I meant what I said and I said what I meant. MLS will be a top league in the World by 2022 one-hund

This thread is a little over a year old. Can we also be honest and say that MLS is much farther along and done much more than we thought they would a year ago? The last 14 months we've seen the actions of a league really trying to make moves. I can't call 2022 marketing spin. Utopian yes, marketing spin no.

 

The league is really on roll.

 

This doesn't happen very often, but I agree with jond and think @kenntomasch is wrong.

Look, this isn't fans taking off on a flight of fancy. This is fans taking the league at its word. I know sometimes the "fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me" adage applies. But I don't think this is one of those situations.

The league said it. They're obviously taking action to change MLS in that direction. I don't see how the fans are at fault for evaluating the chance of success, the chance that the new TV deals and the Bradley/Defoe/Dempsey transfers and all the rest will, in fact, make MLS a top 4-5 league in the world in 2022.

And I think people saying it all will be forgotten in 2022 are wrong. We still talk about Project 2010. And for those who think the league's boast about 2022 is completely unrealistic, remember that the goal of P2010 wasn't to WIN the Cup in 2010, it was to be good enough to win the Cup. Give us Giueseppe Rossi or Charlie Davies, a healthy Jermaine Jones, and Neven Subotic, and all the same non-US results, and we're the best bet from our quadrant of the draw to make the semifinals. Without those players, we lost in extra time to a team that lost in the lottery of PKs for a slot in the semifinals, so it's a very small stretch to say that getting our 3 weakest links off the field (injured Onyewu, Findley, and Rico Clark) and replacing them with 3 top, top class players would put us in the semis.

Look at it that way, and I think the Fed achieved the Project 2010 goal. So regarding this goal, who knows?

 

I think you're half right, the league has done more than I expected, but most of this has happened on a few teams. Seattle and Toronto have always had the resources to get name players, it's just that now (with the assistance of the league) they finally got it together. Most of what the league has been doing has been pushing the slow-and-steady approach a little harder by expanding the homegrown program and the "young dp" program.

 

Don't forget the player retention fund. Also, Seattle and Toronto are still significant because they are not LA and RB. Now there are four teams with marquee players. Next up may be SKC.

 

More likely, next up is NYCFC.

 

They likely will always have three DP's.

 

So no more superclubs this year? Maybe so. Of course, Montreal and SKC do have the type of finances that would allow a couple of significant DPs. SKC also made a significant bid for Bradley. I'm going to guess that they would also be in the market for Jermaine Jones. Not sure who else they would want but I think JJ plus one other DP would classify them as a super club. Montreal is a question mark. They can do it certainly and the pressure must be high after Toronto's moves but I've heard nothing. Also, they have 21 returning players.