As long as MLS never gets into divisions I’m good; having two conferences is the closest thing to having a single table. Looking forward to seeing the Best of 3 format in round 1, best part of it is we still get single-elimination after round 1.
As a Brit in can say that football is an underrated sport and it’s interesting to see how this could grow but globally it’s a very poor league Would be a really good opportunity to implement a multi league system with promotion and relegation, many cities or towns don’t have a major league team so the places with 600,000 population would make sense in a potential second league, the problem is that the owners won’t like it
By my count, there are roughly 120 fully professional football clubs in the US. Realistically, given population, competition from other sports, and football's (⚽, not 🏈) local popularity, about fifty of them are legitimate contenders for the North American domestic premiership. Obviously, that number is too big for expansion to that degree. What's equally obvious, is that American owners (and to some degree, fans) would never accept, much less implement, a European style promotion/relegation pyramid. That's not a bad thing. All one must do, is look to European leagues, and see how they are all dominated by a select few clubs. American fans would never tolerate such competitive imbalance, nor should they. It's boring. That doesn't mean that we ought not have some form of promotion and relegation. We should, absolutely. But, it would have to look completely different to what world football fans are used to seeing. I see two possibilities. 1) a closed, two tier pyramid with roughly 25 clubs per league. Bottom five of the top go down. Top five of the bottom go up. Give cash incentives to lower league promoted clubs in order to offset the advantage of existing clubs in the higher league. Hell, you can call the whole thing MLS... Just distinguish the two tiers with any identifier you want. MLS-A, MLS-B, or whatever you like. 2.) Create a more traditional looking pyramid, with four or five leagues of 15-20 teams each. But, change the format of promotion and relegation. Teams go up and down annually - but on a rolling three year basis, rather than single season results. Furthermore, create a "club strength" coefficient, which includes criteria besides on-pitch performance - club finances, match attendance, investment in facilities, supporter group engagement, quality of academy, performance in international and inter league competition, merchandise sales, and broadcast/streaming viewership. Club owners who invest and create an economically attractive product should *WANT* to get rid of clubs who play their home games in baseball parks, have subpar attendance, and fail to raise the profile of the league. I don't see either idea taking root. But, that doesn't mean they're not good ideas.... Just unpopular with billionaires.
@@kentgrady9226 for America, I think a closed shop two league system with relegation makes sense, anything more like European football with non league would be to much
@@zenokada2278 It's not just too much for America... It's too much for Europe, as well. Obviously, it's the traditional way of things, people are accustomed to it, and for the moment, it's making money. Then again, the finances of European football are a bit of a mirage. It's a bubble, not dissimilar to the housing crisis of 2007. Its epicenter is England at the moment. Chelsea is obviously the worst offender, but the whole league is out of its mind. Every half decent footballer in the world is being hoovered up for overinflated fees, simply because no one wants to be left behind. Eventually, when most of these players are inevitably discovered not to be worth their cost, it will come time to unload them at a huge loss. In the mean time, established leagues in powerhouse countries will be drained of decent talent. Second tier leagues will be scrounging for anyone with a pulse, and we will be left with a tiny handful of super clubs standing against a sea of mediocrity. Effectively, we already have that - but it's getting worse. If European football fans truly wanted to save their clubs and the sport they love, they would demand a complete overhaul of the way things are done, rather than some romanticized restoration of what they think was a better time. Does that mean an end to league football in Europe? As they know it, perhaps it is. That doesn't mean it can't evolve to something more suited to the times.
Orlando City and the Tampa Bay Rowdies have a rivalry that goes back to when they both were in USL. Just recently they met in the US Open Cup last year. C'mon man!
The rowdies are a St. Petersburg team. So technically, what I said was correct. No team playing within the city limits of Tampa has a rivalry with an Orlando team.
The fact that an NHL, NBA, NFL, and soon MLB team have all moved out of Oakland doesn't make it seem favorable as a sports market. San Francisco, maybe, but definitely not Oakland.
You didn't mention Buffalo, New York which is close to the Canadian border of Fort Erie, Ontario and there is another U.S. border city that you did not metion Detroit, Michigan which is close to Windsor, Ontario which would be good candidate for an MLS (Major League Soccer) expansion franchise team which is a summer sport. Buffalo Stallons would create a rivalry for a current MLS soccer team Toronto FC in the MLS East Division
@@CharlieNDDetroit definently deserves a team. Detroit City is a outstanding example in American soccer. Their fans are some of the best outside of MLS. Only thing is that the fans don’t like MLS, but they have international friendly’s with clubs outside of the US (Pumas UNAM as an example) and could be a standout MLS Team. Since MLS has a lot of money, instead of playing in Ford Field because of the newly formed UFL spring football league, their Michigan based team Michigan Panthers play in that venue in the spring and the NFL’s Detroit Lions play in the fall, MLS should renovate Keyworth Stadium to a 20,000-35,000 soccer specific stadium and can be rivals w Chicago Fire and Columbus Crew.
On May 15, 2025, a joint ownership between Green Bay Packers, Inc. and V Sports and a Las Vegas-based group headed by Vegas Golden Knights majority owner Bill Foley, Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis, British soccer legend David Beckham, and the Maloof family will each pay an expansion fee of $500 million to award 2 expansion franchises to Green Bay and Las Vegas for the 2026 MLS season, so the Green Bay expansion team will be named Green Bay Herd FC and the Las Vegas expansion team will be named FC Vegas. Green Bay Herd FC will play at Lambeau Field and FC Vegas will use Sam Boyd Stadium as their temporary home until the new 25,000-seat soccer-specific venue on the Cashman Field site is constructed, built, and open for the 2029 MLS season.
I disagree on Oklahoma City. Half of Oklahoma supports Dallas based teams and the other half of Oklahoma supports Kansas City based teams. Plus Oklahoma has a USL team anyway.
Way too many western teams My mls would look like this Sacramento San Diego Las Vegas Phoenix Louisville Tampa Pittsburgh Edit: San Diego already has a team coming next year, and I don’t think Sacramento deserves a team neither Louisville. I choose Detroit, Tampa Bay, Pittsburgh, Las Vegas, Phoenix, and NY Cosmos
the outro is 🔥🔥
Thanks!
As long as MLS never gets into divisions I’m good; having two conferences is the closest thing to having a single table.
Looking forward to seeing the Best of 3 format in round 1, best part of it is we still get single-elimination after round 1.
As a Brit in can say that football is an underrated sport and it’s interesting to see how this could grow but globally it’s a very poor league
Would be a really good opportunity to implement a multi league system with promotion and relegation, many cities or towns don’t have a major league team so the places with 600,000 population would make sense in a potential second league, the problem is that the owners won’t like it
By my count, there are roughly 120 fully professional football clubs in the US.
Realistically, given population, competition from other sports, and football's (⚽, not 🏈) local popularity, about fifty of them are legitimate contenders for the North American domestic premiership.
Obviously, that number is too big for expansion to that degree. What's equally obvious, is that American owners (and to some degree, fans) would never accept, much less implement, a European style promotion/relegation pyramid.
That's not a bad thing. All one must do, is look to European leagues, and see how they are all dominated by a select few clubs. American fans would never tolerate such competitive imbalance, nor should they. It's boring.
That doesn't mean that we ought not have some form of promotion and relegation. We should, absolutely. But, it would have to look completely different to what world football fans are used to seeing. I see two possibilities.
1) a closed, two tier pyramid with roughly 25 clubs per league. Bottom five of the top go down. Top five of the bottom go up. Give cash incentives to lower league promoted clubs in order to offset the advantage of existing clubs in the higher league.
Hell, you can call the whole thing MLS... Just distinguish the two tiers with any identifier you want. MLS-A, MLS-B, or whatever you like.
2.) Create a more traditional looking pyramid, with four or five leagues of 15-20 teams each. But, change the format of promotion and relegation. Teams go up and down annually - but on a rolling three year basis, rather than single season results.
Furthermore, create a "club strength" coefficient, which includes criteria besides on-pitch performance - club finances, match attendance, investment in facilities, supporter group engagement, quality of academy, performance in international and inter league competition, merchandise sales, and broadcast/streaming viewership.
Club owners who invest and create an economically attractive product should *WANT* to get rid of clubs who play their home games in baseball parks, have subpar attendance, and fail to raise the profile of the league.
I don't see either idea taking root. But, that doesn't mean they're not good ideas.... Just unpopular with billionaires.
@@kentgrady9226 for America, I think a closed shop two league system with relegation makes sense, anything more like European football with non league would be to much
@@zenokada2278
It's not just too much for America... It's too much for Europe, as well. Obviously, it's the traditional way of things, people are accustomed to it, and for the moment, it's making money.
Then again, the finances of European football are a bit of a mirage. It's a bubble, not dissimilar to the housing crisis of 2007. Its epicenter is England at the moment. Chelsea is obviously the worst offender, but the whole league is out of its mind. Every half decent footballer in the world is being hoovered up for overinflated fees, simply because no one wants to be left behind.
Eventually, when most of these players are inevitably discovered not to be worth their cost, it will come time to unload them at a huge loss.
In the mean time, established leagues in powerhouse countries will be drained of decent talent. Second tier leagues will be scrounging for anyone with a pulse, and we will be left with a tiny handful of super clubs standing against a sea of mediocrity.
Effectively, we already have that - but it's getting worse. If European football fans truly wanted to save their clubs and the sport they love, they would demand a complete overhaul of the way things are done, rather than some romanticized restoration of what they think was a better time.
Does that mean an end to league football in Europe? As they know it, perhaps it is. That doesn't mean it can't evolve to something more suited to the times.
Orlando City and the Tampa Bay Rowdies have a rivalry that goes back to when they both were in USL. Just recently they met in the US Open Cup last year.
C'mon man!
The rowdies are a St. Petersburg team. So technically, what I said was correct. No team playing within the city limits of Tampa has a rivalry with an Orlando team.
@@CharlieND Inter Miami plays in Ft. Lauderdale......
Good point. They're planning on building a stadium in Miami IIRC.
What about expanding to San Francisco or Oakland?
The fact that an NHL, NBA, NFL, and soon MLB team have all moved out of Oakland doesn't make it seem favorable as a sports market. San Francisco, maybe, but definitely not Oakland.
@@CharlieNDBay area already has a team, San Jose Earthquakes plus Oakland already has a USL Championship team
San Diego is getting a team 🙌🏼
Love your videos man
merge CONCACAF AND CONMEBOL into one
You didn't mention Buffalo, New York which is close to the Canadian border of Fort Erie, Ontario and there is another U.S. border city that you did not metion Detroit, Michigan which is close to Windsor, Ontario which would be good candidate for an MLS (Major League Soccer) expansion franchise team which is a summer sport. Buffalo Stallons would create a rivalry for a current MLS soccer team Toronto FC in the MLS East Division
I literally mentioned Detroit in the honourable mentions.
@@CharlieNDDetroit definently deserves a team. Detroit City is a outstanding example in American soccer. Their fans are some of the best outside of MLS. Only thing is that the fans don’t like MLS, but they have international friendly’s with clubs outside of the US (Pumas UNAM as an example) and could be a standout MLS Team. Since MLS has a lot of money, instead of playing in Ford Field because of the newly formed UFL spring football league, their Michigan based team Michigan Panthers play in that venue in the spring and the NFL’s Detroit Lions play in the fall, MLS should renovate Keyworth Stadium to a 20,000-35,000 soccer specific stadium and can be rivals w Chicago Fire and Columbus Crew.
I could see Buffalo having a USL Championship team
On May 15, 2025, a joint ownership between Green Bay Packers, Inc. and V Sports and a Las Vegas-based group headed by Vegas Golden Knights majority owner Bill Foley, Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis, British soccer legend David Beckham, and the Maloof family will each pay an expansion fee of $500 million to award 2 expansion franchises to Green Bay and Las Vegas for the 2026 MLS season, so the Green Bay expansion team will be named Green Bay Herd FC and the Las Vegas expansion team will be named FC Vegas. Green Bay Herd FC will play at Lambeau Field and FC Vegas will use Sam Boyd Stadium as their temporary home until the new 25,000-seat soccer-specific venue on the Cashman Field site is constructed, built, and open for the 2029 MLS season.
Would love MLS in Tampa Bay... but it needs to be located in downtown Tampa, not St. Pete if you want strong attendance
Rowdies need to come to MLS
Good list Sacramento is a wild card for me as their owner dropped out of expansion they were supposed to go to mls but they didn’t
I disagree on Oklahoma City. Half of Oklahoma supports Dallas based teams and the other half of Oklahoma supports Kansas City based teams. Plus Oklahoma has a USL team anyway.
Charlie you forgot Louisville
My apologies
Way too many western teams My mls would look like this
Sacramento
San Diego
Las Vegas
Phoenix
Louisville
Tampa
Pittsburgh
Edit: San Diego already has a team coming next year, and I don’t think Sacramento deserves a team neither Louisville. I choose Detroit, Tampa Bay, Pittsburgh, Las Vegas, Phoenix, and NY Cosmos