With his departure yesterday, Luciano Emilio joined Christian Gomez as the second former MLS MVP to be released by D.C. United this year.
Is this unprecedented? Is this unwise?
The only other professional sports franchise to have two MVPs on the same team that have since departed this century would be the St. Louis Rams with Kurt Warner and Marshall Faulk. Warner's last season with the team also happens to be the last season the Rams reached the playoffs. Without their two former MVPs, the Rams have persisted to be bad for a very long time.
So is this what D.C. United has to look forward to? At least eight years of watching the playoffs on TV?
Not necessarily...
Obviously there are plenty of differences between MLS and the NFL. There are fewer teams in MLS for one, and there are also more ways to acquire talent other than just the rookie draft, so conceivably a team could rebound faster.
Or on the other hand, United could be more like the Pittsburgh Penguins. They broke up their MVP winning combination of Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr after the 2001 season, and it only took them eight more years to win another championship.
United fans don't want to wait another eight years for their next championship, but it could be worse. We could be the Rams.