The eyes of the soccer world at the American developmental level have laid on Major League Soccer, the burgeoning 21-year-old league which relies on an NFL-style conference format and a retrograde, iron-fisted unitary system which allows the league to compete without inter-competition.
This spirit has taken root from the tokenism of the pitch -- teams are allowed three key contributors, titled Designated Players in league parlance -- and has been a source of controversy due to the extremely low salary budget the league allows for teams to spend on their overall squad, a point of concern for soccer fans who have rejected overtures to bring MLS into their daily sport fandom.
That dedication to limiting quality through stringent salary budgets, advertised by the league as "cost control," has been a pressing concern for everyone who envisions greater visions for American soccer, as it seems that MLS is content with overglossed 20,000-man stadiums and significantly less concerned with players who can finish six passes in a row, let alone coaches who value such a style of play.
One issue MLS has never been bashful about is its plan to take over the American professional soccer landscape, essentially becoming the single-entity Bundesliga with two professional divisions tightly controlled by its cadre of caballeros, with their ironclad dedication to low-cost player acquisition.
While noble, Major League Soccer continues to rut in the American sport ratings department, a stagnation which becomes a further point of consternation as imported foreign football leagues -- the Premier League of England, Mexico's Liga MX, the Spanish La Liga or the German Bundesliga -- not only arrive, but thrive in the minds of soccer fans (and non-fans) nationwide.
As an observer of the game in the U.S. since childhood, I have decided to write out a five-point plan to assist Major League Soccer, seemingly afraid of going under through a severely tight-knit professional setup which limits the individual teams' potential, in ascending its franchises -- and the domestic quality of the sport in general -- to a stable, potentially beneficial and kingly state in American sports, as well as global football.
1. Get rid of the salary cap
MLS' greatest concern has been cost control, so much so that the most minute details its franchises engage in require a heads-up from the league office. The model of the league has been based on what some call collective collusion, but others has seen as close-knit partnership. Whatever it may be, it has done nothing for American soccer other than maintain the existence of the league and first-division soccer in the U.S.
With 20 teams and a potential growth between 24-28 teams, MLS has to let the training wheels off once and for all. The very first step, which should come anywhere between this summer and the 2018 World Cup, is the allowance for teams to be great.
The attraction of playing in an unfettered U.S. professional soccer system attracts any footballer, let alone the best players. The intelligent play, so as to reduce the impact of expensive star-chasing, would to be self-sufficient: to know who and what to target so as to fit the vision of a team.
There are many skillful, soccer-smart players plying their trade in MLS, warts and all, big star or Argentine no-name. The problem is their teammates are likely not even at their level, trained by an American soccer system which, frankly, doesn't know how to craft enough quality players to justify their proliferation. In short, Sebastian Giovinco doesn't look more impressive playing alongside, say, Justin Morrow.
To alleviate this problem, teams should, once and for all, control their own roster destiny. The intelligent organizations will realize the value of mining talent in places such as football-mad South America, where the economic turbulence of those nations makes something like playing in the U.S. both attractive and palatable -- and at a cheap, tasteful price. MLS teams are already weary of paying millions in transfer fees, which is the global norm in a country like France, but for the league to take a major step in beating out the superior Mexican and South American leagues (not to speak of Europe), it's to do business like them -- and then beat them at their own game.
The value of getting more than three special players is far greater than another 7-0 thrashing from a so-called MLS power against a middling Liga MX team in another CONCACAF competition.
2. Destroy single-entity
Major League Soccer has a desire to become a world league, respected by millions across the globe. Steven Gerrard and David Beckham surely got the word out, but not in a flattering manner: aging, slow-footed Anglo icons plying a last multi-million paycheck in a footballing backwater isn't impressive; it reeks of desperation.
That travels further than quality.
The league's main goal was survival. This is why single-entity existed in the first place: the collective Hand of MLS, ensuring that things didn't get out of hand (pun intended), has now gone limp and outdated, the system harder to defend from even the most strident fans of its constituent franchises.
Ask any fan of an MLS team, nominal or diehard, and they will largely express this opinion. The unfortunate pessimism behind their eventual hope that MLS becomes an "open" league -- one that has to answer to global standards of quality considering the size and influence of the country it inhabits -- is a major hindrance to progress. What is there to play for if it feels like we're in a box? they lament.
Don Garber, for his insistence in keeping single-entity alive and sneering at promotion and relegation within the confines of either his league or the U.S. Soccer Federation, has to be given a boatload of credit for keeping MLS alive when no other businessmen believed in the sport. This goodwill, combined with the uptick in soccer interest from core groups such as Anglophone millennials and non-Anglophone immigrants (re: Hispanics), has given Garber an impenetrable shield from mainstream criticism, at least within wide-ranging soccer media.
The ultimate downside of MLS -- its desire to become the NFL of soccer when they don't even have the constituent franchise productivity to justify such a claim -- would be a harm if Garber's recent declaration of a 28-team league was to come to fruition.
The tie between dismantling single-entity and the allowance of teams to control their own destinies would rise the quality of football among every single team, and that would include anything ranging from jersey deals to the mirage of "parity" pro-MLS defenders continue to bandy about while chiding those in opposition. The parity of results on the pitch should not compromise the parity of quality on the pitch, and MLS' format clearly does, to the detriment of fan enjoyment.
3. No drafts and no caps on development.
The MLS SuperDraft, the league's American-pro-sports-like college player mechanism process, has long been winded and unnecessary, boxing an unboxable sport such as soccer into the same tropes the NFL and NBA had long been associated with: strength, speed, height and athletic potential.
The result has been one of the most brutally physical, athletically sound leagues on the planet -- but none of this translates into "watchability" or "quality." The non-soccer-related physicality which stems from the collegiate game, combined with the lack of tactical nous from most of the players at that level and an emphasis on non-soccer-related attributes to just win, baby, creates players who perpetuate America's ultimate soccer problems: technical skills, first-touch issues, interlocking play, etc.
MLS is full of lesser and lesser of these players (thank you, USL II teams) but eventually they will have their say in MLS, warts and all. College is not a negative in terms of player development, but to rely on it as your bedrock will result in the quality we currently see in MLS today -- rough stuff.
Conversely, MLS must leave teams alone (in general, but especially for this) when it comes to player development. I was led to believe there were no caps on signing homegrown players per MLS rules, but apparently there is a cap on how much they can make, which is again overregulation from a soccer league which continues to flounder on TV and grow painfully slowly in terms of on-pitch quality. (Darlington Nagbe has to take a knee from former Dutch legend Nigel de Jong before we get it straight.)
Teams need to dedicate infinite amounts of resources of finding players, identifying their role within the team, producing tons of academy talents (free of charge to them - unlike most development academies) from literally anywhere they can find them, and ultimately debuting them to a first team. Former players have to learn how to keep an eye on elite talent and raise them up to a level commensurate with their own development, regardless of age. Keeping youth coaches young allows for camaraderie between the growing players and keeps the young coach around the game, perhaps at a higher salary than before.
Ultimately, increased scouting among clubs across the entire soccer spectrum in the U.S. -- not just MLS -- will increase quality throughout the system, rooting out the unworthy and promoting the worthy.
Speaking of which...
4. Stop rejecting promotion and relegation.
This is the biggest issue currently running across the world of American soccer: Should the federation adopt promotion and relegation?
In a word, yes.
However, the federation can't merely flip a switch and say "promotion and relegation!"
To effectively undertake promotion and relegation, the U.S. Soccer Federation must establish what the pyramid is. Where is the bottom? From that point, they can begin to build up and ultimately, the American soccer system becomes more intimate, more connected to the clubs you follow and less on the amount of money your team can pony up for expansion.
Sacramento Republic, Detroit City, Nashville FC and San Antonio FC are classic examples of lower-division clubs which have thrived in the minors, waiting on the nebulous system to crystallize and begin to take a definitive shape. At what point is there support for naught, as their club folds due to MLS's disinterest and the lack of breathing room for the lower leagues?
The federation's most dramatic proclamation can prove to be the key that unlocks the pro/rel gate: mandate that the American soccer pyramid is to be used for promotion and relegation -- and no divisions can be a single-entity league. This might be the fastest way for MLS to give up the ghost and become an open league.
The natural benefits of promotion and relegation are numerous: keeps top clubs on their feet, lest they slip up and meet the trapdoor; gives meaning to lower-level support; rewards winning and punishes losing; forces players to play under pressure. These are all net positives and can help alleviate any concerns over quality which may keep fans at arm's length.
MLS thinks it has the answer to the domestic soccer lull through the system of over-expansion. This couldn't be any further from the truth; to embrace the global madness and the near financial surety of promotion and relegation gives more meaning to MLS and its teams, more meaning to American soccer development and creates more fans of teams who dream to become big. The same amount of financial support that Republic or San Antonio or Minnesota United have gotten would continue at a possibly even more lucrative financial level, since teams moving to the top division attract interest from moneyed interests who want to be great.
In conjunction with an unfettered MLS, the league could rise as high as they could dream, and with the power of the American soccer fanbase, this could be nothing but positive for the future of the league and the domestic popularity of the sport.
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