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Sporting Kansas City has finished with fewer than 30 points three times in franchise history.
The first occurrence came in 1999, but it hasn’t happened in back-to-back seasons after the club finished 7-22-5, which placed them dead last in the MLS Western Conference with 26 points.
The 22 losses and 26 points were the second-worst marks in Sporting KC history, so it wasn’t quite a franchise-worst campaign, but it was perilously close.
And Sporting Kansas City President of Soccer Operations and General Manager David Lee, who just finished his first season in charge of the club, knows it.
He owned the team’s failure in 2026, which included his decision to fire Raphael Wicky after one season in charge, during a 50-minute press conference Wednesday.
"End with 26 points, finishing 15th in the West, far below the standard that we set for ourselves — we have to accept we failed,” Lee said. “Ultimately, as the leader of our soccer operation, that responsibility sits with me.”
Lee also spoke about lessons learned in 2026, positives to take from the season, including the ascendance of record-signing Andre Luiz, and hope for Sporting KC’s future, which begins in earnest with a 14-game sprint season from Feb. 20 to May 1 next year.
Defensively, SKC gave up an MLS-record 81 goals in 2026, so there's plenty of work to do moving forward.
"We need to build an entire organization that can support our ambitions,” Lee said. “For me, that was one of the exciting parts of joining, and it's probably taken longer to get all of these people in place, but we are now moving at a pace that I am pleased and happy with and that will benefit us in January, will benefit us in the summer, and for years to come.”
Lee has built a full-time, four-member data and analytics department where one didn’t exist before. He’s also beefed up the scouting department and other support roles within the club.
Sporting KC’s roster also is in a much better place than a year ago when Lee took over.
The club will build around Luiz, who scored eight goals with three assists in only 13 games after arriving during the summer transfer window, and Taylor Calheira, who had five goals and two assists in 15 games after the World Cup break.
Sporting KC announced Tuesday that it exercised options for defenders Wyatt Meyer and Jayden Reid through the 2027 spring season and defenders Jansen Miller and Justin Reynolds through the 2027 calendar year.
But the club declined options on defender Ethan Bartlow and forward Shapi Suleymanov and won’t re-sign goalkeeper John Pulskamp or forward Stephen Afrifa.
Sporting KC currently has 25 players under contract, including 15-year-old SKC Academy product Zamir Loyo Reynaga, who will join the senior roster in 2027 as a Homegrown Player.
There was a time, and it wasn't long ago, that Sporting KC was viewed as a model franchise in Major League Soccer, but the last half-decade of results have tarnished that image.
It's up to Lee to get things right for a 2027 sprint season, which will feature 14 games in only 70 days next spring, followed by a full 2027-2028 season as MLS flips its calendar to align with the biggest leagues in Europe.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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