Why Isn't The MLS Rivalling Europe's Biggest Leagues Yet? 

I might be in the minority here, but I don’t think the MLS needs to rival Europe. I just want it to stay healthy financially, and find a way to keep developing young players. As long as it stays viable to continue to operate and in a way that allows young players can develop their skills and, if possible, find a career then the MLS is everything I want it to be. I don’t want to see teams buying big names. I want to see kids from my hometown get a shot at a career.

I will tell you, in the past 10 years, the sport's popularity has gone through the roof. Most are younger. The popular of MLS varies a lot by market. Thankfully teams are moving post signing old former stars and towards signing the Almirons

As a fan of one of the more prominent MLS clubs (Seattle Sounders), I find it difficult to catch a game broadcast on TV and streaming services. I can only imagine how much difficulty it must cause for fans from smaller, less marketed Clubs.

i remember when beckham came to the us when I was a kid. it was like a alien had visited us from outerspace. my mom drove me all the way out to see him play and its a core memory to this day. he scored two goals

As an American and an MLS fan, I think this video is 100% spot on. I think one of the biggest things MLS has going against it currently is just how new it is for many teams. In contrast to the rest of the league, here in the Pacific Northwest, the Portland Timbers (of whom I am a supporter) The Seattle Sounders, and Vancouver Whitecaps have been battling each other across various leagues for almost 50 years now. These rivalries are ingrained in Cascadian soccer for generations at this point. So long as the MLS continues it’s sustained growth, the rest of the league will eventually obtain the same generational passion for the sport as it is here in Cascadia. MLS is in a good place and I’m excited to see it continue to grow. One additional point I would make is that this year, there’s a good chance we’ll see an MLS team finally win the CCL and putting a team on the world stage. This can help build the sport here as well.

Its worth mentioning that football is often referred to as soccer here in Ireland because we have our own form of football and thats Gaelic football and so the word soccer is often used to distinguish from it from Gaelic football which is primarily called football by GAA fans.

It’s been absolutely amazing to watch the transformation of soccer/football in the American market over the last 15-20 years. The next 15-20 should be equally as interesting.

I think that the sport is becoming more popular here in the United States. I do not think that the MLS has to try and match, replicate, or compete with Europe's top leagues to gain popularity, but I feel that if the league grows its own way and develops its own culture and identity, it could certainly develop an intimacy for the sport here in the US.

An emerging problem that may become more apparent soon is the idea of ownership groups taking players from their MLS teams for their European teams. Especially as a Red Bulls fan myself, we have seen a good amount of our emerging talent, such as Tyler Adams and Caden Clark, get shipped over to Leipzig when it wouldn’t make much sense for the team to do so. As more large owners who want a piece of the MLS pie come in bringing their overseas ties with them, this may create a feeder status of some teams in the league which would definitely hinder the growth of the league overall.

I think another issue is that European clubs have been traditionally a huge presence in their local communities. The grounds (pre-the new build stadia) were tucked away in working class residential areas and supporting the local team by going to the match a well-established ritual even for the lower income citizens. Travel to away matches for fans is also a big feature of European club football, where opponents are often based within two hours of terrestrial travel. In America the huge distances between cities means that local derby vibe doesn't exist - thousands of fans are not going to travel 1,000 miles from Los Angeles to Denver to watch a football match. Difficult then for American clubs to generate that obsessive and dedicated support for the team that is commonly found in Europe.

Personally, as a MLS fan, MLS needs to simplify its roster rules. Keep the DP rule and make the salary cap $20 million for now. That allows teams a lot more flexibility in terms of spending while allowing the bigger teams to spend a bit more. Also, this upcoming TV Deal needs to be good. 150-300 million would be great tbh and they need to work with the Hispanic networks more as well. The fixes are doable. The game is growing and we will see another new team in St. Louis City join next year! But teams need simpler roster building rules and the league needs a better TV deal. Those 2 things would go a long way with getting MLS specifically, to grow even more than it has been!

It'll be really interesting to see how MLS does over the next 2 to 4 years, now that Apple has pumped something like $10bil into broadcast rights for the next decade. Really hope you'll do a follow up on this. And you're definitely right, we're more team based than league based; I'm definitely a Seattle Sounders >>> MLS kind of fan.

Was at that Charlotte FC game and am glad you shouted us out. It was cool to see the sport of soccer grow in the country and in my home state of North Carolina. I think another reason why the MLS is being held back is because of how different it s from every other league. Our manager and sporting director have already shown their frustrations in the rules for tranfers and our transfer window was abysmal.

Even though removing the salary cap would benefit my team(LA Galaxy) I still think it would be a bad idea. The fact that smaller markets like Portland, Kansas City, Columbus and RSL can complete with NY and LA is great can keeps things competitive. League revenue is the most important thing to increase the salary cap and make signs at the salary of Insigne possible.

As an American getting into futbol, it’s much easier to watch PL games than MLS games. I live in the Bay Area but even the local NBC stations don’t play earthquake games. But they do play Leeds United games, so as a 49er fan I’ve adopted them as my team. It’s just easier to find the games on TV to be put simply

Channels like yours covering the MLS has a bigger effect on the leagues growth than you probably think. Love your channel - please consider doing more MLS/USMNT content, even if it’s smaller production stuff that’s easier for you to research and less comprehensive than league spanning ones like this. Cheers brotha 🍻

The lack of relegation and importance of european spots means even if there is more variety in who wins leagues there is zero reason to even play for teams with no chance to win the league. It's all focused on winning.

I find a lot of people that call for a huge pyramid in the US don't recognize a couple fundamental problems with its implementation here. 1) The country is genuinely massive. Travel costs get ridiculous fairly quick. You would need to divisionalize the sport rapidly as every single on of our professional leagues already does. This would make the pyramid system a mess and/or make the development of stable rivalries challenging depending on promoted and relegates teams. 2) The interest in a small local professional team would never override the local high school or college team. There is a genuine love affair with high school and college sport in this country and they will bankrupt most lower league systems overnight. There would never be any competition, because even if there was the same level of soccer fervor here that exists in other countries, the lower league teams would get destroyed by the college and high school system. The NCAA (the National Collegiate Athletics Association for my foreign friends) is one of the most powerful organizations in this entire country and has made the NBA and NFL bend to it before with college requirements before draft. A pyramid is genuinely unrealistic in my opinion no matter how much I would love to see it happen, there's just too much standing in its way here, not even mentioning the franchise system.

Overall when factoring in other leagues for competition, the fact that MLS clubs can pull in anywhere from 12-40,000 regularly when not having the world's best players...is pretty good. NFL, MLB, NHL and NBA are the obvious"big boys". But here in Canada you also have CFL, junior hockey. In the USA you have things like NASCAR and college sports drawing in massive crowds. I live in Southern Ontario (about 90ish minutes from Toronto) and I see far more people wearing shirts or hats from clubs in England, Spain or Italy than I do TFC. Still a massive European population here, parents or grandparents that moved to Canada and kids raised on their parents clubs. Also do to the ridiculous cost of youth hockey, youth football (soccer) has as far as I know, always been number one in Canada. Back when I was in school in the 90s, only one friend played hockey, the rest all played football.

Love the video Alfie, and appreciate that you're one of the few European channels that will cover the MLS and more broadly soccer in North America without any condescension. On an unrelated note in Regard to the Video Darryl Dike's name is actually just pronounced like the letters D K, learned that when he played at the same club as my younger brother. Thanks for always putting out great content so consistently, it is appreciated worldwide.

This is a great video. I do think one point worth mentioning is history. Not in the sense that history for the sake of history is important but rather in the sense that most European teams were "born" at a time when professionalization was new (or still to come) and thus were cheap to run, accessible, and a genuine part of the community as the teams contained almost exclusively locals. Many more popular American sports teams started the same way, growing alongside their communities and the nation as a whole. It's relatively intangible but gives a sense of connection that I think is lacking in the US. Oh, and as an MLS fan living in Boston, it would be great if our stadium weren't 30 miles from Boston with no transit connection for MLS matches.

Hey Alfie, I just thought of a cracking idea for a video you could do on the turbulent recent history of Goztepe in the Super Lig. They’re one of the Super Lig’s most well supported clubs (a bit like a Newcastle United, Sunderland or Strasbourg if you may). In the 2001/02 season, they finished seventh in the top flight, however from 2002 to 2008, they were relegated five times in six seasons, due to their inability to reduce their outstanding debt which resulted in the football club being banned from signing new players during that time. In August of 2007, a business based in Istanbul, vowed to take them back to the top flight making them one of the top five clubs in the country, but they were met with lots of suspicions from the fan base, and then they handed over the ownership to another bloke called Mehmet Sepil in 2014. Anyway, they’re back in the Super Lig as a solid mid table/weaker top half team. Why am I bringing all this up? Because apparently Abramovich is looking to possibly buy the club himself, after being sanctioned from the UK. It’s a crazy crazy story and may you could look into this, not to mention, they are not only a rare example of a club that is considered a neighbourhood club, as well as the fact that they’ve played in 3 different stadiums since 2011, but also in 1969, they became the first Turkish football team to play a semi-final of a European competition.

It's pronounced Too-sawn. Also, there needs to be more done to unite the NCAA collegiate level with the pro league so we can be excited about young players and brew some homegrown stars for people to follow

I gotta say that when Giovinco was here in Toronto it was probably the most popular the MLS had been here in Canada. Was at both Finals in Toronto. The one in 2017 was probably the closest I'd ever get to experiencing what a ucl final would be like

Very informative and fair. As a season ticket holder of a USL-Championship team and a NWSL team, I am shocked at the lack of news coverage by US soccer publications that promote European football. Also, there are fantasy soccer leagues in America, but only Premier League games, not MLS games.

I am an Fc Cincinnati fan in the MLS. If there was promotion and relegation (which I'm not against) in the MLS we would have been relegated 3 times now. But I feel like our club is very unique they started the club from scratch in 2015 and were put in the 2nd division the USL. And the FANS made the club so special, our attendance for matches in the USL is how the club attracted the attention from Don Garber and the MLS. If it weren't for the fans, FC Cincinnati wouldn't be in the MLS, and Cincinnati wouldn't be hosting World Cup qualifiers against our biggest rival Mexico. Although we as a club haven't seen success in the MLS yet, I think the short history of the club is truly special and very unique compared to any other club across the globe. The FANS took this club to the top flight and that is something to be proud of.

I was at the Charlotte FC game last Saturday. We had a better crowd than for the Panthers (NFL) games, and that’s really saying something. People are excited about soccer over here.

Could you please do a video about what is going in Bordeaux ? 6th largest city in France yet, bottom of Ligue 1 and suffered a humiliating 2-0 home defeat at home to Troyes at the weekend. I've read a bit into and basically they have American owners who have stopped investing.

A lot of interesting things in this video, which is a good one. One thing that I think the MLS needs to copy the Premier League and NFL on is a MOTD/Sunday Night football equivalent, at least during games in the NFL offseason. I think another key part of growing soccer here is youth products from MLS moving to Europe and having success there. So many people know Pulisic but if people from their town/state make it in Europe it would grow the game. Also Tucson is pronounced TOO-sahn

I think the MLS is actually doing well, as the 2022 MLS Cup final between the Philadelphia Union and LAFC drew an audience of 1.487 million viewers on Fox, and it was on a Saturday afternoon meaning that it had heavy competition from College Football and was basically the lead-in for game six of the MLB World Series between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Houston Astros... A problem that I see with the MLS is that whenever a big star from Europe comes over it seems like the MLS only wants them to go to the teams in the New York and Los Angeles markets

MLS needs to be expanded. Think of it like this: 40 teams. 20 in each conference. There’s a regular season just like those in Europe. Team at the top of the table of each conference gets their league title(supporters shield). Winners of each conference face eachother in an MLS Supercup. Top 8 teams of each conference advance to the MLS Cup which starts with a Round of 16. DONT PAY ME JUST DO IT!

Most of Europe's favorite sport/past time is football and it's not even close against other sports. In the US it's still the 4th behind basketball, american football, baseball and none of those sports have the same huge gap against the others. I really feel that's the main thing causing the ceiling for the MLS.

I live in MN. 8-10 yrs ago we had nothing, now we have a beautiful modern stadium packed to watch a competitive team. That’s big time growth. Super accessible high-level soccer. And every week some kid from MN signs for either an academy somewhere or an actual MLS club. MLS is just right for the amount of enthusiasm for soccer in America. Lovely.

Being able to view games on the internet has also been a great boon to MLS. It would impossible to negotiate with other sports leagues in the US to schedule games not on top of other sports, but being able to view highlights, pipe in games from ESPN+ and not have to deal with TV commercials really had helped out.

You should do a video on Detroit City FC, probably the most successful independent team on the states whose fan base openly is anti MLS and their fan base is absolutely rabid. Would be interesting to hear an outsiders perspective on them.

Love your videos and research mate, keep it up 🙌

Great video. Really wish soccer/football would take off here in the US. It was so disregarded in my home state that I grew up never even seeing a school with a pitch until I was in college. It is a game I wish I could have grown up playing for my school. I've grown to love it as I got older and watched it on my own. Also, Tucson in Arizona is pronounced Two-son or Two-sun.

The tile is a little insulting. The league isn’t even 30 yers old. On the other hand I feel like it’s made great strides. 1. For the past 15 years they’ve done a better job of understanding markets. It’s not a coincidence that teams since Seattle sounded have usually been the better selling teams 2. I know some people hate the fact that we are losing more and more young talent to Europe, but this is also a good sign. It means the league isn doing a amazing job at raising the product in general. 3. Marketing has greatly improved to the point that people in the eastern hemisphere actually know the MLS exists and do know some teams. 4. The financial and popularity of the league actually was able to convince Messi to give up a huge upfront payday from the SPL for a large and more long term financial gain from the MLS Now what do I think needs to happen to improve the league? 1. Get higher end guys with top 5 league coaching experience here. 2. Be willing to take losses to ensure they don’t cut corners with ensuring MLS next and next pro is a solid option for anyone with dreams of being a pro.

As a soccer fan non US international living in the US you are absolutely spot on. This might be your best current analysis video and that is saying something. The salary cap as Rooney said once is what is limiting the league heavily, since I know that if teams could invest in real starpower viewership would rise not only in the US but also worldwide. In addition, not only for MLS but for American soccer in general, they need a villain. THey need a powerful team better than everyone else and some creative or talented minds to challenge them, which would bring fans who would polarize the sport, some sort of Kevin Durant to the Warriors in recent times, this attracts popular interest, creates stars and develop narratives, is just that every opportunity American players can they are encouraged to jump the ship to Europe (And righfullly so) which hinders the development of exciting talent. It is the same problem that Brazil has but without the sustained club history and culture, also without commanding the same transfer fees.

Excellent! This is a very well researched and informative video. You make great points throughout, and you clearly know what you’re talking about. This video more than earned my sub, and a mental note to keep an eye out for your new videos while I catch up on the backlog for your channel. Well done!

It's not just the TV Networks here "Don't get it." It's that they actively refuse to get it. There is still a very strong old guard in the networks and sports media that actively sneers at the sport, let alone MLS. So until that generation of Youth grows up, I agree, there will be resistance to anything like Monday Night Football, or even a designated day to watch MLS, in this country. This ties into the ingrained sports issue. Baseball may be waning. But the executives and media elite still love it. Ditto the NHL in Canada. And the NFL is a media behemoth it's own stupidity can't stifle. So this will always affect MLS to a degree. As for Pro/Rel, I agree it's not the silver bullet Europhiles think it is. At some point, MLS will not be able to expand further. I think 32 teams is a good number, given the size of the country. Furthermore, the #SaveTheCrew movement, and the SportingKC revival before that, shows that at least in the Original MLS cities (NYC and Dallas excepted), and places like Seattle and Portland, there is a real tie to the community. At some point. MLS will have to divide in some way. How that works is probably a discussion for after my lifetime, however. The real frustration for me is the idea, almost unique to American "fans," that one can run their domestic league through the mud, actively oppose it no matter what it does, never go to a game, and still claim to support the sport because they watch the Premier League. One would never see a Dutch fan trash the Eresdivisie because it's not the EPL. But American "fans" have no problem trashing MLS. And not just legitimate discussions/critique. But outright claiming it would be better to not have a domestic league. As someone who lived in the days between NASL and MLS. And who remembers what it was like to have no attachment to a sport I loved. No. It wouldn't be.

Ironically, I saw a England sports panel show last year, and the panel was talking about the dynamics of different soccer leagues, and the majority of that panel said that if England could start their league system over from scratch, they'd favor having a salary cap like the MLS does (and some on the panel even said they'd not have pro/rel). Due to "Tradition" (Fiddler On The Roof begins playing in my head), that will never happen, but they said that if they could start over from scratch, that's what that panel favored.

The idea that Americans "don't get soccer" is absurd. We get hockey and lacrosse which have similar setups and rules at their core; we get basketball which is similarly constructed: one goal on each side of a playing surface, score by putting a ball or puck into the goal opposite of the goal you are trying to prevent the other team from scoring on. It's not that complicated, outside of offsides restrictions, everything is fairly straightforward. American football and baseball are infinitely more convoluted in terms of strategies, rules and objectives.

One plus of mls is that our VAR system is much faster and more accurate than anywhere else, with less fans groaning about it since our sports have had video review since the mid-1990s

Big ups to your videos, HITC Sevens. Always love how you dig into each video following thorough context. It is impossible to discuss MLS without mentioning the other major leagues in the United States, and I hope that this episode shed more light to global football fans on why MLS operates the way that it does/how it operates. I did an episode on my channel feat. the most famous owners in MLS and I truly believe that this league is in the beginning stages of maturation. It's notable to mention that the NBA & NFL took years to become established...and even had competitors. MLS is top-dog in the soccer pyramid here in the United States...and with it being founded in 1996...you could argue that it's already ahead of those leagues in its current lifespan. I only expect major things out of Major League Soccer in the future. Stay tuned!

Great video mate!

Now with Apple TV and Messi, the leagues prospects have never looked brighter imo. Of course, the news that Suarez is joing Barca FC in Miami is amazing.

I've just found your channel through recommends. Directed here from football manager and now football news guy Zealand FM lol. Really great stuff, glad I found it!

Very well thought out video. As a fan of Atlanta United I agree with a lot of your points. I do think the league is trending in the right direction but growth is limited until they are able to get a big TV contract which would enable to league to drastically increase the salary cap

Europeans be like “football is a beautiful sport that everybody on earth should be able to enjoy… except Americans because they call it something else”

Little does he know Messi is now here 1 year later🎉!

As a Montreal Impact (I mean CF Montreal...) fan, I still can't believe Drogba came over here to play for us. What a positive impact (pun intended) his presence has made for the sport in Quebec!

"Tucson" being pronounced like that brought physical pain lol Otherwise, great video per usual, highlighting the issues specific to MLS

Totally rad video, Alfie, and a couple things were interesting to me: 1) I think there’s definitely a longer piece to be done specifically on the impact of NBC’s PL broadcast deal in 2013 on US football’s growth (between much better on-air talent and showing vastly more matches, it was a huge game-changer) 2) You touched a little bit on the salary cap in MLS. It’s something that I see many European fans bring up aspirationally, and it’s not usually covered this way overseas (or very much here, given traditional sports media’s heavy anti-labor slant), but the purpose of the salary cap in US sports is to drive player wages down. One of the big issues in the just-resolved MLB lockout were changes to the luxury tax system that the players felt came too close to a de facto cap (baseball is the only US sport without one, and it’s players are the best-compensated).

This video is spot on. The type of competition the league has is unique to other US leagues. Soccer can have cross continental cups and attract media in different avenues. Local teams can play at halftime shows. The atmosphere of the ultras makes the sport a showcase thanks to the fans. The diversity of broadcast helps the sport. I could turn to three different channels to hear MLS games broadcast in different languages. The reach is different yet similar. I think the game would benefit from cross promotion as I have seen watching other sports and having the athletes shown on talk shows or other media to promote games and the sport.

You missed one huge point, advertising. American sports TV deals are MASSIVE but just not as good for a sport with no built in commercial breaks

i think the biggest issue for the mls and US soccer in general is the youth talent development strategy in the country. The coaching is sub par and borderline half assed in my experience, only until reaching the elite academies of your region or USA regional odp facilities; furthermore, many are underpaid and take on responsibility of multiple teams at once or outside work . Not to mention the pay wall into youth 'club' and 'academy' teams as they have monthly club dues/fees, totaling at approximately $5K US (circa 2015 @ california). For the exception of 2-5 individuals on scholarship in a 200+ youth club (ages 7-17), funds are typically used by youth clubs for the maintenance of facilities in the aim of meeting requirements for 3rd party events such as hosting a regional/state tournament or collegiate exhibitions rather than resources/development for their youth... Something about showing up for a college tryout/eval and seeing all the uni coaches huddled around the cash box collecting their cut while running warm ups really drives the nail in the coffin for me lmao

The reasoning for the change in the fantasy MLS format is because daily and weekly fantasy games are very popular in the US for Basketball, Baseball and American Football.

I've started watching more over the last 10 years and my son plays more. However, watching MLS is a lot more difficult (and expensive) then watching Europe. I can follow many of the leagues and watch every Champions league game on streaming pretty simply. Living in Colorado I can't even find a reasonable option to follow the rapids on TV and although I would probably watch major clashes eventually, having a team to cheer for is usually the entry point to a league for me.

I actually think that the salary cap the MLS has is one of their BEST features. Having THAT competitive of a league, where any given club could win on any given match day, keeps things much more interesting than watching one of: MUFC, MCFC, LVPOOL, CFC win the prem every year.

I do think when it comes to broadcasting the game that the MLS has to outgrow it’s obsession to be European since the US does such an amazing job in sports media since it’s the place where the 24/7 sports channels were born. They manage to make the pre and post game coverage of all sports fun with ex pros that welcome reading stats, good hosts and a nice understanding of what the fans want to watch. Baseball games are boring but analysts manages to make it fun by telling stories out of numbers which is a far cry from sky sports spending hours talking about a club’s future all because the manager’s body language isnt “nice” that one time

There's something else holding back MLS - Americans. There is legitimate antipathy towards MLS from large sections of the American public and even from within the sports media. Some people merely think that MLS is an inferior product to the elite European leagues (which isn't incorrect) and prefer to fawn over leagues that they'll never be able to watch play a meaningful game in person without a passport and investment of several thousand dollars per trip. Others think that MLS should be burned to the ground and replaced with an exact replica of the English pyramid (Anglophilia is a real problem with this lot, not to mention avoidance of reality), and others still think that only effeminate commie socialist foreigners play soccer, and "real men" play American Football or other "real" American sports, never mind that the only truly "American" sports are lacrosse and monster-truck racing. Everything else is an adaption of British sports (football, cricket, golf) or otherwise uses the classic English field-sports model (basketball and hockey). Media figures used to actually mock MLS along those lines, and although prime offenders like Keith Olbermann and Jim Rome have large faded off into relative obscurity, their still exists a sort of "why do we have to talk about this?" mentality within the world of sports broadcasting. You still hear talking heads mispronouncing team and player names - just like how Alfie can't pronounce "Tuscon" - with disturbing frequency. Things are changing, however slowly, and while the haters will continue to whine incessantly, they're gradually being drowned out by MLS fans cheering for their home sides.

I think it's a process that continues to grow and evolve and in the grand scheme of things, MLS is still a very young league. MLS has grown by leaps and bounds not just in the number of teams, but in its youth development. As the league has grown, it has improved the quality on the field, which has led to better TV contracts, which eventually is used to increase the salary cap, which is used to increase the quality on the field, which has led to better TV contracts, and so on. One of the aspects of this improvement has been the recent competitiveness against Liga MX teams in inter-league contests. We are also seeing a growing number of MLS academy products being picked up by European clubs. Let's put a pin in this and revisit it in about another 15 to 20 years.

On the broadcasting issue, the MLS could also do a better job in terms of distribution. For example, some team games are available through Dazn, while other games are through traditional cable providers. I have sometimes tried to follow an entire season of MLS, just to realize that my service provider for sports (currently DAZN) only has a few games!

Great video, one thing that European football should implement is a salary cap. I think (like noted in the video) it will increase the competitiveness of world football and avoid teams being liquidated or get in Barcelona like trouble

MLS is definitely a growing league, especially with the downfall of baseball in the last few years. In regards to the salary cap, I think that it is a useful tool that helps small market teams to compete better and more often. The club I support in the MLS, Sporting KC, is definitely a smaller market team that has benefited from the salary cap. Look at the baseball team in KC, the Royals, who have made the play offs a grand total of 3 times since 1985. This is due to the lack of a salary cap in baseball and in inability for smaller teams to sign the big name players. But I'm still in favor of expanding the salary cap, so the league can grow as a whole The youth development system in the US is also terrible because you need to pay to play. This leads to some of the best athletes not being able to play because their family can't afford to send them to a youth academy. I am a big fan of MLS and I want to see it grow. I would do anything for it to become a top 3 sport in the US

Good video. Thanks.

Thoroughly enjoyed this. I've been a fan of the game since the mid 80's while living in Italy and am now a season ticket holder for my local MLS club. Whether people like to think so or not, there's the issue of "demand" when creating a market for soccer in the US. I applaud MLS for doing a great job of fast-tracking the league while not overextending itself as failed leagues have done in the past. They've carefully plotted out a future and required a huge risk investment from franchise owners (with assurances) to create a firm foundation for growth. But you cant just create an audience out of thin air or overnight just by throwing tons of money at it. The popularity of the sport in the US has to grow organically over time at a grassroots level to earn the respect and interest of the local teams' audiences and gain a consistent level of "fan loyalty" that will sustain itself through success and failures. That quite simply, takes time. I'll also add that the inherent competitiveness of MLS due to salary caps is what will ultimately be its advantage in the future in terms of competing with other leagues globally. FFP is a strong indication that Europe also knows this.

The World Series is named such bc The World, a news paper, was the first sponsor of the championship series. Nothing to do with earth as a whole.

I'm a relatively newer soccer fan here in the US and I'd agree with pretty much everything you said. I don't watch many MLS games if they compete with some other major sporting event. And my local team, FC Tulsa, aren't joining the top league unless one of the oil barons in town ponies up some serious money.

If ESPN fails at promoting the NHL which they paid to be able to broadcast, I doubt mls will get a lot of promotion until ownership and sports broadcasting monopoly changes

As a fan of Minnesota United which is considered a "small market team" would hate the lose of salary caps. In Baseball teams like the Yankees even with the caps still run over smaller market teams. The reason for caps is just to make sure teams that teams from NY, LA and other huge cities. Can't control the game. As a Minnesota Twins (Baseball) fan we have won the World Series. But it is still hard against the big market teams. But it does happen thanks to the caps.

As an ex Brit living in the neighboring state that Tucson is in, I have to say I love the mispronunciation of Tucson here!

It’s a good League, it is rising and Good teams in the league.

It’s crazy you brought up CLTFC because I was at that game!! What are the odds?!

Watching this now in June 2023 knowing that Messi went to Miami is crazy

I'm from Phoenix and my local club is Rising FC. We compete in the 2nd division, and are one of, if not the best sides in the league, most every year. Your point about promotion/relegation in the US has a lot of truth to it, as I personally would feel much more connection to my club knowing that we could potentially earn our way to the top flight, playing against the best in the country. I can see how that would be detrimental too, but I think that the positives will outweigh the negatives in that respect.

If the MLS/US style wage caps where adopted across football in general (a total none starter I know) but the effect would be mind boggling. The gap between big and small clubs and one to league and another would shrink and football as a whole would be come so much more competitive. Take the "Champions" League how many of the teams in the quarter finals are actually their leagues champions? And look at the perspective of say the champions of Belgium or Sweden. The best they can hope for is a couple of games against one of the European big boys and a financial pay day to keep the team going and maybe keep a star player or two. We all know this will never happen as FIFA and UEFA chase bigger revenues and inflate the big clubs. As a football fan what would you rather watch Man City steam roller Sporting 5-0 or two more evenly matched teams play out a 3-2 thriller?

Fantastic job!

I mean the MLS doesn't need to compete against europe as long as it improves the national team in the long run. Now a days is the best CONCACAF nation and by a long shot.

Did I just hear “Tuck-son Arizona”

From a personal standpoint, the main reason I struggle to watch not only the MLS but any American sport is the time difference. Most of the games start at late times in Europe which probably does impact viewing figures. And if you arent regularly watching something, it will be harder to keep interest in it. Edit: just on the point about the League of Ireland, while games are typically shown on Fridays to avoid clashes with the Premier League, there are scarce amount of games on television anyway so it is either go out to watch the game or watch a Premier League game on TV.

Late comment here but it's a combination of a bad TV deal for both the league and club tournament (us open cup) and salary cap. It's hard to find games on TV and with a cap on spending hurts drawing players to MLS. We also still draft players instead of having a good academy systems to have internal growth. The reserve teams are blocked from the US open cup due to the major clubs withholding good reserve players from the reserve clubs.

I love that you featured a picture of the pistons they’ll be great soon

The U.S. audience has a lot on its plate: NFL, MLB, NBA, College 🏈, NHL, College 🏀, LIGA-MX 🇲🇽, Euro ⚽️, MLS... not to mention Golf, Tennis, Boxing, MMA...

As a San Antonio FC fan I would absolutely love for USA to get Pro/Rel and see SAFC get promoted while Austin FC get relegated.

This video is the most radical one I've watched all day

Imagine 200 years in the future, where MLS is the most competitive and compelling league and European leagues just big names destroying newly promoted side 5-0 and won domestic titles more than 5 in a row. I mean, it happens right now tbh, but it wasn't that very clear. But FM23 tells it all.

I like the Major League Soccer extremely so much daily and ever and hoping the league to produce the relegation and promotion system from the lower men's American leagues as soon as possible,good friends!!!By the way,I like all the respective men's soccer teams daily and ever as well and slowly watching some of the respective matches,good friends!!!:-D

There's only so much they can do without the UCL

Daryl Dike- (Dee-kay) is the correct pronunciation. Appreciate the comprehensive video though, Alfie. Cheers from a New England Revolution and Birmingham City supporter.

I know it would be bordering on impossible but I would still like to see relegation and promotion rules be applied to U.S. Soccer; the idea of taking your hometown up and up in greatness is so compatable to the American Dream mentality that some still feel exists. Maybe Ted Lasso's popularity and showing of how it works for a team to go through could help it out? Idk lol

Loved the video! I always tell people that yes, Europe is higher quality, but MLS is just more fun. The atmosphere, the growth, the level of competition. And also that new people are coming to be invested in teams every day. There’s a real buzz about it, whereas with Europe, they’re already huge, and success for Bayern, for example, is always expected. But I want to tune in to MLS games to watch the unexpected

Premier league teams were established over 100 years ago. MLS is a growing league and is 100 years behind. There is no comparison and time WASNT built in a day. Just look at the NBA and NFL. Europe is struggling to put a team together.

In Canada, it’s financially unsustainable to put your child through youth hockey programs unless you truly believe your son is a prodigy, or you’re just filthy rich. More and more working class families in my area are putting their kids into soccer camps instead and that’s gonna be huge for the sport in 20 years once this new generation and the following develop into stars. Same is gonna start happening in the USA, parents won’t want to see their kids suffer 6 concussions in football before they graduate highschool, so they’ll put them through soccer instead. More kids in soccer programs > more kids interested in the domestic leagues > they grow older and have kids if their own > they raise their kids watching the same team they grew up watching > even further interest in the sport and more MLS viewership. MLS is the ultimate long game. They know they won’t have a true domestic powerhouse overnight, but over another 20-30-40 years, it’ll overtake a few of the big 4 and eventually draw more interest across the pond.

With the Canadian Premiere League (CPL) and the United States Soccer League (USSL) building healthy sources of clubs and markets. Relegation is very much possible. As a Canadian who lives in Montreal and supports his local team. We actually have 2 teams here in Montreal in 2 different leagues now. It would be cool concept to think of derby games, though "Outremont F.C" getting to a level to make that derby both possible and competitive. Relegation/Promotion would almost be needed. CPL even just gained a team slot in the CONCACAF Champions league. Which features all the tops teams from Mexico, which MLS now (talent wise) has proven to be surpassing in many forms.

also giovinco is a household name in toronto. and tfc ratings from like 2014 to now have grown like CRAZY. and are edging closer to the other major sports. still far away, but like a big TFC game can outdraw a jays game on tv

Another issue with the MLS is the sheer size of the country with the demanding schedule along with poor travel amenities. From what i remember teams are limited to the number of charter flights per season so there's a lot of cross country flights on commercial involved. I remember seeing Bastian Schweinsteiger at the airport in Chicago with the Fire. A world cup winner like him shouldn't have to do that

The best thing for the MLS would be a miracle run in the 2026 Workd Cup by the US

The low salary cap definitely hinders it a little bit as well as the inability to hold onto the young talent in the league. It’s a great stepping stone league for young players to get experience before heading to Europe tho