“We want to be thought
of the way the Premier League is thought of, Serie A is thought of, La Liga is
thought of, the Bundesliga is thought of. When people think about the best
leagues in the world, everybody knows who they are, and we want to be one of
those leagues.” – Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber, July 2014
It also further illuminated the great challenge for Major
League Soccer if it wants to be on that level.
Even the most ardent MLS supporter – and I have not
been one – must admit the league is far from the best in the world. At
times, the league has become a laughingstock. This past week, Sacramento
Republic tried to make #BuiltForMLS
a trending hashtag and they succeeded. The problem is the hashtag trended
thanks to soccer fans mocking the league for its ineptitude.
Despite grand proclamations after each World Cup, the MLS
has not shown the type of growth you would expect from a country that has more
registered youth soccer players than all but one country in the world.
Americans love
soccer. Americans don’t love soccer in America. This is a huge problem for
the sport and needs to be addressed. It’s time for MLS to stop antagonizing and
start embracing the large numbers of Americans who only watch foreign leagues,
whether that’s EPL, Liga MX or the Champions League.
In order, here are 12 steps that MLS can take to achieve the
seemingly impossible goal of being a top league by 2022.
Move the MLS Cup
The most popular television show in America is the 4:25 p.m.
NFL game on Sunday afternoons. Guess when the MLS Cup was played in 2015? Yep,
directly opposite.
This is mind-boggling, and a recently new development. For
years, the MLS Cup was played on a Sunday – against television’s 2nd most
popular show, Sunday Night Football. Then, the game was moved to a Saturday
afternoon against the SEC Title Game, which is annually one of college
football’s most-watched games of the year.
Why? Why? Why? The ratings from 2015 were frighteningly
bad, falling far short of regular season NHL games and early morning EPL games.
The MLS Cup cannot be programmed against football in December and expect to
stay relevant.
The MLS needs to follow the lead of other sports and give up
the fight against the NFL. If the MLS Cup absolutely must stay at the first
week of December, it needs to be moved to a weeknight. On a Tuesday night,
maybe ESPN can treat what should be America’s biggest soccer game like an
actual event.
Stop Adding Teams
There are 20 teams in EPL, La Liga and Ligue 1. There are 18
teams in Liga MX and the Bundesliga. So why on Earth does MLS want to have 24
teams by 2020 and a ridiculous
28 teams as the ultimate goal?
The quality of play in MLS is behind other top leagues and
adding more teams only thins out rosters to drag play down even further. We all
know what is driving this, as expansion teams cough up an insane $100 million
to join. But since none of this money has made its way into salaries, it hasn’t
done the league any good.
The perfect number for MLS is 20 teams, split into two
10-team conferences. This is not rocket science.
Scrap the Current
Playoff Format
In a league with 30 teams, MLB has 10 teams that make the
playoffs. In a league with 20 teams, MLS has 12 teams make the playoffs. I
wonder why no one cares about the MLS regular season?
Personally, I would remove all playoff games from the MLS
because they have provided little to no tangible benefits. But I comprehend that
MLS Cup is a necessary evil in the American sports landscape. Still, the fact
that 60% of teams make the playoffs is absurd.
I would suggest the perfect number is 3 or 4 per conference
– with 3 giving the top team a bye, while 4 would be acceptable if finishing
first had another benefit. Regardless, 12 is far too many and hurting the
overall product.
Change the Champions
League Qualifications
Due to Canadian teams involved, the Champions League
qualifications are full of if’s. If a Canadian team wins, if the Supporters
Shield team wins the MLS Cup, if, if, if. It’s not good because it confuses the
casual fan.
Because the schedules are not identical, it would be unfair
for MLS to take just the top four. Instead, take the top two regular season
finishers in each conference. That’s it. Make it simple.
The winner of the MLS Cup won the MLS Cup and the winner of
the US Open Cup won the US Open Cup, those are trophies and should suffice. The
league needs to focus on creating urgency in the regular season for the top
teams, instead of coasting into the playoffs, and this is how you do it.
Stop Playing during
FIFA International Windows
I don’t have much to say here because it’s ridiculous. MLS
is the only American sport that would dare play regular season games without
its best players. Could you imagine if the NHL kept playing during the
Olympics? Could you imagine if the Cavs played one game with LeBron playing
elsewhere?
It’s unthinkable because it’s stupid. If every other league
can figure out how to schedule around these breaks – and MLS plays fewer games
than others – than MLS can figure it out too. How does playing games opposite
the World Cup help anyone?
Scrap the All-Star
Game
If you want to be perceived as a top league, it’s not
a good look to have all your best players on one side against an European
club. You’re telling the entire world you’re a minor league. This is bad.
I understand the need for a mid-season showcase, so why not
make it a benefit for winning, say, the US Open Cup or MLS Cup? The team that
wins that Cup gets to host a mid-season showcase against the top European club.
You can still name an All-Star team, and maybe do a skills completion before
the showcase game to keep that signature event on the calendar.
Stop Signing Old
Players
David Beckham was a landmark
signing for MLS because, despite his advanced age, he was still a
world-class footballer that could play at the top level. He was also a huge
star and brought much-needed attention to a league that desperately needed it
at the time.
You know what MLS doesn’t need? Guys like Ashley Cole and
Steven Gerrard, who could no longer compete in EPL, being granted massive
contracts to finish out their career. The “retirement
league” stigma looms over MLS on a daily basis.
Instead of spending money on older players that don’t bring
fans to the league, funnel that money into developing young American players
and signing overlooked talent wasting away on the benches of top European
clubs.
Increase Emphasis on
U.S. Open Cup
I never know when the US Open Cup is on. That’s probably
because it’s not on. The US Open Cup is the only part of American soccer that
has ever emulated European soccer. Since it features teams from NASL, MLS rarely
promotes it properly.
MLS needs to realize that a smaller division club upsetting
MLS teams is a good thing, because it adds the needed pressure to the
proceedings. Make the US Open Cup a signature event and push for a television
deal that puts it on ESPN, Fox Sports 1 or NBCSN. This could be a signature
event and another way to grab casual fans. March Madness shows us every year
that people love knockout tournaments and they love big upsets.
Scrap the DP Rule
It’s ridiculous that guys making far less than I are
professional soccer players in this country, playing alongside guys making
millions. When new teams are paying $100 million for the right to join the
league, it’s criminal.
Allow teams to pay players fair value. If superclubs emerge,
that’s a good thing. The “parity” in MLS looks suspiciously like mediocrity,
and top leagues are not mediocre.
Increase Emphasis on
Champions League
Right as the 2016 MLS season started, MLS clubs were
slaughtered by their Mexican counterparts in an embarrassing display. While the
American soccer media came out of the woodwork to defend
the performance, it was pathetic.
The Champions League needs to be a focus for MLS. Once the
DP rule is scrapped and teams can develop depth on their rosters, they can
start competing with Mexican clubs. You can’t be a top league if Liga MX bashes
your brains in every February.
End the Single Entity
Ownership
Once we’ve reached this point, it’s time to end the single
entity ownership that is ultimately the anchor around the neck of MLS. Cut the
cord and let teams live and die on their own. There may be attrition, but
that’s the beauty of capitalism.
Simply put, the league will never, ever be a top league in
its current structure because there’s no room for growth. Right now, it make no
sense to scrap the single entity structure since the league is losing money.
After instituting these first 10 steps, MLS might eventually be closer to
turning a profit.
Push for Promotion
& Relegation
Yes, this is the ultimate goal – to open up American soccer
to everyone. Right now, the league is focused on big markets and desperately
emulating the NFL. It’s not working.
I fully understand, as with the single entity, that MLS and
the US Soccer Federation can’t institute
promotion/relegation right now. Instead, a roadmap must put in place that
marks out how that end goal can be achieved.
It doesn’t matter how that plan looks like – it could be
dividing the U.S. up into two regions for travel, or maybe it’s dividing the
top division’s conferences differently each year based on location. What
matters is that everyone involved in American soccer puts their heads together,
negotiate a solution and put it in action.
Why Soccer Works
Everywhere Else
During a recent EPL game, the announcer summed up the thrill
of English football right now: “There’s a battle for first, there’s a battle
for fourth and there’s a battle to stay up.”
Every year as the MLS regular season winds down, the only
battle is between mediocre teams that can’t finish in the top half of the
table.
MLS isn’t a top league but it’s not completely broken. At least
not yet.
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