It started as a few MLS players doing a bit of extra fitness work in Southern California this winter.
One text message led to another and then another. A flight or two was booked. Soon, four players turned into eight turned into 12. By the third day of the informal winter preseason workouts, a dozen or so MLS players stood outside of a locked fence on a January morning trying to figure out how it was possible they couldn't find a field on which to play.
Rain eliminated StubHub Center as a possibility. Now, county rules were prohibiting them from using a turf field that was otherwise empty.