Now that the MLS is expanding to 28 teams with this announcement. https://www.espn.com/soccer/major-l...st-louis-to-be-first-female-majority-mls-side Pro - Rel in the USA - since the MLS is expanding to 28 teams, what if they created a champions league among the top 8 that played in the MLS, but also competed tournament style year in and year out for the America's cup? that way you have 8 top teams that can move up or down along with the other 20....??? What do you guys think? We could have our own sort of Tournament of champions....or even better, include the top 4, and have it be with Mexico and South America - for a TRUE Amreicas' cup. DD
I don't think there's an appetite in any American sport for pro/rel. The owners have bought into the league with certain monetary returns in mind. The owners who don't make the "super league" would be crying foul if they were suddenly making less money due to a drop in attendance, lower TV revenue (and there's barely any of that to speak of now), etc. There are certainly franchises, including the Dynamo, who could stand to feel the sting of relegation on their bottom line, but it may also cause the entire house of cards that a lot of MLS is built upon to collapse. Cities like Houston or Austin aren't going to commit as much public money to stadium projects if they risk pulling 5,000 people into second-division games. Without high property valuations and stadium ownership schemes, I can't imagine the league would be worth as much as it claims to be. Think attendance at Dynamo games is bad now? Wait until they're playing second-division semi-pros in mid-August. It'd be great to see true pro/rel in American soccer, but I don't think it's ever going to happen.
Relegation would kill a team in the US -- imagine an MLB team getting dropped to triple A the revenue stream would run into a Hoover sized dam. You have to have incredible devotion to your team like it's your community church your friends and family have been attending for generations. Americans would stop watching en masse.
Well it is not really relegation so much as Promotion to a Super league......all of them would still play in the MLS - but only a few would play in the Superleague....needs to have SA in it though. DD
That's aggressive expansion. Don't think anyone will notice or even care about product dilution, but how are they surviving at the gate when nobody really cares that much about it nationally ( just being honest ). I enjoy going to matches. but even I don't watch on ESPN that often. Relegation sounds too risky for an owner, but if it can work in Premier, it can work here too. Folks who go to the games are still going to go. You might miss out on a few good stars like Beckham ect, but don't see that as stopping the superfans from going to a relegated franchise. I'm just not sure why it's important to relegate if there is still a draft anyway. It's not like the draft is changing anyone's fortune. ...I just looked, and the average attendance is 20k per match. That's is damn good for what amounts to minor league compared to the rest of the world. That explains the expansion. I underestimated the attendance.
IIRC I read that the average attendance is like the 5th or 6th highest average for a domestic league in the world. DD
2 things that "traditionalists" want that will never happen in the US. 1. Promotion/relegation. The US system isn't set up for that. It's not like England where these teams were created in a pub in 1874 and built leagues from the ground up. These owners, especially the new ones, are paying hundreds of millions of dollars for franchise rights. No one will do that if there's the chance they'll be sent to the USL after a season. If a team like the Dynamo were to be relegated, that would be it. The franchise would fold in 2 years. 2. Changing to the European calendar. I don't know why people still ask for this but it's simply idiotic for many reasons...the least of which is that franchises north of the Mason Dixon line would be borderline unplayable for large portions of the season. I'm not crazy about the playoffs but they have to appeal to the American casual fan. At least they got rid of the shootout and the countdown clock.
Yes and it should be killed. So few quality players come from college now. There's no sense in having a draft anymore. Men's college soccer is nearly dead and the good players are catching on with MLS academy teams earlier. It was a necessity earlier on in the league but not anymore.
I'm well aware. It's the reason I didn't have a good opportunity to play Div 1 ball as I didn't want to go out of state. Doesn't change the fact that men's college soccer is near dead and the draft is pointless.
I like the academy systems from the MLS. I wish other pro sports leagues (NFL, NBA, MLB, & NHL) will start implementing the academy system in their franchise organizations. They don’t have to scout colleges and high schools to find the best players.
Top South Americans would rule if they ever tried to do an America CL for both continental halves. Mexican clubs have found their way acquiring aging stars as well, going to be interesting.
For a while sure, but they would enjoy winning and it would raise soccer up all over the Americas. DD
Pretty terrible idea. You have a lot of new markets that have been used to the lower leagues. You'll completely undercut the momentum and excitement in all the rapidly expanding markets the MLS is targeting.