This past Sunday, March 6, marked the return of soccer to the United States. MLS embarked on its third decade with new kits and new players. It heralds a fresh start for all teams, who go into this season with a multitude of new signings. For fledgling franchises Orlando City and New York City FC, they embarked on their second season in the league with matches against Real Salt Lake and Chicago Fire respectively. The two will then meet each other at Yankee Stadium on March 18.
These new clubs are called expansion teams and are two of five new franchises secured to begin their journey in MLS by 2018. Beyond those five, MLS commissioner Don Garber is looking to bring the league to a total of 24 teams and perhaps even 28 (currently stands at 20). Locked in for a 2017-2018 debut are Atlanta United, Los Angeles FC and Minnesota, with David Beckham and his yet to be named Miami bid just outside the door.
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New franchises are also beginning to pop up in the lower leagues as well, with Rayo OKC, Puerto Rico FC, Miami FC and Jacksonville Armada being recent editions to the second tier NASL (not to mention an additional five teams added to the third tier USL).
As of now there are four tiers on the U.S. Soccer Pyramid, in which, 130 teams duke it out. Twenty in MLS, 12 in NASL, 30 in USL, and 68 in a regional conference-style system dubbed the NPSL. At first glance, what stands out is the balance (or rather, the lack of) of teams throughout the tiers.
This is unique for the sport. Very few (if any) nations, except the U.S., have 68 teams in a single division. But it works. The sheer size of the country and the lack of money each team has in the lowest leagues makes conferences the best solution in order to keep teams up financially. But in the top three leagues, having just 12 teams in the second tier, and potentially 28 in the MLS doesn’t make sense. Looking towards European Leagues, where the most successful teams live, leagues typically consist of 18 to 24 teams, with tiers that play for promotion/relegation.
Promotion/relegation (according to Wikipedia) is "a process where teams are transferred between two divisions based on their performance for the completed season." In other words, the worst finishers of one tier and the best finishers of the next lowest tier are swapped for the upcoming season. This gives any club the opportunity to be the best.
This is, again, something the United States doesn’t have. So why don’t they have it? Well, keep in mind that soccer is only now seeing a rise in popularity, and in 1993 (when MLS was founded) the sport was nowhere near the American giants of baseball, basketball, and American football. There was no money in it. Even now, opponents of promotion/relegation make the case that clubs would be worse off financially in the system. They wouldn’t be wrong, sponsors and attendance would drop significantly if a team is relegated to a lower tier.
I argue that although relegated teams would lose a lot, promoted teams would gain a good bit as well. That’s why teams don’t want to be relegated, it’s punishment for finishing last, whereas promotion is a reward for finishing first. Teams also, in order to evade relegation, tend to play harder. This results in better play and more exciting match ups towards the end of the season.
With the MLS not really pushing for it, the only way for the leagues to balance and introduce promotion/relegation, is for the US Soccer Federation to step in and do it themselves. However USSF CEO Sunil Gulati, when asked about promotion/relegation in 2015, said it is unlikely. He does however, say he believes the USSF has the authority to do so, citing the complications that they would face. "I think it's safe to say, that if the federation imposed all the powers that it might have via the Ted Stevens Act, and its membership in FIFA, there would be very long discussions with many people with high LSAT scores."
For now, fans can rest easy with the assurance that their favorite club will not face relegation in the United States. But with the debate, seemingly, never ending, the possibility will always loom over the heads of the executives in charge of U.S. soccer to change the system, in this writer's opinion, for the better.
