Union owner Jay Sugarman says Jim Curtin’s contract status will be settled before his deal expires

Curtin's contract is up after this year, and he's in the U.S. national team conversation. “We have a clear plan through the World Cup, and Ernst [Tanner] and Jim are critical to that," Sugarman said

Jay Sugarman, chairman and principal owner, speaks during a groundbreaking ceremony for the Philadelphia Union’s expanded practice facility.Read moreMonica Herndon / Staff Photographer

by Jonathan Tannenwald

Published April 17, 2023, 6:06 p.m. ET

Union principal owner Jay Sugarman understandably wanted to keep the focus on the future at Monday’s groundbreaking for the team’s $55 million expansion of its practice facility, and the public sports complex that will come with it.

But there is much to talk about in the present too, including some items that land on his desk.

Chief among them right now is Jim Curtin’s contract. It expires at the end of this year, and while negotiations on a new one started in the winter, there’s been no resolution yet. Little has been said about it, but the matter hasn’t gone unnoticed — especially since Curtin is a candidate for the U.S. men’s national team job.

The matter came up with some humor in his news conference after Saturday’s 2-2 tie at the Chicago Fire, when a questioner encouraged him to take the national team job. Curtin, as quick on his feet as he is diplomatic, asked the guy if he wanted to be the manager’s agent.

“I’m on record saying I’m just here to help out in any way possible,” Curtin said. “Could be as the kit man, it could be as an assistant coach, whatever — the national team is the ultimate job. But also, having said that, I love it in Philadelphia, and I still think we have things that we can work on, and get the job done here and lift an MLS Cup.”

It was another reminder of things being unsettled, as much with the national team as with the Union.

‘A clear plan through the World Cup’

Sugarman repeatedly praised Curtin and sporting director Ernst Tanner on Monday for their work in player development. So the question was asked: will Curtin get a new contract this year, or will the clock run out?

“It’s not going to be the latter,” Sugarman answered. “We have a clear plan through the [2026] World Cup, and Ernst and Jim are critical to that.”

The plan also undoubtedly includes adding to the pile of U.S. national team players the Union’s academy has developed. There were five on last month’s A-squad roster for Concacaf Nations League games — Brenden Aaronson, Mark McKenzie, Christian Pulisic, Zack Steffen, and Auston Trusty — and on Saturday, Paxten Aaronson earned his biggest run yet in the Bundesliga for Eintracht Frankfurt.

Moving the youth academy from Wayne to Chester and giving the reserve team a major new training space are actions meant to keep that pipeline flowing. It wasn’t lost on anyone that the dignitaries on stage included academy product Quinn Sullivan, his much-touted 13-year-old brother Cavan, and 18-year-old forward prospect Marcelo Mazzola — a Newtown Square native with family roots in Brazil and Italy.

“We’re going to take it even to a higher level,” Sugarman said. “I think that the vision Ernst came to us with — and certainly Tommy [Wilson, the academy’s director] has always had that — Richie [Graham, the academy’s bankroller] has always had — is you can’t really see the full power of this ‘til it’s all in one place. ‘Til those young kids can come up, go out to that field, and see the next generation and the generation beyond that.”

Past plans pay off

Those kids also likely know that the Union have netted $21 million in transfer fee revenue over the last three years. The number will grow not just with more sales, but with sell-on fees such as the $5 million the Union banked when Red Bull Salzburg sold Brenden Aaronson to Leeds United.

It ruffles some feathers when the Union’s scouts cross the country to recruit. MLS has fined the team over the years for poaching players from under rivals’ noses. But the Union were willing to pay the fines (in part because they weren’t too big), and Sugarman wants his team to remain a destination.

“I think we’re on a great trajectory,” he said, highlighting the full-time high school for elite prospects and the SWAG program for young inner-city kids in Philadelphia. “Those are the kinds of things that you plant that seed now, and we’re going to harvest in 10 years.”

Some of the past seeds have already blossomed. Reaching the Concacaf Champions League semifinals twice in three years — and in the team’s first two forays in the tournament — is significant proof.

“Am I proud of our team, what they’ve accomplished? Immensely,” Sugarman said. “Jim and Ernst, when I asked them, ‘How are we going to play 60 different games [over] four different competitions? What are we going to have to sacrifice?’”

The answer, he relayed, was: “‘Nothing, we’re going to try to win all of it.’ And that’s just a mindset, that’s a culture that you have to have to actually achieve things like that.”

Then the fan in Sugarman came out.

“I can’t wait to watch this LAFC home-and-home” series,” he said. “Every match we’ve played against them has been phenomenal. We’ve got a little business to complete. The guys are putting it all out there, you can see that. This is going to be a real challenge, and I’m excited to see where we can take it.”