FOUR key factors that would make America a major player in world club soccer

The 2nd factor has makes no sense. This is America having a "relegation and promotional rules" would only stunt the growth of soccer in the U.S. It might be more appealing to foreign fans, because this is what they are accustomed to. But in the U.S. if a team were to be relegated, this would only drive away potential sponsoships, and investment deals. And you would loose the interest of the casual, and the new fan. Most major sports leagues in the U.S. have 30 to 32 teams. They have a play off system, and a championship game. This give the best teams for that season the opportunity to compete against each other for a chance to be the champ. The best are put against the best. It gives an opportunity to the smaller market teams to be champions. Thats why you dont see what you see in europe where the same two teams win year after year, after year. Winning two or three consecutive championships is a bigger deal because of it. If having only one table for all of the teams and just crowning a champ based on points, if not having a playoff system is "THE WAY TO GO", no ifs, ands, or buts, Then why isn't the world cup formated this way? I dont think pleasing the rest of the world and mimic there ways is the key to this sports success. After all there not the ones that are going to be filling the seats at the stadium. WE WILL GET THERE ON OUR OWN TERMS!

This is the dumbest article of regurgitated opinion I've read in years. You can go to any soccer fan site and find people arguing over each of your points (especially relegation in a US soccer league) ad nauseum. I'm not going to bother pointing out the idiocy in this article, I'll just suggest the author attempt to develop opinions of his own in the future... in other words, tell us somethin we don't know. btw, I can't choose my favorite MLS team. Once the media gives two craps about the league and it gets any coverage is when it will start to be successful and respected. Beckham (one man) actually has done a great deal for the league on that front. It think he' over-hyped and overpaid, but he is also great for the league at this point in time.

To have relegation and promotion in our league would only make it grow. There would be more excitement in the league because every team would be battling every game...now we should keep the playoff system at the end of the season like the do in the A-League. Americans love playoffs, so we should combine the both to make the league more successful and exciting.

Promotion/relegation is an artifact of leagues that started in the amateur era. Let's face it--if the owners of this year's 20 teams in the EPL could, they would drop it in a second. I suspect a fair number of Championship teams would as well. In a sense, with the vast difference in monies between the EPL and the Championship, and the payments given to relegated teams to help them back to the EPL, they have done their best to restrict promotion already. Get over it. Promotion/relegation will never happen and not only is not necessary for Soccer in the US to succeed, it would actually be an impediment. What modern investor anywhere in the world would invest $40 million + (the rumored expansion fee for team #17 in MLS) with the risk that in a year or few that team would be playing in the USL-1 and be worth pennies? No one.

this is why mls is gonna be a sub par league with ideologies like these comments. First the to the comment about the epl teams dropping the promotion relegation aspect... are u normal??? they would never do that because thats how it has always been run in football The epl like other leagues have been run like this forever thats why they are sucessful. if big teams get relgated thats how it is other sponsors show up in lower leagues thats how football is. they should run the mls with la league and a cup is in playoff format like everywhere elsesome one wins the league they the champ of the country. then the cup can have both divisions competing for the cup. there is no other league in the world that runs like mls does its not correct it doesnt show best of best it can actually make teams mediocre because then the top players would play in the mls and others in the usl. And one big thing that wasnt adressed is the use of trading players and the draft. the draft defeats the purpose of football altogether because teams will throw games just to get the better players in the next years draft mls should have academies where players can be developed and develop the love for the jersey which leads into trading, its the worst concept for football period. the stupid americanized system is what kills the league. why cant teams just sign players freely with out having to give up players or draft picks. teams are run by signing players by paying money and teams that dont have money canmake money by selling players and then buying others and getting young guys from the academy like how world football is run

who makes more money the EPL or the NFL?

response to pt 1. you can't play soccer in the dead of winter.. dumbest idea ever. respones to pt 2. eurosnobs have their own man u/chelsea dominated league winning routine. we do it differently and it adds alot more suspence and challenge to play under pressure. response to pt 3. more stars?? really? response to pt 4. wow. another stunner. this is the dumbest soccer article i have ever read.

henry we arent talking about nfl the other football ok pumpkin

your comment about THE STUPID AMERICANIZED SYSTEM IS WHAT IS KILLING THE LEAGUE is what im refering to. The NFL generates more money in this country alone. This show the potential the MLS has, to be able to not only grow but could surpass the NFL at the international level it being the worlds game. American football isnt that popular in the rest of the world, notice how I called it soccer in the first comment I made. Get it pumpkin or did I loose you again?

i apologize to henry as i believed u were one of the ones that didnt understand football and was just posting uneducated comments

you know it doesnt matter how many world player you bring to the states because the reality is that people in america just dont care tellme how many people would pay in europe to watch tom brady or manning play see is like that becuse america is just not a soccer country the major league soccer is a joke a mickey mouse league us in europe called ,,,....you should talk to ronaldo,or henry they probably think is a retirement league

Its not that it isnt a soccer country. The world cup in 94 did pretty good. Teams like Mexico, Brazil, big teams from europe like Chealsea, Real Madrid, Barcelona, and even teams from Mexico, can sellout a stadium on a drop of a dime. MLS needs to get these fans interested in MLS. But MLS being a young league and still having some clubs that loose money, cant just go out and sign the most expensive player in their prime. Its going to take a couple of more years for that to happend and they also need to improve the quality of play on the field. Everyone aroung the world needs to understand this dosent happen over night. P,S. thanks for the apology peter.

you know it doesnt matter how many world player you bring to the states because the reality is that people in america just dont care tellme how many people would pay in europe to watch tom brady or manning play see is like that becuse america is just not a soccer country the major league soccer is a joke a mickey mouse league us in europe called ,,,....you should talk to ronaldo,or henry they probably think is a retirement league

Although most of the posters here don't like the idea, the Promotion/Relegation system is most likely going to be needed. I cannot see the major players of world football swapping a century old tradition for an alien system while they are still in their prime. And a team going down does not lose it sponsorship, all countries have shown that when a team goes down they still get sponsorship and it is also naive to think that every team must have a owner. In most countries the team is its own owner, amking money of its own back. Man Utd was one of these teams before the Glaziers bought it in 2003, and Man Utd was making more money than any American sports team since 1992. The fact is, why would the world's best players play in an untraditional league format at their prime? There is no reason to buck the trend.