Minnesota United’s all-time leading scorer is headed to Chicago.

Free agent midfielder Robin Lod has signed a two 1/2-year contract with the Fire through June 2028, the club said Friday afternoon.

The Finn took more guaranteed years to join the Fire, with the length of the Loons’ offer at 1 1/2 years guaranteed, with a one-year option, sources told the Pioneer Press. That MNUFC option would have bene triggered based on player metrics on the field.

Lod was Loons’ highest-paid player in 2025 at $1.6 million and he had similar salaries offers from both Minnesota and Chicago, just under $1 million per year, sources said.

The Loons are also involved in bringing in forward Tomas Chancalay from New England Revolution in a cash-for-player trade, a source said Friday. The 26-year-old Argentine had four goals, two assists in 1,168 #MLS minutes in 2025. He’ll provide option up top outside of Kelvin Yeboah and on left for Loons in 2026.

Chancalay came to New England as a Designated Player from Racing Club in Argentina; he is signed through the 2026 MLS season with an additional one-year club option. His salary was $1 million in 2025, according to the MLS Pay.

Loons’ Chief Soccer Officer Khaled Al-Ahmad wants his rosters to be constructed with fewer players considered to be in the “twilight” of his career. At age 32, Lod resides on that category.

The club declined Lod’s contract option for 2026 and entered negotiations with Lod’s  agent this winter.

Besides Lod, MNUFC has had starting goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair sign with Inter Miami and midfielder Hassani Dotson sign with Seattle Sounders. The club also traded Joseph Rosales to Austin FC.

Since joining the Loons in 2019, Lod became the club leader in goals (34) and assists (35) while being second to Michael Boxall in total games played.

Lod was an MLS All-Star in 2024 with 20 goal contributions (seven goals,13 primary assists) and that fell to eight (five goals and three assists) in 2025.

By MARIA SHERMAN, Associated Press Music Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Perry Archangelo Bamonte, longtime guitarist and keyboardist for the influential goth band The Cure, has died. He was 65.

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The band made the announcement on their official website on Friday.

“It is with enormous sadness that we confirm the death of our great friend and bandmate Perry Bamonte, who passed away after a short illness at home over Christmas,” the band wrote.

“Quiet, intense, intuitive, constant and hugely creative, ‘Teddy’ was a warm hearted and vital part of The Cure story,” the statement continued. “Our thoughts and condolences are with all his family. He will be very greatly missed.”

Bamonte worked with the band in various roles from 1984 to 1989, including as roadie and guitar tech. He officially joined the band in 1990, when keyboardist Roger O’Donnell quit. It was then that he became a full-time member of the group, playing guitar, six-string bass and keyboard.

Having joined just after the band’s mainstream breakthrough, 1989’s “Disintegration,” Bamonte is featured on a number of The Cure’s albums, including 1992’s “Wish” — which features the career-defining hits ″Friday I’m in Love″ and “High” — as well as the 1996’s “Wild Mood Swings,” 2000’s “Bloodflowers” and 2004’s self-titled release.

Bamonte was fired from The Cure by its singer and leader Robert Smith in 2005. At that point in time, he had performed at over 400 shows across 14 years. Bamonte rejoined the group in recent years, touring with the band in 2022 for another 90 gigs.

In 2019, Bamonte was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame alongside the rest of The Cure.

His last performance with the band was on Nov. 1, 2024 in London for a special one-off event to launch their latest album and first in 16 years, “Songs of a Lost World.” The concert was filmed for “The Cure: The Show of a Lost World,” a film released in cinemas globally this month. It is also available to purchase on Blu-ray and DVD.

The Associated Press described “Songs of a Lost World” as “lush and deeply orchestral, swelling and powerful” — one of the best of the band’s career.

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO, Associated Press Retail Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — The shopping rush leading up to Christmas is over and in its place, like every year, another has begun as millions of people hunt for post-holiday deals and get in line to return gifts that didn’t fit, or didn’t hit quite right.

Post-holiday shoppers pass a seasonal candy and Christmas display at Calef’s Country Store, Friday, Dec. 26, 2025, in Barrington, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Holiday spending using cash or cards through Sunday has topped last year’s haul, according to data released this week by Visa’s Consulting & Analytics division and Mastercard SpendingPulse.

But growing unease over the U.S. economy and higher prices in part due to President Donald Trump’s tariffs have altered the behavior of some Americans. More are hitting thrift stores or other discounters in place of malls, according to data from Placer.ai. The firm tracks people’s movements based on cellphone usage.

And they’re sticking more closely to shopping lists and doing more research before buying. That may explain why returns so far are down compared with last year, according to data from Adobe Analytics.

Here are three trends that defined the holiday shopping season so far:

A weaker holiday season for traditional gift giving

Americans are still spending on gifts, yet increasingly that shopping is taking place at thrift and discount stores, according to data from Placer.ai.

That’s likely forcing traditional retailers such as department stores to fight harder for customers, Placer.ai said.

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Clothing and electronics that traditionally dominate holiday sales did have a surge but struggled to grow, according to Placer.ai. Both goods are dominated by imports and thus, vulnerable to tariffs.

For example, traffic doubled in department stores during the week before Christmas, from Dec. 15 through Sunday, compared with the average shopping week this year. But traffic in the week before Christmas this year fell 13.2% compared with 2024.

Traffic surged 61% at traditional sellers of only clothing in the week before the holiday compared with the rest of the year. But again, compared with the runup to Christmas last year, sales slid 9%.

Some of that lost traffic may have migrated to the so-called off-price stores— chains like TJ Maxx. That sector had a sharp seasonal traffic bump of 85.1% and a gain of 1.2% in the week before the holiday.

But it was thrift stores that were red hot, with traffic jumping nearly 11% in the week before Christmas compared with last year.

“Whether hunting for a designer deal or uncovering a one-of-a-kind vintage piece, consumers increasingly favored discovery-driven experiences over the standardized assortments of traditional retail,” Shira Petrack, head of content at Placer.ai, said in a blog post Friday.

Thrift stores broaden their appeal

In the past it may have seemed gauche to gift your mother a gently used sweater or a pair of pants from a local thrift store, but seemingly not so amid all of the economic uncertainty and rising prices, according to Placer.ai.

Post-holiday shoppers pass a Christmas tree at Calef’s Country Store, Friday, Dec. 26, 2025, in Barrington, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Through the second half of 2025, thrift stores have seen at least a 10% increases in traffic compared with last year. That suggests that environmental concerns as well as economic issues are luring more Americans to second-hand stores, Placer.ai said. Visits to thrift stores generally do not take off during the holidays, yet in the most recent Black Friday weekend, sales jumped 5.5%, Placer.ai. reported.

In November, as customer traffic in traditional apparel stores fell more than 3%, traffic in thrift stores soared 12.7%, according to Placer.ai.

The thrift migration has altered the demographics of second-hand stores. The average household income of thrift customers hit $75,000 during October and November of this year, a slight uptick from $74,900 last year, $74,600 in 2023 well above the average income of 74,100 in 2022, based on demographic data from STI:PopStats combined with Placer.ai data.

U.S. sales at thrift chain Savers Value Village’s rose 10.5% in the three months ended Sept. 27 and the momentum continued through October, store executives said in late October.

“High household income cohort continues to become a larger portion of our consumer mix,” CEO Mark Walsh told analysts. “It’s trade down for sure, and our younger cohort also continues to grow in numbers. ”

Fewer returns, so far

For the first six weeks of the holiday season, return rates have dipped from the same period a year ago, according to Adobe Analytics.

That suggests that shoppers are doing more research before adding something to their shopping list, and they’re being more disciplined in sticking to the lists they create, according to Vivek Pandya, lead analyst at Adobe Digital Insights.

“I think it’s very indicative of consumers and how conscientiously they’ve purchased,” Pandya said. “Many of them are being very specific with how they spend their budget.”

From Nov. 1 to Dec. 12, returns fell 2.5% compared with last year, Adobe reported. In the seven days following Cyber Week — the five shopping days between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, returns fell 0.1%.

From the Nov. 1 through Dec. 12, online sales rose 6% to $187.3 billion, on track to surpass its outlook for the season, Adobe reported.

Between Dec. 26 to Dec. 31, returns are expected to rise by 25% to 35% compared with returns between Nov. 1 through Dec. 12, Adobe said, and it expects returns to remain elevated through the first two weeks of January, up 8% to 15%.

This is the first year that Adobe has tracked returns.

Still, the last week of December sees the greatest concentration of returns: one out of every eight returns in the 2024 holiday season took place between Dec. 26 and Dec 31, a trend expected to persist this year, Adobe said.

As of Friday, St. Thomas was the 116th-ranked program in all of Division-I men’s basketball, per the NCAA’s NET Rankings.

The Tommies played in the Summit League Tournament final last spring and are a legitimate threat to win the league and reach the Big Dance this March in their first year of eligibility. So, why are they hosting a 2-9 Division-III team on Sunday? Welcome to the wacky world of Division I scheduling.

St. Thomas head coach Johnny Tauer, left, talks with leading scorer Nolan Minessale during the Tommies’ victory over Army at Lee & Penny Anderson Arena in St. Paul on Nov. 8. (Nick Wosika / St. Thomas Athletics)

The challenge of finding teams to play in the nonconference slate is still the biggest surprise for St. Thomas coach John Tauer since the Tommies made the jump from Division III to Division I in 2021.

At the Division-III level, you had to schedule five nonconference games a year. So, the Tommies would play a few of the top regional, non-MIAC teams, and also take one trip to go play a couple other national powers.

This year, the Tommies have 15 nonconference games, the last of which is Sunday, when they host Minneapolis-based North Central, which is struggling with its Division III schedule thus far this season.

It’s the third Division III opponent the Tommies will play this season. They already have beaten Lawrence of Appleton, Wis., by 35 and former rival St. John’s by 24. Why schedule such foes?

Frankly, it’s standard operating procedure for mid-major clubs across the country. Every Summit League team played three or more non Division I opponents last season. No one else is knocking on the door to come play nonconference games in your gym — especially not in St. Paul, where the Tommies have won 24 straight games.

St. Thomas has played the likes of Marquette and Creighton in past seasons. It opened its season at St. Mary’s (Calif.) this fall. Those games take too much of a physical toll to be littered in your early season schedule.

Coaches aren’t looking to schedule non-premier opponents that might beat you, and St. Thomas qualifies for that. Even though a road game in St. Paul currently qualifies as a Quad 2 game — which doesn’t kill your NCAA Tournament resume if you drop it — coaches have cracked the code that your NET Ranking, a major data point for programs trying to get earn at at-large berth in the dance, is more positively affected crushing some of the country’s worst teams.

“We don’t have a lot of people calling us to come play,” Tauer said. “Can you imagine if we had a high-major team to come play here? It would be one of the best events we’ve ever had on campus. We hope someday that would happen but, understandably, it would take a lot. … High-major teams, when you look at what a home game is worth to them in terms of revenue, it’s understandable why they wouldn’t want to go play on the road.”

But St. Thomas has its own checklist it’s attempting to fill via its nonconference schedule. According to Tauer, the Tommies want:

—Good games.

—To be competitive and have success.

—An “excellent experience” for student-athletes in terms of who they play and where they go.

—To go either where many alumni are based, or a site they might want to visit.

—To minimize missed class time.

—To generate revenue

Not included on that list is NCAA Tournament positioning. The Tommies play in what’s almost exclusively a one-bid league, and while résumé could impact a seed in the Big Dance, the fact that it takes three conference tournament wins to even reach the NCAAs makes it a lesser priority.

This season, St. Thomas already has traveled to California, Oregon, Missouri, Washington, Montana and North Carolina, and the season is not yet two months old. It’s not ideal, but it’s a reality for St. Thomas, which has few possibilities for regional, nonconference opponents. The one obvious one, Minnesota, won’t play the Tommies. So they have to play elsewhere.

That type of travel is difficult for players to balance along with practice and academics. The latter remains of high importance at St. Thomas, where athletes typically perform better in the classroom than the general student body. That’s a standard athletics director Phil Esten demands.

The travel has to be balanced with home games to allow players to maintain some semblance of a normal schedule. Games at the new Lee & Penny Anderson Arena also are a major source of revenue for the program.

The only way for St. Thomas to get those in the nonconference slate with Division I opponents is seemingly to schedule home-and-home series. For example, the Tommies traveled to UC-Riverside last December, and the Highlanders returned the favor last weekend.

But even those are growing increasingly difficult to book because everyone wants to know what type of team they’re scheduling. Now, no one knows. In the era of the transfer portal and Name, Image and Likeness, rosters are fluid. A team’s competitiveness can change drastically season to season.

Associate head coach Mike Maker is the Tommies’ scheduling czar. Already, next season’s schedule is written on the whiteboard of his office. He’s working year round to try to find the right games for the Tommies to play. That process for this season wasn’t completed until early September, two months out from the start of the season.

“It feels almost never ending,” Tauer said.

Scheduling is an inexact science, but one that coaches deem nearly as important as coaching and recruiting. Tauer noted there is no one game that checks every box for what the program wants to achieve, before quickly correcting himself.

“I suppose a home game that’s a sellout,” he said.

Which is why the Tommies played St. John’s earlier this month; Division III opponents provide home games mid-major programs in the Midwest can’t otherwise get.

Tauer insists it was more of a risk than others may presume. Other Summit League programs have struggled against quality D3 programs this season, and the Tommies won 10 games in their first season playing Divison I basketball while largely fielding a Division III roster. The Johnnies last week trailed by just four at the half before St. Thomas pulled away.

But even with the risk, Tauer believed “the benefits of it were a lot of interest.”

“If you asked basketball fans in the state of Minnesota, it would be probably the second-most interesting game between two teams in the state that they could see,” he said. “It was a home game, it was a sellout, it allowed alums from both schools to come back. … It brought all these people together. It brought (together) two schools that used to have a wonderful rivalry, but also have a mutual respect. And so when you look at all of those (benefits), we thought that, yes, there was a risk of it, but it also was the right thing to do at the right time.”

And it was a win, which when it comes to scheduling nonconference Division I games for schools of St. Thomas’ size, aren’t easy to come by.

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