2026 MLS Regular Season

[moogoo]

Under the right circumstances, I do think MLS could try to force the issue and push for a more global Champions League, type competition as a replacement. If the league loosened its salary cap rules and a handful of the top clubs built toward world-class rosters, they could theoretically reach a point where it would be hard to call something a “Champions League” without including them.

The downside, of course, would be the loss of MLS parity. The salary cap would likely need to be largely eliminated, and there’s no realistic way smaller-market teams could spend at the same level as the biggest clubs. MLS would quickly start to resemble a top-heavy league like La Liga.

To answer FootyLovin question about a business case. It may sound far-fetched, but I do think there’s a business case for the biggest clubs to spend aggressively to try to reach that level. In the short term, they would almost certainly operate at a significant loss in order to grow future revenue. What makes that somewhat more plausible right now is the equity side of things. The value of the top MLS clubs has risen rapidly over the past decade, and some are already appearing on lists of the most valuable clubs in the world.

The U.S. is an enormous market with substantial upside in ticket and commercial revenue, and MLS teams have shown they can charge prices that are often far higher than what’s typical in Europe. At some point, the question becomes whether the biggest MLS clubs reach valuations high enough that they’re willing to leverage that equity, spend heavily on their rosters, and try to vault themselves into the tier of the major European clubs, betting that once they’re big enough, the revenues will eventually follow.

I think if they want to add prestige to a "champions league" for us, they need to somehow convince the south american countries to do a joint "americas cup" instead of their copa libertadores. concacaf countries would have their own qualifying rounds before entering the main tournament, much like how UEFA does it, and then the top handful of teams enter against the south american big dogs.

Concacaf just doesn't have the money and quality to command the prestige of a regional championship since it's essentially US vs Mexico every year and Mexico wins most times simply because they spend more.

As you mentioned, if MLS wants to compete against south american big clubs they'd definitely have to loosen the salary cap drastically. We definitely aren't at that phase of growth yet, but I can see a future where this all could happen.

 

[FootyLovin]

I think if they want to add prestige to a "champions league" for us, they need to somehow convince the south american countries to do a joint "americas cup" instead of their copa libertadores. concacaf countries would have their own qualifying rounds before entering the main tournament, much like how UEFA does it, and then the top handful of teams enter against the south american big dogs.

Concacaf just doesn't have the money and quality to command the prestige of a regional championship since it's essentially US vs Mexico every year and Mexico wins most times simply because they spend more.

As you mentioned, if MLS wants to compete against south american big clubs they'd definitely have to loosen the salary cap drastically. We definitely aren't at that phase of growth yet, but I can see a future where this all could happen.

I do think that has a legit biz case. The S American teams get increased exposure to the US market. The N American tournament gains prestige. The only question is the voting. This would basically mean that all the Caribbean nations and most Central American nations would end up in qualifying rounds. There would be the occasional Bødo Glimpt or Ajax Cinderella team. But mostly they would be bounced out of that tournament. With so many small country votes could you get the votes needed for Concacaf to change its structure in this way?

Put another way, what makes this tournament economically advantageous to teams who will rarely get out of qualifying. (Besides a suitcase of cash delivered to the voting reps.)

 

[gbservis]

I think if they want to add prestige to a "champions league" for us, they need to somehow convince the south american countries to do a joint "americas cup" instead of their copa libertadores. concacaf countries would have their own qualifying rounds before entering the main tournament, much like how UEFA does it, and then the top handful of teams enter against the south american big dogs.

Concacaf just doesn't have the money and quality to command the prestige of a regional championship since it's essentially US vs Mexico every year and Mexico wins most times simply because they spend more.

As you mentioned, if MLS wants to compete against south american big clubs they'd definitely have to loosen the salary cap drastically. We definitely aren't at that phase of growth yet, but I can see a future where this all could happen.

I think for it to work you have to find a way to get into a major tournament with the big European teams. To make the leap you need revenue streams from global merchandise sales. Europe and South America are mostly closed markets in that the fans that live there already have a club an aren't going to change. You have to go after North America which is a largely untapped market and the rest of the world where fans with loose affiliations jump from club to club or follow many clubs or follow certain players. You aren't winning the attention of unengaged Americans by beating even the biggest South American teams, you have to beat what casual fans think of as the best teams in the world and all those clubs are in Europe.

You can't bridge that gap gradually, The revenue gains from an MLS club challenging for some sort of North/South American champions league will never come close to covering the cost of the roster it would take to get there. It's no man's land. If they want to bridge that gap they have to find a way to make a leap to being global clubs. You need people all over the world buying Pink Messi shirts. I've never met someone from Asia or Africa that are massive Boca Jr. fans but I've met a ton that are decked out head to toe in Real Madrid or Chelsea stuff.

 

[mgarbowski]

Thanks. I hate the No.Am/So.Am CL idea, as well as the US/Europe concept.

The theoretical shortest flight time between oh, Seattle and Sao Paolo is about 13.5 miles. That's assuming clubs pay for a non-stop charter. There are no non-stop flights between those 2 cities. NY to Santiago is 10.5 hours.
Los Angeles to Milan is 13.5 hours.

MLS travel is already rough. You want to add midweek 20-26 hour roundtrips.

I will forever be befuddled at the unending desire of US soccer fans to chase European structures that were built for Europe but make no sense for the USA. UCL came to be because Europe has 30-40 countries with a population of 25 million or less and they wanted broader competition, while the biggest soccer countries have at most a population roughly 1/3 that of the US, and individual economies that generate at best 10-15% of our output and wealth. We are both bigger and vastly richer. US GDP is greater than all of western Europe combined.

We need to build a soccer culture that works for the US, which means growing the game in the US in a way that makes sense for Americans and takes advantage of our strengths and minimizes our challenges, rather than constantly trying to be junior Europe lite. We're massive in size, and massively wealthy. We don't need a larger footprint for our games. We don't need to sell tickets to Europeans. The NFL is in a different category. It has conquered America and there's close to no growth opportunities left so it makes sense for them to hold games there and build that market.

MLS should endeavor to become like the NBA and NHL. The best players in the world come here. There's a no reason a country with our population, size, and wealth can't do the same for soccer. MLS has been catering to US soccer Europhiles for 10-15 years and it's hitting a wall. It won't become a top 5 league unless it drastically grows players and fans domestically and there's only so many people who think "we do that because Europe does it" is a compelling argument. I do believe that the one area the US game will always need to rely on the rest of the world is players. Grow some of the best players here but also bring the best ones from everywhere else here. MLS should aim to supplant UCL, not the Premier League. Make European fans whiny and resentful because their precious UCL is no longer what it was.

This is a 30-40 year project but it can be done.

 

[moogoo]

Thanks. I hate the No.Am/So.Am CL idea, as well as the US/Europe concept.

The theoretical shortest flight time between oh, Seattle and Sao Paolo is about 13.5 miles. That's assuming clubs pay for a non-stop charter. There are no non-stop flights between those 2 cities. NY to Santiago is 10.5 hours.
Los Angeles to Milan is 13.5 hours.

MLS travel is already rough. You want to add midweek 20-26 hour roundtrips.

I will forever be befuddled at the unending desire of US soccer fans to chase European structures that were built for Europe but make no sense for the USA. UCL came to be because Europe has 30-40 countries with a population of 25 million or less and they wanted broader competition, while the biggest soccer countries have at most a population roughly 1/3 that of the US, and individual economies that generate at best 10-15% of our output and wealth. We are both bigger and vastly richer. US GDP is greater than all of western Europe combined.

We need to build a soccer culture that works for the US, which means growing the game in the US in a way that makes sense for Americans and takes advantage of our strengths and minimizes our challenges, rather than constantly trying to be junior Europe lite. We're massive in size, and massively wealthy. We don't need a larger footprint for our games. We don't need to sell tickets to Europeans. The NFL is in a different category. It has conquered America and there's close to no growth opportunities left so it makes sense for them to hold games there and build that market.

MLS should endeavor to become like the NBA and NHL. The best players in the world come here. There's a no reason a country with our population, size, and wealth can't do the same for soccer. MLS has been catering to US soccer Europhiles for 10-15 years and it's hitting a wall. It won't become a top 5 league unless it drastically grows players and fans domestically and there's only so many people who think "we do that because Europe does it" is a compelling argument. I do believe that the one area the US game will always need to rely on the rest of the world is players. Grow some of the best players here but also bring the best ones from everywhere else here. MLS should aim to supplant UCL, not the Premier League. Make European fans whiny and resentful because their precious UCL is no longer what it was.

This is a 30-40 year project but it can be done.

you're right. travel wise it just doesn't make sense. they already can't and won't do it for leagues cup and that's just within mexico and the US for the most part.

the US can and should do their own thing. as you said, it will take time but it's doable. as the quality of the league improves, the quality of the media production side needs to improve too. that is the strength of the premier league and why it's got so much cash to get the best players in the world going there. We need that sort of marketing revolution with MLS but first, we need to improve the quality of the league and that so far, is progressing.

 

[gbservis]

Thanks. I hate the No.Am/So.Am CL idea, as well as the US/Europe concept.

The theoretical shortest flight time between oh, Seattle and Sao Paolo is about 13.5 miles. That's assuming clubs pay for a non-stop charter. There are no non-stop flights between those 2 cities. NY to Santiago is 10.5 hours.
Los Angeles to Milan is 13.5 hours.

MLS travel is already rough. You want to add midweek 20-26 hour roundtrips.

I will forever be befuddled at the unending desire of US soccer fans to chase European structures that were built for Europe but make no sense for the USA. UCL came to be because Europe has 30-40 countries with a population of 25 million or less and they wanted broader competition, while the biggest soccer countries have at most a population roughly 1/3 that of the US, and individual economies that generate at best 10-15% of our output and wealth. We are both bigger and vastly richer. US GDP is greater than all of western Europe combined.

We need to build a soccer culture that works for the US, which means growing the game in the US in a way that makes sense for Americans and takes advantage of our strengths and minimizes our challenges, rather than constantly trying to be junior Europe lite. We're massive in size, and massively wealthy. We don't need a larger footprint for our games. We don't need to sell tickets to Europeans. The NFL is in a different category. It has conquered America and there's close to no growth opportunities left so it makes sense for them to hold games there and build that market.

MLS should endeavor to become like the NBA and NHL. The best players in the world come here. There's a no reason a country with our population, size, and wealth can't do the same for soccer. MLS has been catering to US soccer Europhiles for 10-15 years and it's hitting a wall. It won't become a top 5 league unless it drastically grows players and fans domestically and there's only so many people who think "we do that because Europe does it" is a compelling argument. I do believe that the one area the US game will always need to rely on the rest of the world is players. Grow some of the best players here but also bring the best ones from everywhere else here. MLS should aim to supplant UCL, not the Premier League. Make European fans whiny and resentful because their precious UCL is no longer what it was.

This is a 30-40 year project but it can be done.

I don't think you can do it with US based money alone, barring some sort of financial collapse among the big clubs in Europe. There is too much established branding with in the global soccer community. If MLS teams want those global dollars that will be needed fund the rosters that can compete financially with soccer royalty they have to win it through competition.

There is no precedent where a league on another continent was long considered the greatest in the world and then another league just grew up and surpassed it. The NBA and NHL are not comparable. It would be like predicting that at some point the Chinese Basketball league will pass the NBA through growth and development and all of a sudden young American basketball players with dream of playing in the CBA. It's never going to happen.