San Diego FC returns to action in Concacaf Champions Cup

San Diego's MLS team is back in action tonight, the Winter Olympics are almost here, the NBA trade deadline heats up, and SDSU admits it can't keep up with major programs.

San Diego FC returns tonight, although the MLS season still doesn’t start for almost three weeks, and I’m excited to see how much the team has (and hasn’t) changed since their season ended in the MLS Cup Playoffs a couple months ago.

I’ve been spending so much time focused on what I’m doing here and what’s going on with the San Diego Padres that I haven’t spent nearly enough time thinking about San Diego FC.

This is usually when I take a day and download a video game (and, honestly, I should’ve downloaded Football Manager 26 months ago when it came out) and play for a while to learn about the makeup of the team. If you’re looking for me this afternoon, that’s probably how I’ll be preparing for tonight’s game.

San Diego FC

Champions Cup Preview: UNAM Pumas - Chromatic FC
It’s time for the first match of 2026. San Diego FC will face off against UNAM Pumas, one of the big 4 clubs of Mexico. What is interesting about both clubs is that they technically play at Universites. Pumas play and represent Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, translated to National Autonomous University of Mexico. SDFC technically plays on the campus of San Diego State University. San Diego FC enters this clash fresh off a historic 2025 campaign where they finished first in the Western Conference and made a deep playoff run. Conversely, the “Big Four” giant from Mexico City has struggled significantly to maintain its elite status.

San Diego FC embrace Concacaf Champions Cup debut - OneFootball
To reach the Round of 16, San Diego will need to best a talented Pumas side already four matches into their LIGA MX Clasura campaign. The sides will play Leg 2 at Estadio Olímpico Universitario in Mexico City on Feb. 10, with the winner meeting reigning Mexican champions Toluca.

While the fitness deficit presents a challenge, Varas is confident his side can best a team featuring former MLS stars Pedro Vite (ex-Vancouver Whitecaps FC) and Coco Carrasquilla (ex-Houston Dynamo FC).

San Diego FC kicks off Year 2 with Concacaf Champions Cup match vs. powerhouse Pumas - San Diego Union-Tribune
Tuesday marks SDFC’s first time on the pitch since coach Mkey Varas signed a contract extension in January. The 43-year-old led the club to MLS expansion-team records for points (63) and wins (19) in 2025. Varas’ club advanced to the MLS Cup’s Western Conference final, where it fell 3-1 to the Vancouver Whitecaps on Nov. 29.

“We had a short break, a short preseason, so it’s a massive challenge to be ready for this moment,” Varas said on Monday. “But the boys have done just a great job committing to the cause and to the adventure.”

SDFC’s turnaround from its first campaign to its second one lasted just 65 days from matchday to matchday.

🏆👀 What to watch in the 2026 Concacaf Champions Cup - Getting Concacafed
The Concacaf Champions Cup kicks off tonight with a classic slate. A powerful Mexican team heads to frigid Canada. A plucky Central American giant hosts a Liga MX grande. And a rising MLS team welcomes an historic Mexican club.

Two of those teams will be gone in seven days, the hopes of international glory and the place in the Club World Cup that comes with it dashed months before the trophy is lifted.

Odds & Ends

Your 2026 Winter Olympics Primer - Sports!
THE NHL PLAYERS ARE BACK! Actual best-on-best hockey in the Olympics, for the first time since Sochi 2014. The return of the NHL-ers coincides with what might be the best American roster in decades. Team USA hasn’t won gold since — you guessed it — 1980, but they outscored Canada across two meetings in last year’s Four Nations Face-Off. (Yeah, they lost the championship, but I think aggregate is a more meaningful measure of talent when it supports my argument.)

SDSU, Utah State basketball coaches sing a similar tune: We don’t have enough money to pay players - San Diego Union-Tribune
“To be honest with you, we don’t have enough to compete on a national level,” Dutcher, whose Aztecs host Wyoming on Tuesday night, told Jon Schaeffer on 760 AM. “We need people to step up and feel we’re important to the city of San Diego, important to the university, and support us as best they can. Obviously, we need the university to step up and help with rev share, but I know it’s tough.

“I’ve done the best with what we have, and we have really good kids, we have really good players and we’re playing at a really high level. But from a payroll standpoint, we’re not close to what the high majors are playing with, not even near that level.”

MLB teams flee cash-strapped FanDuel Sports Network for MLB’s broadcast group - The Athletic
Local TV revenue is a significant line item for baseball teams, and there’s a big difference for clubs that join MLB’s internal group. The league does not promise clubs a set rights fee, while Main Street and other traditional regional sports networks historically have. MLB pays a club only whatever it ultimately earns.

“This decision followed extensive discussions and careful planning over time, with a focus on what would best deliver Marlins baseball to our fans,” said Marlins owner Bruce Sherman in a statement. “MLB’s production and distribution capabilities allow us to deliver a high-quality broadcast experience across both traditional television and streaming while ensuring Marlins baseball remains widely accessible throughout Florida.”

Regional channels have struggled this decade amidst cord-cutting, and more than half of MLB’s 30 teams have seen their TV revenue drop in the last three years.

Carlos Alcaraz Has Conquered All Terrain - Defector
Going into this season, Alcaraz had won the three other majors, twice apiece, but in Melbourne he had never advanced past the quarterfinal stage. There was no reason to think he couldn’t; his success on outdoor hard courts had been demonstrated amply at other stops on tour. This year, he pushed through bodily distress and one of his most difficult opponents to finish the job and secure the career Grand Slam. To even think about a 22-year-old’s “legacy” right now would feel wrongheaded. How can you be looking forward and not straight at him? His staggering talent, and his very style of play, demand that any observer stay locked into the present moment, so as not to miss a single swagger, smile, or deranged moment of improvisation.

Sources: Bucks countering trade offers for Giannis Antetokounmpo - ESPN
With three days to go before the NBA trade deadline, the market for Giannis Antetokounmpo has started to progress as the Milwaukee Bucks have submitted counteroffers to teams aggressively seeking a deal for the two-time MVP, sources told ESPN’s Shams Charania on Monday.

Having been resistant to the idea of trading Antetokounmpo throughout his career in Milwaukee, the Bucks have now shifted to actively engaging with a few teams concerning a potential league-altering trade.

Clippers, Cavs have talked James Harden-Darius Garland deal: Sources - The Athletic
The LA Clippers and Cleveland Cavaliers have discussed a deal that would send James Harden to Cleveland for Darius Garland, league sources told The Athletic.

The Cavaliers’ interest in Harden, league sources said, would be contingent on the amount of draft capital the Clippers would attach to sweeten any deal where they’d swap the 26-year-old All-Star guard for the 36-year-old former MVP.

Harden sat out Monday against the Philadelphia 76ers after missing Sunday’s game in Phoenix for what the team has labeled “personal reasons.” Garland has been sidelined since Jan. 14 with a Grade 1 right toe sprain.

‘We didn’t sign up to play for 72’: Bryson DeChambeau breaks silence on the big change coming to LIV Golf - Golf Digest
It’s beginning to feel like the future of LIV Golf hinges on the future of Bryson DeChambeau. DeChambeau, along with Jon Rahm, is one of two remaining superstars on the Saudi-funded tour and is now entering the final year of his contract. In the wake of Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed’s surprise departures this winter, DeChambeau has been pressed about his future by various outlets. So far, he has been non-committal, but in a revealing interview with Today’s Golfer this week, the two-time U.S. Open champion admitted that he isn’t entirely sold on the league’s impending shift to a 72-hole format.

San Diego teams deliver a week to remember - Her Sports San Diego
Big wins for SDSU and UC San Diego basketball headline a standout week that also featured the San Diego Open, water polo, and college tennis.