MLS Bans 'The Athletic' From Media Day After Report On Inter Miami's Phil Neville

The failing New York Times' failing sports website — "The Athletic" — received a kick to the groin on Tuesday when the outlet was banned from MLS team Inter Miami's media day. The ban stemmed from recent reports filed on the team's manager, Phil Neville.

Taking to their Twitter accounts, "Athletic" reporters Pablo Maurer and Felipe Cárdenas announced their abrupt loss of media access and stated that it was linked to their recent Q&A with Neville.

Both writers expressed disappointment with the decision.

Maurer tweeted:

" and I were informed today that Inter Miami banned The Athletic from its media day event because they disagreed with the timing and framing of our coverage over the weekend. We're disappointed this is the action they've taken and we stand by our coverage."

Inter Miami F.C. Head Coach Phil Neville (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)

Cárdenas posted a similar tweet:

" and I were informed today that Inter Miami banned The Athletic from its media day event because they disagreed with the timing and framing of our coverage over the weekend. I'm disappointed this is the action they've taken and I stand by our coverage."

During the interview, Neville gave the MLS some heat regarding their vague plans for a new playoff format.

Neville spoke critically of the MLS' apparent lack of a new playoff format, days before the first game of the season kicked off. The manager stated that MLS' flawed playoff format has kept the league inferior to competing soccer leagues.

"We’re six days, seven days out from the season's first game; we don’t know the playoff format. I think that’s poor," Neville said, as relayed by the outlet.

"When you’re talking about professionalism, and ‘elite,’ I think when you’re seven days out from the start of the season — we’ve had talks here, and one of our players asked one of the MLS guys the other day ‘what’s the playoff system’ and they were like, ‘We don’t know.’ And I’m like, ‘That’s not elite.’

"You’re talking about differences between the U.K. and the U.S.? We talked about the intensity of the fans. (This is another) big difference."

Neville added, "If we want to be the best and be compared to the top leagues, this should’ve been decided two months ago. So that irks me a bit."

The optics makes MLS look petty ... oh well.