They had wanted to have “something” in place by 2026. No clue what that meant and what covid has done to that but it was something that Garber said a couple years ago.
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I know there are people who’d love to see an MLS-Liga MX merger, but it’s simply not feasible. MLS’s single entity structure makes it impossible, and there’s a reason you don’t see mergers like this happening anywhere else in the world. (Also, Liga MX is the much bigger fish in this pond!)
What’s far more likely is actually that the three Canadian teams in MLS have to move to the Canadian Premier League. In theory, that could open up slots for more U.S. cities.
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Yea it does seem weird. I think Mexico is willing though because of the TV money it’d generate for them. I’ll try to dig up some stuff, but the talks seemed pretty serious. No clue how it’d work
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All the first tier teams are in Mexico, and the US functions are minor leagues?
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I’m guessing they’d take 10ish from each league (even if all the best teams are Mexican) there would have to be a massive salary cap restructure of the American teams so the teams like Atlanta, LAFC, Seattle etc (the ones who actually give a shit and want to win) aren’t held back like they are now. I have no clue what they were actually envisioning, just that they wanted to merge.
I found a pretty exclamatory article. Could Liga MX and MLS merge? What North American soccer super league could look like | Goal.com. Looks like they actually were looking toward a 50 team super league which just sounds insane
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50 teams would be outrageous, as would La Liga giving up relegation. Relegation is one of those things I think the MLS really needs to adopt - though owners who spend 300mil will through fits so . . .
I guess my biggest question is will this actually work, will the fans like it, or is 110% driven by greed, like say the SEC expansion. The ACC’s expansion wrecked the conference for me, and now the SEC Is turning into I don’t even know what - just that I live in the heart of it.
Thanks for sharing the article @atl_transplant!!
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They are not going to adopt relegation plain and simple. MLS is controlled by the owners and the owners are exclusively rich businesspeople with major investment sunk into each team. If, as an owner, you agreed to a system that would potentially cast your investment into obscurity and lower price, you would be very stupid.
There is no foisting that system on the owners by MLS because the owners are MLS.
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You’re 100% correct regarding MLS/relegation/US owners. It’ll take a lot of convincing for these owners of MLS teams to watch something they spend all this money on (transfers/salaries/facilities/academies/etc) go down a division and now will earn less money.
Relegation/Promotion is something that’s is done by almost every other domestic soccer/football league around the world except in the United States. I don’t know if you followed the European Super League debacle but it had a lot of American owners behind these big clubs as driving forces (financially backed by US Banks too). One of the big things in the Super League was the idea all these big teams would never get relegated. Wonder where that idea came from…
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I agree with you both (@ahops0428 and @Spero) I can’t see relegation happening soon, if ever. Not with the millions these owners are throwing around these days. I think that is too bad because it adds some real tension to those teams at the bottom of the 1st Division, and excitement to the best teams in the 2nd. It forces teams to really put the best team on the field, and not just field a team and rake in the cash. The Cubs would still be working there way out of Single A ball at this point, and Marlins . . . But, there it is.
Semi-related, with the college football changing so much, I wonder when the SEC becomes the lower division of the NFL, lol.
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So how does relegation work overseas? Do the teams not have owners per se, like Green Bay? Or are owners more willing to burn millions there?
They have owners but the system developed before the current ownership, so relegation is baked into the sports landscape, and I’m fairly certain the governing bodies are not just composed of a council of ownership, so rules are written and enforced by stakeholders other than the top-tier ownership.
The US is actually very peculiar among countries for having such a varied sports landscape. Most of our major sports are, relatively speaking, very new and so ownership fits a modern capitalist model. Even the college model that doesn’t really exist elsewhere follows that incentive structure even if the decision makers are university presidents rather than owners. Relegation would be really fun in college football, but nobody would agree to it
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These teams do have owners, some are similar to Green Bay where ordinary fans own a certain % and the other % is owned by larger stakeholders. This is more prevalent in Germany and Spain, not so much other countries. Countries like England, France, Italy, etc. have a dominant owner kind of like NFL teams.
If you’re curious here’s how relegation works. Regular season champions in Europe are based on points (3 points for a win, 1 for a tie, 0 for a loss). In England, for example, they have the National Football Pyramid (imagine Major League Baseball, Triple A, Double A, etc.). The highest league is the English Premier League where big teams like Arsenal, Liverpool, Man United, Man City, etc. play. The last 3 place teams in that league drop down into the league below. The top 2 placed teams from the English Championship automatically come up into the Prem while places 3-6 have a playoff to determine who joins the other two. In other words, three teams go down and three teams come up. This is promotion/relegation in a nutshell. The English Football Pyramid goes down 11 levels, more or less, so this system is in use all over the country.
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Very off-topic, but a few years ago SB Nation simulated what 15 years (2002-2017) of CFB relegation might look like. And it’s amazing. Ended up with App State promoted to the SEC and Wake Forest relegated to the AAC.
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But do major teams ever get relegated? Even the Yankees finished in last before.
It is possible for sure, however it would take a Herculean effort of mismanagement. However there have been recent examples.
One of the two biggest teams in Argentina got relegated about 10 years ago.. This would be something on the Yankees/Red Sox level.
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Obviously MLS as constructed will never agree to a relegation system. But it makes SOOOO much sense for a country as big as the US. There are probably 40+ cities that could host MLS teams, but a 40-team league is unworkable. 2-3 tiers of 20-team leagues (like European leagues) gives room for up to 60 teams. It provides incentives for teams in the lower divisions to invest and improve their clubs. AND it forces the top-20 teams to also invest or risk relegation. It improves the quality of soccer all around and gives every region of the country something to root for.
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I agree, MLS in its current state would never ever agree to a relegation/promotion system. It’ll be interesting to see what sort of model they decide upon within the next 10-20 years as the game/domestic league continues to grow. Would a European model be feasible? Or would something like the Brazilian model work?
For those who don’t know, Brazil has a hybrid model where teams are competing in a national domestic league and local, ‘state’ league at the same time. I think this sort of model was implemented back in the day when travel around Brazil was more difficult.
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Merger will never happen they’ll have their annual tourney in Las Vegas, exhibition to show the support for soccer there for their bid.
Hopefully US Soccer can break away from the typical American sports team business model which is a legal monopoly (baffling in and of itself) where a few oligarchs control which cities get teams, etc. Relegation/Promotion could add some serious excitement as well as a key differentiator for American Soccer compared to the “Big 4” American pro leagues.
American professional soccer is so far behind the NHL, MLB, NFL, & NBA in what counts; money that creating a situation where say a Louisville, Kentucky soccer team could knock out a NYC soccer club from the American ‘Premier League’ might start to draw extra eyeballs to the TV. Sounds a bit like the NCAA tournament ‘cinderella’…
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Hey Guys , Honestly this baseball fan is for & supports Raleigh getting a MLS Team & I especially want Raleigh to get this DTSouth Soccer Stadium . In today’s Soccer Stadium Digest , they have listed the cities that they think could be the 30th new team . They listed Vegas , San Diego , Tampa , Sacramento , Phoenix , Louisville . Raleigh was not mention .
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