For years we've been hearing that Major League Soccer will grow to 20 teams and then stop. Of course very few people actually believe that. Today I was reading through an interview with Garber and this popped out: So now we are looking at five open spots rather than one. That means the top candidate cities might all be coming in.
Id say like this: Atlanta, Tampa, Miami, and the other two in the middle of the country to have rivalries close.....
24 is not likely to be the end of expansion either. Since MLS was founded it has been looking to expand and it hasn't stopped.
i agree. i don't see why MLS would say that they're done expanding. it's too profitable for them to keep expanding. The way i see it is that after 20 teams they'll look to break down in conferences. after that, maybe when they pass 32-40 teams, they'll look at the idea of promotion/relegation. however, that's a long ways away, and no, i don't need a lecture that p/r won't work. none of us know how MLS will look in 50 years. most of us will be dead anyways.
I'm not sure the anti-promotion/relegation people were thinking 50 years in advance. In any case, I'll only be mid-70s in 50 years (assuming the lifestyle/accidents don't get me first). Kind of scary to think about, actually. MLS was never going to stop at 20. It'd be silly to. I think they should pause for a few years at 20, however. Let the talent fill in some before you spread it out again.
yeah, and when they pass 50 teams MLS will be huuuuuge. And when they pass 100 teams and every town in the woods has an own MLS team they can have a 200+ game schedule from january to december with relegation of the last 30 teams into NASL which contains also 100 teams. The only way all teams (not just Sounders and Galaxy an 1-2 more) can reach profitability is when Garber and friends quit expansion after number 24 in 2025. The talent pool is already diluted and that leads to substandard level of play. But MLS primary goal for the next 20 years must be to increase the level of play so taht MLS can get better TV-deals and higher tv numbers. Not to achieve with over-expansion.
I figure at 24 MLS will take a break for a decade and then go through a slower expansion as D2 starts to catch up along with D3 to build up the Talent pool. One thing i would like to see is some sort of fixing College soccer or combineing it with the PDL or something like that.
yup 24 i think has always been the target 4 canadian teams and 20 american so one more canadian and 3 more american teams for now.... before a long break a decade or so so: canadian team: Hamilton, Calgary (if they prove they can support a team), Ottawa, Sak (where the rough riders play) us: nyc2, Tampa Bay, ATL/PHX
Am I the only one who finds it ridiculous that each won't get at least one home and home series with every other team in the league?
As long as there is demand the MLS will keep growing. If they have 24 teams and a city like San Diego comes knocking ready to build a stadium is Garber and co going to turn round and say no? Of course not.
MLS won't expand to both miami and tampa, that's just ridiculous. The league has changed mightily since the mutiny-fusion days.
23 home games and 23 away games, plus playoffs, plus USOC, plus Superliga, plus CCL, plus friendly games, ... Teams will need to have at least 35 players on their roster
well, in the forseeable future (next 15 years) what i see is MLS finally reaches 24 teams and each team [hopefully] has their own SSS and youth academy. those 24 teams will be broken down in east v west, but then you're going to have more franchises knocking on the door. after that, there are a number of cities that are going to demand entrance into the league and maybe MLS might have to break the league into 4 conferences. either way, MLS can't even start tapping into its potential until it reaches 24 teams due to the uniqueness of the American market and probably won't max out until 32...with 40 teams being the realistic limit (that means there are at least 40 markets that can support a MLS franchise with the right owner and situation). And as far as the talent pool being diluted, i'm not afraid of this as most are (so long as it's slow and gradual). every time we expand, we find new talent somewhere to tap into. if need be, allow infinite # of foreigners if it does become an issue. i'd even suggest MLS try to get in touch with these EPL teams that are going to have to cut players due to the 25 player rule and either get them on loan or a full transfer. Furthermore, the more we expand, the more soccer will be in the media and the more it will grow.
The Don just finished up a USA Today chat, and reading between the lines, he had two interesting comments about expansion. First, team #20 will not be joining MLS until 2013 at the earliest. Second, Garber identified 5 cities as potential targets AFTER team #20, those identified were Atlanta, San Antonio, San Diego, Detroit, and possibly Miami... Therefore, I can only assume the Team #20 short list consists of New York, St. Louis, and Ottawa, with Vegas possibily depending on what is happening with a potential OG there...
I assumed that he was meaning New York for #20, and St. Louis and Ottawa were out of luck, but I like your interpretation much much better.
While I agree that the Cosmos are the likely choice for #20, they haven't been announced yet, and anything can happen. Remember, back in the day, Letters of intent waiting on press conferences were ready to roll for St. Louis, San Antonio, and Cleveland.
Not from anyone official, you haven't. Don Garber's said for years that he can see MLS having as many as 32 teams. He has recently offered the opinion that there probably won't be any more teams after 20 any time soon (based on the current level of interest from potential markets), and that the 20th team had yet to be determined, but the idea that "MLS will cap the league at 20" is nothing more than BigSoccer myth. Usually, it's put forth by someone with an axe to grind about Garber who wants to pretend that they're catching him in a lie. The thing to take away from this "news" is that there are a couple of cities with more serious interest in getting an MLS team than there was a few months ago.
Optimistic me - Sounds like they are really making strides in NYC being he targets cities AFTER 20 and if they are looking at 2013 - they would have to make an announcement by years end to early 2011 to allow for stadium construction. PESSIMISTIC ME - yea - anything can happen...ANYTHING
I do not see Detroit itself get it in the short term ( next 10 years) because of the economy there, with the possible exception of a team somewhere in the Windsor ONT area. I think Tampa is more still more likely then Miami.