynamo
- F Nate Jaqua, Seattle Sounders
- F Pat Noonan, Seattle Sounders

There was one other big piece of news in MLS today: the Comcast-owned NBC Sports Group announced that it has hired Seattle Sounders play-by-play voice Arlo White to be the broadcaster for its Major League Soccer and U.S. national team games.

"I am extremely passionate about the future of Major League Soccer, and this partnership with NBC will provide a huge boost for the sport in the United States," White said in NBC's press release. "I am very proud to have been called up to play a major role in it."

That press release also confirmed the date of the first MLS game on NBC Sports Network (currently Versus): Sunday, March 11. So either Chivas USA or FC Dallas will be the host team, at least according to the information MLS released yesterday.

And there was something of an Easter Egg in the press release as well: an additional game has been added to the broadcast contract.

Now 50 games will be broadcast between NBC and NBC Sports Network, instead of the 49 in the agreement that was announced during the summer. The added game will be a regular-season telecast on NBC over the air, which I think is a pretty big deal.

The full schedule is supposedly going to be released before the end of the year. Given MLS' history with releasing schedules, I'm not holding my breath, but we'll see.