Which league will triumph?
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I’m just going to throw this out there.
In the 2022 World Cup, 15.3 million AMERICAN viewers watched United States vs England (the country we won our Independence from).
And that was a crucial high profile match IN the World Cup, the biggest sporting event in the World and it was the most watched US match ever!
By comparison, 123.7 million AMERICANS watched this past Super Bowl and 17.5 million AMERICANS is the average viewership for a regular ho-hum NFL game during the regular season, a far cry from the biggest Sporting Event in the World!
Totally embarassing, by Comparison!
When are we finally going to ADMIT that nobody cares about Soccer in the United States…we tune in LESS for OUR National Team during the World Cup than for regular season games in the NFL featuring city X vs city Y. I imagine even the preseason games outdraw the World Cup and DEFINITELY the Copa de Americas
We often talk about P2 brands and viewership but if Soccer, the entire sport, was a brand… not only would it NOT be a P2 worthy brand…it would be the equivalent of a Fresno State type brand- nobody cares!
So, a new league with European rules or relegation will just make Americans more distant and confused.
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I’m inclined to agree.
However, there are people that seem to think that one thing MLS gets wrong compared to Euroleagues is a lack of promotion and relegation.
In the end though…low scoring soccer may simply never have the appeal that the higher scoring “Big Four” (football, basketball, baseball, ice hockey) do in the USA.
The NBA started copying the European soccer model with gimicky in-season tournaments and play in games for the playoff and the ratings are tanking because it is becoming confusing and taking away from the sport many of us once adored.
Why kill the golden goose (American viewers/consumers) to appease Europeans?
The problem wirh American Soccer is two-fold. There is a severe lack of infrastructure in the sport to develop more players and grow the sport and then the sport is old world and primitive compared to the more modern and complex and creative American sports.
I would make the MLS MORE AMERICAN…and less European
Goals are worth 6 points plus an extra point kick opportunity to mirror football and its established scoring model + investigate offsides and other formation rules to encourage American style creativity and offensive play calling. Also, investigate how the clock is used and substitutions to make the sport more "play by play " oriented, as opposed to continuous, like the other American sports which prioritize setting up plays or specific match ups.
But those changes would be viewed as blasphemy by the soccer purists…and hence, soccer and the MLS, will remain a niche sport in the United States with limited interest due to its lack of complex creativity and offense WHEN compared to American Sports, its main competition for its slice of the viewing pie HERE in the United States of America and when you throw in the fact it only attracts minor league level professionals + aging stars you see why is is behind on the world scale
Soccer Sucks!
You are all entitled to your opinion. You don’t like it? Fine. Now here is a bit of history. When F.I.F.A. gave us the rights to host the 1994 World Cup it was under the agreement that a newly league would be started with the world’s model of promotion and relegation. By the way Houston was going to be a site/host/part of the 1994 WC but Whitmire torpedoed Houston’s chances hence Dallas hosting. Between awarding the 1994 WC to us and the MLS starting “under the table” meetings/decisions happened. When MLS started in 1996 F.I.F.A. was furious that we adopted and nfl format. This coincides with the start of what I call F.I.F.A.'s corruption era. There was corruption before but nothing compares to what followed and what we see today. In a few words F.I.F.A. and especially with impostor infantino (F.I.F.A.'s President) sold out to global brands like Budweiser. Budweiser was running USSoccer in those days. Fast forward to today with on one side MLS and the other USL. NASL as an example was in a lawsuit for years:
You can bet on that MLS will never allow for a competitive league to go head to head with them. Fans, U.S. fans want a promotion/relegation system, Contrary to many stereotyped believes we now have a much changed soccer infrastructure landscape.
The number of want to be soccer professional team has exploded over the last 30 years. At some point something will have to give. MLS has the power for now but will that change in the future? What the USL is trying to achieve is a merger with MLS and have a promotion relegation system. That is the end game. Remember the AFL-NFL merger?
USSoccer has no choice but to accept USL but the MLS will do all it can to kick them out…for now.
Soccer and the U.S. sports schedule:
Soccer is played around the globe for about nine/10 months. Yes that is how long the season last.
U.S. High School sports have short “seasons”
August/September to November and December for Football and playoffs.
Baseball has a short season and so do basketball and track.
That is a fundamental difference in the U.S. sports landscape. By this sports calendar “design” it has promoted the PAY TO PLAY system where you have “club sports” be soccer or football. You do not have this pay to play system outside of the U.S.
U.S. soccer itself has suffered maybe more than any other sports in the U.S. By paying anywhere from $1,500 to $5,000/season it excludes what makes soccer the most popular sport worldwide. With soccer you only need a ball. You do not need a designated field, goal posts to play it. You can play in the streets, sand, parking lot, garage structure, beach, ANYWHERE. You do not even need studs. You can play barefeet. Hence everyone can play the sport.
When I had my team I recruited players from East L.A., Santa Ana and other non “rich” areas. I did it for the love of the sport. My greatest satisfaction as a coach was to have my players playing in the MLS, USISL even though they were not recruited by ucla or other soccer major programs. Jurgen Klinsmann (German soccer star and ex U.S. Coach) and I had many discussions about the pay to play system and the U.S. sports calendar. We 100% concur.
Will the NSL prevail, merge with the MLS, impose a promotion/relegation system? Time has never been better than now to succeed. Expect a major fight.
By the way USL is on espn+
Should this new league successfully get off the ground, I can certainly imagine a later merger with the MLS a la the NFL.
Query: will US Soccer approve this division one move?
If so, then will Houston have a team?
If so, then what do you imagine their venue will be?
As for soccer, I don’t like it as much as some other sports, but I’ve enjoyed the handful of MLS games that I have attended, and try to cheer for team USA in World Cup action.
Hopefully I’ll get to see a World Cup match in Houston.
Any thoughts on this new league?
At best I can see the USL getting a few teams in the MLS like Phoenix Rising. They have been closed to getting an expansion franchise. San Diego got it instead. As long as the MLS refuse the world’s promotion/relegation system it is at best farfetched that a merger will happen.
Hard to believe Dynamo is onto its 20th year.
i watch no pro soccer, between coolege and nfl, mln, nfl and nba; i’ve got plenty; but i get it. the superbowl had like 150 million viewers, fifa world cup gets around 500 million. soccer will never pass the nfl and nba in the usa imo, but i could see them passing the nhl and even mlb one day’ lots of room for soccer to grow; not suprised they are looking to make another league.
They’ve been saying that since the 1970s but until the high schools and colleges start investing in infrastructure, it will never really grow.
Why? Because its not a money making sport IN the United States…the other sports have tons of commercial breaks to make $$…soccer does NOT!
Not so fast:
New High Schools are now designed to incorporate regular soccer field dimensions.
All MLS and USL franchises are required to have specific international soccer field dimensions. The same can be said for all new nfl stadiums.
I can’t.
Last year’s MLS finals only averaged 480K viewers.
Last year’s NHL Stanley Cup…over 4.2 million.
Last year’s MLB World Series…15.8 million.
Pro soccer in the USA is too impossibly far behind.
We just have to keep the NIL train rolling. In a few more years we’ll finally have all the stupid schools closed and all those athletic departments will look just like the big European athletic clubs. Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich are all great basketball teams too! All these players in prime developmental age will be free to just play, get paid, party, and mistreat women like their global counterparts.
this is correct, Americans would rather watch commercials than the actual sport