My thoughts one making the MLS a bigger and better league in the USA is for at least two more teams, one more in the west and one in the east. The other should be is to make a 2nd division league so the MLS is the 1st league. That way there will be more players at the disposle of the coaches and more youth can be recruited. It seems like College soccer has unofficially become this country's second division. Those players can feed the 2nd division, and maybe first if their good enough. Those are my thoughts for the future of the MLS. If you think im wrong on my thoughts, then whats the right way to make the MLS a better league?
Hi K_Rad7. Welcome to Bigsoccer. Like Lithium said, the A-League is our Minor league. It doesn't work like a 2nd division (with Promotion, etc.), but it, along with the PDL, serves to bring minor league teams to the rest of the country. And, just like you said, we also have the NCAA to develop players. The A-League probably won't be part of MLS for a while, because they are two completely different business ventures, with different investors, marketing schemes, and purposes. If it was simply a matter of creating teams for an existing fan base (like NFL in Los Angeles), it would be different. It's not like that. MLS has to get people to show for the existing teams first.
Instead of going the normal American Sports League routes and just adding and adding teams because you can, build a 16 team league and a second 16 team league and have teams move up and drop down between these two leagues like most other Soccer leagues in the world. Maybe in 10 years have a 3rd minor league built so drop between 3 leagues. Then again we could go the American way and have a 30 team league with deluted talent.