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Relegation Rationale: Stop The Expansion Madness

This will never happen, but perhaps something like it should. It’s a formula for relegation that could work. First, some relegation rationale:

Relegation is the antidote to the very real threat of overinflating MLS, which will lead inevitably to dilution of talent throughout the league, cringe-worthy footy and ultimate financial ruin - it happened before with NASL, and it will happen again in MLS if we’re not careful.

Simply put, too many cities and teams want in on the game. Forget that many of them are from places where it is either too damn hot to play attractive footy in the summer or too damn cold for an MLS Cup in December. Like it or not, due to competition for talent from baseball, throwball, b-ball and hockey and a low native birthrate, there will always be a limited athletic talent pool for TBG - The Beautiful Game - here, club-based academies notwithstanding. Heck, even the "National Pastime" has a hard time providing a sufficient flow of competent talent to fill its ranks – and they have a long-entrenched, fully-developed farm system MLS can only dream of.

MLS has got to draw the line somewhere. The league must say "enough is enough" before it deflates the value of the on-field product even further. The BPL has 20 teams and each year, regardless of their best efforts, 3 of those teams will be bottom dwellers who are given the opportunity to improve themselves in a less-demanding environment. Ligue 1 has 20 teams. Serie A, 20. Spanish Primera, 20. Bundesliga, 18. Hell, even Brazil Serie A tops out at 20 teams, in a country with more serious football players per square inch than anywhere else in the world.

MLS? The league already sports 22 clubs, counting incoming NYCFC, Orlando, Atlanta, and the reincarnate LAFC. Do we really want to add to that some or all of Team Beckham, Minnesota, San Antonio, Las Vegas, Sacramento and St. Louis (a city all but forgotten after losing out to the Philadelphia Union)?

The best soccer countries in the world cannot sustain pro footy at the highest level beyond 20 teams. Who do we think we are? Who are we kidding, except frustrated season ticket holders who hunger to watch TBG but get to watch dreck instead?

The problem is complicated by a combination of greed and the economic formula that has been credited with MLS’s survival to date: the single entity. The greed comes in the form of the $100 million entry fee for new teams (unless you are a certain international megastar). That’s apparently enough to keep MLS’s bureaucracy and creative accountants thriving, while keeping all that mystery cash and allocation money flowing. A lucrative revenue source to be sure, but unsustainable.

On the other hand, we have to thank the "single entity" structure for keeping MLS alive in its early stages. But sooner or later, it will be time to take the training wheels off. They’ll probably have to pry the single entity out of Don Garber’s clenched fists, but savvy club owners will eventually demand it. It probably won’t survive its first antitrust suit anyway, should anyone ever get around to filing it.

Soccer interest in the US is growing, in part due to the fascination with European football, where relegation lends an extra level of torment, excitement,suspense and anxiety to every season. Yeah it’s "UnAmerican," but it could (and I would submit must) work. Here’s how.

First, shut off the flow of clubs now before it’s too late. Twenty-two is too much, but let’s assume that because we’re such a big country geographically, we need a couple more to maintain a healthy national TV audience.

Step two, reach agreement with NASL to be the next rung below MLS. There is too much history with too many teams in first and second tier cities to ignore NASL as our defacto Championship League, or Ligue 2, or whatever. Then add NASL games to the MLS Live streaming package and share what little revenue that will generate. This will immediately grow a following for NASL games.

Step three, make promotion to MLS contingent upon attendance. Any of the top 3 NASL teams in the Championship Final standings or Supporters’ Shield race at season’s end that also have average attendance greater than the MLS league average have earned admission to the big show. Win NASL but lose the attendance race? Oh well, better luck next year, and the MLS bottom feeders get to stay where they are, even if they shouldn’t.

Step Four, relegate the MLS bottom feeders if there are better NASL teams with better attendance. It will make the owners care more about the on-field product and avoid catastrophes like Chivas USA, the Mutiny, and the Fusion (which, when you think about it, might all have benefitted from a relegation arrangement).

Step five, require Team Beckham, Las Vegas, St. Louis and Sacramento to join the NASL immediately. Make them prove their market value before granting them MLS entry. MLS should have required NYCFC and LAFC to do this, but that boat has already sailed.

But what of the fans? Won’t they desert relegated teams?

My son and I happen to be founding season ticket holders of the Philadelphia Union. Would we be happy if our team wound up being relegated after a bad season? Heck No. Would we be willing to pay the same for our seats if they were relegated? Heck No. Would it make our Front Office more accountable for providing a better quality product? Heck Yes. Would we enjoy the opportunity to watch our team win more home games against competition not that much different from MLS and rejoice in the opportunity to rejoin the top league? Hell Yes! We might be among the hard core, but we are the ones who bring converts along for the ride.

MLS: Get over your xenophobia about relegation and get rid of the single entity training wheels. It’s time to stop whining, put on your big boy pants and improve the TBG in the US.

Then maybe we can get some refs who will enforce the spirit of the game. But that’s a whole ‘nother issue


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