This is what I think is wrong.

Well, they are better at youth development and probably always will be.... pro/rel may be too risky financially at MLS level at this point, but you could surely need some pro/rel levels below, or more correctly, spend at least some of the TV-money on some lower levels, to get a much better youth development..
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who cares? you need numbers no "passionate" river plate fans that break local businesses and kill each other when their team loses.

You don't really have numbers. That's what I'm saying. Attendance numbers are artificially inflated for that one game. If you want real numbers, you'll have to look at Clemson and South Carolina's average home attendance over the course of a season.

well, winning and bringing people to events isnt easy but is not impossible either.

Out of 12 months, our second division players are inactive for 5.

Our 3rd division players are inactive for 7 months, thats why we suck.

heck, in other countries, soccer never stops even on 4th division.

Especially when the crowds are 90% students that got in for free.

These bigger crowds at NCAA games are a positive for the sport in this country and will probably turn some of these kids into soccer fans, but the 10K SLO & UCSB gets for the Central Coast Derby isn't proof Real Santa Barbara 2.0 could be the next San Antonio or Orlando

absolutely, so does the game of fifa.

can you imagen a kid playing a fifa game with a team from his small town in alabama with local players? he will go nuts.

Here in England a lot of the lower division sides get by on a crowd less than 3-4000, the clubs do not have a lot of money to spend on players which is why their focus is on developing young talent from the local areas, many of the Premier League players were discovered/nurtured at lower league teams.

I don't really know what Americans like and don't like to watch in terms of sporting mechanics but pro/rel would almost definitely drastically improve the standard of soccer in America if it was viable to introduce it, whether the lower divisions be subsidised by the top division for a while or something like that as it would ultimately be to their benefit anyway because all of the cream will naturally rise to the top.

EDIT: I just noticed I used the word soccer I've been reading too much of this forum.

Niether do the people here who advocate p/r.

Pro/rel was a solution to a problem, not an endgame. That problem was having too many clubs that wanted to play at a certain level within the confines of the single table/round robin organization method. In other US leagues that problem was solved by going with unbalanced schedules and playoffs. At 19 teams MLS has already done that and if the NASL ever got to 16 or 18 teams they'd likely do the same.

We do need more professional clubs in this country to engage in full-scale palyer development, that is what will make the American player better. Forced relegation of clubs where there is no potential revenue to help cushion the fall would do more to kill the game here than to help it.

Why? You people invented the word...

Is anyone still taking the IFFHS league rankings seriously? Their methodology's been torn apart so many times around here it's not even funny. The worst thing is that it counts points earned in domestic play by the top 5 teams, which means it actually rewards leagues for lack of depth. There have been several years that MLS could not possibly have been ranked above Costa Rica and Guatemala no matter how well MLS teams did in CONCACAF play and how badly their Central American counterparts did. (One year I actually worked out the points that the leagues would have earned in that ranking if there were all-MLS CONCACAF semifinals and the Costa Rican clubs lost all their games. Costa Rica still would have been ranked ahead of MLS for that year.)

This. I'm not sure why it is so difficult to understand.

I agree, most fans here look at it from a owner's perspective...... I look at it from a fan's perspective and of course it would improve the league.

It would improve the league because teams would largely go out of business? How is it good for a fan of Minnesota for them to move up to MLS only to not be able to meet the demands of the league and fold? Who does that benefit?

they go back to second division and the champ of second division comes to first division.

im more concerned about the longivity of the seasons than the relegation thing.

Not if the team goes bankrupt because they can't handle the requirements of top division soccer. The team ceases to exist. Who does that benefit?

You continue to be clueless as to the reason there's no pro/rel.

What team that went from D2 to MLS folded? Montreal,Portland,Seattle?

MLS handpicked those teams for the very reason that they were likely to be successful. Which goes back to the point of leagues being able to pick their teams...

Well the Polish D2 league has the same timeframe of inactivity:

Start in Aug-Nov..... 3 months break

Start in March-June.... 2 months break


http://www.90minut.pl/liga/0/liga6219.html

My thoughts exactly:

When I asked O'Brien if the new Cosmos had enough financial backing to build their own soccer stadium at some point, he didn't hesitate to answer. "Absolutely," he said. "The way the commercial model works right now, the financing of stadiums is not a major impediment. Leaving that aside, this ownership group has the pockets, big-time, to do it if you need it."

That said, O'Brien cautioned that although the NASL doesn't have a salary cap, it would be "not a very smart business decision" to throw around huge sums of money to sign players for a second-division team (particularly since there's no way of getting promoted to the top flight). But he does want to bring in some recognizable players and a coaching staff that will give his team the best chance to win.

Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/grant_wahl/07/13/new-york-cosmos/index.html#ixzz2CczaVYBX

lets copy what poland does, bc they are such a powerhouse in soccer.

No, but I think lots of D2 leagues have the same format.

BTW NASL only has 10 teams by the time they hit 20 they will hve 3 months off.

what about d3?

USL has 11 and they will have Phoenix next year.

Phoenix and Tampa would give them 12 next year, assuming they don't lose anyone.

Yes it would and there is ample evidence around the soccer world that proves it. Pro/rel would not only benefit the quality of soccer for our domestic leagues but would also improve our national team.

I think most American soccer fans want pro/rel. The only place I ever hear anti-pro/rel stuff is on these forums. There are a lot of insecure MLS homers that troll these boards and anytime someone mentions pro/rel they throw a hissy fit.