Photo credit: Colorado Rapids
Club president Pádraig Smith commits to “bold” reinvestment of record fee
For three straight seasons, the Colorado Rapids have cashed in on star sales, but the on-field results have only gotten worse. As of Wednesday, they’ve got $17 million to finally flip that narrative.
The Rapids’ record transfer of Australian center back Lucas Herrington became official on Wednesday, marking what is bar none the club’s best piece of business in its history. The deal includes $17 million up front, up to $6 million in conditional add-ons and a 15% sell-on clause for his next sale.
He’ll join newly-promoted Hull City and could be a starter or regular contributor. The Tigers open their season at home against Manchester United on Saturday, Aug. 22. If he earns minutes for that match, he’ll go from defending MLS opposition straight to the likes of Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Šeško. All indications point to the 18-year-old being ready for that jump.
Herrington joined the Rapids from Australian side Brisbane Roar in January after signing a pre-contract last year. He was purchased from Brisbane for a reported $800,000 fee. That included a sell-on clause, which the Roar sold back to the Rapids for an additional $560,000 last month. After his sale to Hull, the sell-on would have equated to millions more.
Now, the Rapids will have the entire $17 million up front to play with. Historically, those add-ons aren’t too difficult to achieve if he’s a regular contributor and are typically based on appearances and milestones.
Club president Pádraig Smith spoke to media before the transfer was made official. He said the club and ownership is committing to reinvesting the “entire transfer fee.” In the same breath, he said it opens flexibility to invest in whichever roster-building model (two Designated Players and four U-22 slots, or three and three respectively) the club sees fit to head coach Matt Wells’ system.
That’s a notable change from the commitment to the 2/4 model the club specifically chose ahead of this season, and one Smith said ownership supports. The focus for the funds now will be bolstering the attacking third of the roster. So far, the club’s only acquisition was a free transfer of French attacker Youssef Maziz, although the Rapids have been linked to multiple attacking players — two wingers and a striker.
“We will be bold. We are going to be forceful in what we do here. We are going to look to improve this team in the attacking half because I think we’re very strong at the back. We’re in a really good way there,” Smith said. “Our build-up is exceptional. We move the ball into the attacking third. We do have good attackers as well, we genuinely do, and I think you will hopefully see some more games like the Houston game here at home (6-2 win). … It hasn’t quite gone that way recently, despite the dominance on the field, but we will be looking to reinvest this money and to make sure that the quality is on display and the competition is where we need it.”
This marks the third straight season in which Colorado has made big-money outbound transfers. In 2024, Moïse Bombito was sold to OGC Nice for $7.7 million up front, then a club record. Last year, Djordje Mihailovic went to Toronto FC for a record $8 million fee. Herrington’s deal Wednesday more than doubled that.
Still, the Rapids have trended downward in terms of on-field performance. They finished the 2024 season in a playoff position. A playoff spot was lost on Decision Day in 2025. And with 16 games to go in 2026, they’re on the outside looking in, currently occupying 11th place in the Western Conference.
“We’re one in every two since 2020. So in six years, we’ve been in the playoffs three times. That’s not enough. We want to be above that level,” Smith said. “I think I would separate the two things here. I think the activity in the transfer market is critical for the future success of the league. We have to be more active players in the global transfer market.
“I think the switch to the winter schedule is actually going to really help that as well. Our ability to sell players in our off-season rather than mid-season is going to be hugely helpful… (new players would be) able to come in and deal with a Matt Wells preseason and get going for the full campaign at that point in time.”
But the truth is every team in MLS must deal with the same thing, and not every team struggles to integrate new players into the team like the Rapids have. Wells has done a better job with those limitations so far, given he had limited time to integrate himself, as well as Herrington, Hamzat Ojediran and others.
His biggest test so far will be to break the pattern of mid-season signings taking too long to integrate to contribute to late playoff pushes. Maziz’s availability for the foreseeable future is in limbo as he waits for his P-1 visa.
With a plethora of money (for the Rapids, at least) to play with, Smith called out himself and his front office to be bold in this window’s acquisitions. He recalled how bringing in Herrington was one such move — not necessarily because it was expensive, but because it had to move quickly in order to get the Aussie’s ink on burgundy paper.
Even if it hasn’t yet panned out in top-level contribution, the Rapids were bold last season in turning Mihailovic’s entire fee into Paxten Aaronson. One star out, one star in, even though Aaronson hasn’t yet produced his expected impact. That pattern must continue, just now at a larger scale than before. Smith said the club has targets the club is excited about.
Smith maintained that playoffs are the goal this and every season, but added that winning the U.S. Open Cup is a massive target this season as a chance for the club’s first piece of silverware since the 2010 MLS Cup. Colorado plays in the semifinal at home against St. Louis CITY on Sept. 14. St. Louis has beaten Colorado in both attempts in the regular season this year.
Colorado has until Sept. 2 to make at least one, if not multiple, franchise-altering player acquisitions. That could mean more outbound moves, if need be.
“When you have a sale like we have, and you have that money to reinvest, we have to be bold and move other players out. That’s something we have to evaluate too, in an effort to get us what we need in,” Smith said. “That’s ultimately the critical thing here with Matt as we go through: evaluating the squad and determining what we need to ultimately take us to that level, we have to be aggressive with that.”
Otherwise, Smith’s renewal past the conclusion of his contract after this season could be in jeopardy.
Kroenke Sports & Entertainment President of Team and Media Operations Kevin Demoff said publicly that under normal circumstances, keeping a team president through four head coaches would be unacceptable. Demoff took on a larger role in the Rapids’ operations late last season and believes in Smith’s vision, so he’s been given this season to improve the team.
So far, Smith is showing few signs of concern regarding his job status, consistently looking beyond this season and speaking about multi-year plans for the reinvestment of funds from player sales. It’s unclear what exact performance metrics need to be met for Smith to be re-signed, but a playoff appearance seems mandatory. An Open Cup victory would help massively as well.
“In terms of how we evaluate the season, I’m always looking: Are we moving forward? Are we progressing? I’ve been very clear, we need to be in the playoffs every year. That’s always the game,” Smith said. “We have a huge game coming up in September in the U.S. Open Cup. This is a competition that, as a European, the cups mean something.
“… Winning the Open Cup, I think, is going to be a big target for us. Obviously, we want to retain the Rocky Mountain Cup as well at the end of this month. We’ve won that in the last two years. So, bringing that back again and making sure it stays here, I think is going to be really important. But it’s always making progress. … I think when you bring in a new coach, there’s always going to be that inevitable transition period.”
