Sporting Sign Free Agent Bartlow

Sporting Kansas City continued their signing spree ahead of First Kick for the 2026 MLS season with the signing of free agent Ethan Bartlow. Bartlow is a center back who spent all of preseason with Sporting. He signs a contract with the club through the 2026 MLS season with options for the shortened 2027 season and the 2027-2028 MLS season. Bartlow joins Sporting from the Houston Dynamo, having spent his entire professional career with the organization.

In preseason with Sporting he appeared in five of Kansas City’s six preseason games. He becomes the fourth center back for Sporting KC, joining Ian James, Wyatt Meyer, and Jansen Miller.

Bartlow was drafted by the Dynamo as a Generation Adidas player out of the University of Washington in the 2021 MLS SuperDraft with the sixth overall pick. Bartlow didn’t appear at all in the 2021 season in part because of a concussion he suffered in preseason. He made his MLS debut in the 2021 season, appearing fifteen times for the club in league play. He set a career high for appearances in the 2023 season when he appeared in twenty-seven games for the Dynamo. He was part of the Dynamo squad that won the 2023 US Open Cup, appearing in four of the Dynamo’s five matches, missing out on the final.

Overall in his career with Houston, Bartlow appeared in eighty league games for the Dynamo. He’s set to score a goal in his professional career, but has recorded three assists in MLS play. Bartlow’s signing means that all three of Sporting’s trialists that started preseason with the club have been signed to contract. He joins Wyatt Meyer and Jayden Reid, signing with the club for the 2026 MLS season.