The LA Galaxy organization spoke up on Monday about a story that had broken open days earlier, concerning an alleged effort by the club to undercut local rivals and effectively evict them from their home venue starting next year. On Friday, USL Championship defending champion Orange County SC announced the Galaxy had submitted a proposal for their reserve team to play at Championship Soccer Stadium at Orange County Great Park in Irvine starting in 2023.

The issue at hand was that the Galaxy’s proposal to the City of Irvine, which owns the venue, was for exclusive use of the stadium, which would therefore evict Orange County SC from the stadium they’ve called home since 2017, as well as NISA side California Strikers United FC, who hosted the Galaxy first team at the venue earlier this year in a U.S. Open Cup match.