No, there won't be. MLS can have - and will have - all the markets it wants and all the ones that are worth having. The rest of you have had opportunities to get in. The opportunities are ongoing. Right now. As we speak. When the league is at 28 or 30 or 32 or wherever it stops (and I still don't think the biggest sports league in this country is going to be a soccer league), who's going to be applying this "market pressure?" Cincinnati? Austin? IT MAKES NO SENSE FOR THE PEOPLE WHO ARE ALREADY THERE. You want in, Cincinnati? Get your shit together now. Today. Don't come crying in 2028 when there are no spots. Don't say, "But we can win this bullshit 2nd division league because we won a half-season and then won the Soccer Bowl, so we should be in over that guy who payed $80M for his franchise." Nonsense. We're going to be sitting here on February 20, 2024 and you're not going to be any closer to the prole's wet dream than we are today.
Just to be fair it happen the exact opposite way in Japan. The J League was created in 1992, then in 1999 they created J2 League , and in 2014 they created the J3 League. Not saying your or anything but just wanted point out that it started out different over there.
What if D2 champions need to pay "promotion fee"(assuming $100M, or average value of D1 franchises, set by MLS) to the bottom D1 clubs that D2 champions is going replace to get promoted, and if the D2 champion can't afford it, or MLS think the D2 side can't afford the logistics(there should be a licensing system), there will be no pro/rel at the end of the season, is that doable? There are a lot of issues need to resolve if MLS want to do pro/rel, like draft, salary cap, etc. Not that I support pro/rel (TBH, I don't like it, I prefer MLB-MiLB system), just an idea.
Well we can go around in circles here. Just because you say it won't doesn't mean it won't. Agree to disagree and move on. BTW..I agree that in 2024 we'll still be waiting for this to happen because I don't believe MLS and the 2nd Division will be in the right climate for this to happen. Probably won't happen for 50 or so years.
The biggest argument being made against pro/rel I see is the money paid for a MLS team. In the future, if MLS is stable and is growing rapidly, they could make their own MLS second division and have at least 4 teams pay the fee (like everyone else before them) and start. I could see a second division with only 8 teams. This would make teams feel like they have a chance to promote, keep fan interest semi decent, and have top division teams like Chivas not stinking up the joint or they will be punished. I'm definitely anti pro/rel right now, just something that could happen in the future.
...and the other big argument is the money lost when a team gets relegated. Do the owners get their expansion fee back? So, were are we at in regards to the thread topic? 20 is NYFC - 2015 21 is Orlando 22 is Miami 23 is Atlanta 24 is ? ( Maybe Minnesota, I am hoping for Detroit) Is this correct? When are these cities slated to join?
Same here. Maybe MLS can create MLS1 and MLS2. 2 leagues of 40 teams with promotion and relegation, but all 40 teams won't be relegated.
Huge Japan head here.... Japan can afford to do that. They have baseball and soccer and...............ummm maybe K1/Wrestling but as far as team sports, that's it. Their sports market is nowhere near as crowded as ours. And even still, I believe the media rights holder for the J League outside of the championships (Emperor's Cup, etc) are SKY PerfectTV!, a satellite broadcaster in a country where very few proportionally have anything more than over the air TV (compared to the rest of the first world). In this country, there is too much competition for audience and more importantly, TV ad dollars and contracts to allow more than one league on the screen during a given interim.
It is offical. Chivas USA will be rebranded and will stay in the LA Area. Relocation to San Diego or anywhere doesn't look imminent http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/artic...referral&utm_content=News&utm_campaign=Unpaid "In the coming months, the league will resell the club to a new ownership group that will be committed to building a new stadium and keeping the team in Los Angeles. The league has had initial discussions with a number of very qualified potential owners and intends to finalize an agreement with a new group sometime this year."
I was just pointing out how they did it. I wasn't even talking about doing it here. I really don't care if we do it any more as long as everyone understands that this opens the door for a possible rival league in the future.
personally, I see no reason why MLS can't have 30-32 teams eventually, if this was "unreasonable" in this country, the NHL and NFL and NBA and MLB would all have 24 teams. The schedule will be bizarre but TV revenue is more important to the stability and growth of the league. face it, you're just stuck on the international model of 18-20 teams and a balanced schedule. We've already left that behind. Time for you to move on as well.
I don't want a balanced schedule and I think we can have at least 28 teams in MLS (although I'd prefer less, I like 24). It amazes me that people still try and compare MLS to the other major leagues in the country. No other league has to deal with FIFA dates, CONCACAF CL, US Open Cup and friendlies. So how exactly does 30-32 teams allow all those other games?
as i said, the schedule would be bizarre, but there is, truly, no reason MLS can't have 30-32 teams particularly as the #1 stated goal of the league right now is to grow tv revenue.
Where's that dude with the LA Galaxy avatar who keeps insisting that 24 is some maximum limit that MLS will never ever go past, instead of Garber's stated goal for where the league will be by 2020? MLS Commissioner Don Garber gives update on league's expansion plans