Some good points but York still has a club playing in a national league, I know Soccer is not popular in the USA but there aint 36 clubs (yet). If there were 60 clubs you could have a top league of 20 and a western and eastern division 1 of 20 clubs each. Even if you used all the pro clubs in the USA you could have 12 team top division with a eastern and western league below. I know MLS clubs are not going to go for this after paying to join the MLS but it would make sense in terms of travel
Again: Geography is important. Yes, York plays in a "national" league, in the sense that they might have to travel up to 300 miles for a fixture, once a year, about 300 miles to Plymouth Argyle, which is a long ride in a bus (about 5-6 hours according to Google Maps). Most of their trips, of course, are much shorter, like York to Bradford, an hour away. And Des Moines plays in a regional division of a national league, which means that during the regular season, they travel 700 miles to Denver and Winnipeg, and their shortest trips aren't an hour away; they're three or four. And then for the playoffs they might have to go 1,200 miles to New Hampshire, or 1,500 miles to Los Angeles or Bermuda. There is a big, big difference between a "national" league in a tiny country like the U.K. and a country the size of the United States.
Big difference in population. 65 million for the UK and 450 million for the USA+ however many in Canada. having regional div 2 would make sense but there is not enough clubs. even if the NASL and USL Pro had the one league it still doesn't have enough to regionilise.
One of the biggest things that confused me (and undoubtedly others) as I spent more time paying attention to professional soccer is multiple competitions underway at the same time. Soccer is the only visible sport in the country that holds multiple competitions in parallel. Other North American sports don't have anything like that. They compete in their leagues and hope to grab a playoff spot (usually seeded for a better match-up). I can't think of a single professional league that ever didn't have a playoff for the title. Not having an MLS playoff would place the league squarely in the "foreign sport" category. American college sports have historically put more emphasis on "conference" (regional groupings of similar schools that compete across all sports) titles, but, everyone but college football has had national playoffs (basketball did have separate NIT & NCAA tournaments in the past with similar prestige, but the NCAA has passed up the NIT now). College football is moving to a playoff to decide the title at the top division (lower divisions have had playoffs for years now). It's the way we like to decide things (even if it isn't always fair, but especially because it makes money).
To be fair, I'll bet it's mostly people who grew up there. They may have gone to another college, but not one in the SEC or that really competes with the schools. People jump on the bandwagon of the local college team, especially because there aren't professional teams to draw away attention.
one through 25...... 1) The current club 'total money grab' system 2) The current club 'total money grab' system 3) The current club 'total money grab' system. .....you get the idea...
Geez, give it some time. Its only very recently that you guys "got into" soccer. And you want to be a powerhouse already. You people are so used to getting things easily by snapping your fingers that the concept of "a long hard struggle to the promised land with plenty of setbacks along the way" is alien to you. You people think current powerhouses like Spain just woke up one fine day and found themselves on top? They had decades of frustration, futility, humiliation, and despair before they made it. You people need to learn some patience.
America's a land of opportunity and easy money, they're used to getting everything quickly and easily. They went over the Atlantic and found a huge continent with barely any population and vast, untapped natural resources. Fertile soil, perfect climate, timber as far as the eye can see, and as much oil, gas and coal as they could possibly burn. Not to mention isolated from world wars by vast oceans, and a huge internal single market that gave incredible economy of scale and productivity. When you're used to sticking a shovel in the ground and seeing money spurt out, when if you don't like the neighbours you can just move fifty miles down the road onto some empty land and build a huge house for peanuts, when if you want to make a living you just go to silicon valley and start a website and make millions overnight, when if you have a labour shortage you just open the door and be flooded by highly-educated skilled workers from all over the world, when if you're hungry you just go to the 24/7 drive-through and order a bucket of food for a dollar, you're use to getting what you want when you want it.