MLS commissioner Don Garber (with then-U.S. Soccer president Dr. Bob Contiguglia) presents U.S. Open Cup medals to the LA Galaxy's Landon Donovan and his teammates after the Galaxy beat FC Dallas in the 2005 final. Photo: John Todd/ISI Photos Already have an account? Sign In. Get all the news...
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Interesting paywalled article. Excerpts:
It was a move for which MLS was eviscerated on social media, .... But the reaction this time seemed different, marking a schism in the soccer community.
I'll start off by saying that if I was an MLS owner, I'd consider the move, too....
The Open Cup is an inconvenience. Like FIFA windows. Summer championships. Bad weather.....
I will also say that I'm sympathetic to MLS on many fronts....
American soccer's failure was that it did not take off across the country a century earlier when it could have planted roots and grown slowly and organically and when costs (and risks) were low....
The NASL failed ... spectacularly. The closest anyone has come to solving the business puzzle is Alan Rothenberg ... with his cadre of young attorneys from Latham & Watkins and the single-entity plan they devised for MLS, which launched in 1996 with FIFA's backing. Still, the league almost collapsed five years later....
[discussion of spending revenue that adds helpful context to the decision not to expand the salary budget]...
On Sunday, FIFA confirmed plans to extend the 32-team club tournament [FIFA Club World Cup]
from June 15-July 13 [2025], a span of 29 days. Headliner teams like Real Madrid, Manchester City and Bayern Munich are among the clubs that will be spending almost a month here playing in an official competition. Their goal? Mine the U.S. soccer market.. . . What will happen if foreign teams get the green light to play league matches in the United States?...
No other country has developed the pro game to the level it has in face of competition from multiple established pro sports....
But that doesn't make the decision right....
Possibly the most balanced and informative article I've read on the business of MLS. The fact that Liga MX, EPL, and a few other leagues are (1) currently more popular than MLS in the United States, and (2) all trying to expand their footprint here, both probably weigh harder on the MLS owners than any of us realize. MLS isn't just competing with the big 4 US sports leagues: foreign soccer leagues are more of an existential threat to the league. Spend more to get better players is simplistic and how the NASL failed.
I don't know if there's a way to square the circle. I'm somewhat disgusted with US soccer fans who'll have nothing to do with MLS. You don't have to pretend it's as good as whatever your favorite league is to recognize it's reasonable quality, quite entertaining and worth supporting if you want to grow the game here.
And pro-rel fans are delusional. We are lucky if there are 120-150 clubs in the entire world whose finances are not on a knife's edge year to year and 29 of those are in MLS. I'm confidently certain that MLS is the only league in the world where no teams finish the year thinking "well we made it another year, but not sure we'll get through the next 5." Pro Rel is a recipe for fiscal chaos.
