Hell no. If anything, the top 4 u.s. clubs would join LMX if they're good enough. LMX is by far the superior league, there is no way its best clubs would take several steps down to join a lesser league. Ludicrous.
This is beyond ridiculous. Why would the Mexican league give up its topmost populous cities? Why would the teams leave a better league for MLS? Why would FIFA allow this? On top of being completely unrealistic, the thought that Mexican teams would just sprint to MLS is very arrogant. MLS is not a top league. If it were in the English system, it would fall behind the EFL Championship. The Championship has higher overall revenue and revenue per team.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Vincent Tan sold half of his LAFC shares at a valuation of $700 million. DC United and Orlando City sold shares at a valuation close to $500 million. That's a lot of pesos.
Do you think that answers my questions? Let me ask one question The EPL has far more revenue than the Eredivisie. Do you believe FIFA would allow Ajax to just up and leave and join the EPL? That’s what is being suggested here.
Liga MX is not a single entity, it's just a collection of clubs. The clubs will do whatever is in their best interest, and for Top 6-8 Mexican clubs, it may make more sense to be one of the biggest 10-12 clubs in a combined North American league, than to be one of the biggest 6-8 in mexico along. Because MLS is a single entity monopoly. Much less risk of relegation or mismanaging the club into nothing. No risk that MLS eventually outgrows Liga MX. Don't think of it as Liga MX joining MLS or vis versa, think of it as a new super league. Liga MX ownership will have significant say in the league and basically no downside risk. Why would they not? Infantino seems delighted by the idea. That's the thing, you only need 6-8 to join. Once that happens Liga MX won't have enough stable teams to fill itself out, and it will just make sense for the rest of the league to join as well. It will probably be driven by what the biggest Liga MX clubs want. It's not about the MLS being a top league, it's about what MLS and Liga MX combined could be. American sports are notoriously profitable for the owners, owning soccer teams not as much. Liga MX owners buy into the monopoly, one that could easily be the size of any other (non-NFL) us sports leagues. In short, it would be very profitable.
Just to back that up, ESPN wrote: FIFA president Gianni Infantino says a merger between Mexico's Liga MX and Major League Soccer (MLS) would be seen positively by the game's governing body and could produce "the best league in the world."
Single entity doesn’t mean that. Clubs cannot just do what they want. Pumas could not play in the EPL next year. It doesn’t work that way. But more importantly, FIFA is not going to allow a 50 club league and no MLS owner is going to agree to be in the second league. There would also be difficulties with work visas, taxation, politics,etc.
I don't think taxation, visas and politics would be an issue. Mexico play all their friendlies in the US and Mexican teams play friendlies in the US without a problem. The main problem would be climatic. You can't play in the Midwest or Northeast in the winter and you can't play in northern Mexico in the summer. And I think a North American league would have to be tiered with promotion and relegation. I'd start with 9 teams from Mexico, 10 from the US and 1 from Canada.
Those cities have CPL clubs and the CSA is imposing a moratorium on sanctioning clubs to US leagues. Expansion in Canada will not happen
Within the confines of their national federation and FIFA etc, they can. Liga MX the clubs are their own entities, similar to the EPL actually. Remember when all the current EPL clubs broke away to start the PL in the first place? This would be very similar - the top Mexican clubs simply choosing to leave Liga MX and join a different league. If FIFA sanctions it, there is nothing Liga MX can do to stop it. This is unlike the MLS, where the league owns the clubs, they cannot simply walk away from the league. FIFA will allow it. It's politics, if the guy now doesn't allow it, one of the other politicians will. Infantino already basically said FIFA would sanction it. I don't think it would be 50 teams, realistically 36-40, split into two leagues of 18-20. Chivas and the like will pull their weight, I don't see them paying an expansion fee to MLS when they bring so much to the table for the league. After the top 6-8 Mexican clubs thats probably not the case, the rest of them will have to buy into MLS or I don't think the league takes them. So 30 MLS teams, 6-8 Mexican teams, and that still leaves space to squeeze an expansion fee out of 1-2 more US/Mexican teams. I don't think most owners care which league their team is in as long as revenue is fully shared with the top league. If I own some random team like Cincinnati, I want the LAFC's and Miami's to grow and do well, we are all sharing the same TV money they are making. I think owners would get comfortable with the idea of their MLS team being in a second division if they still share in the same revenue pool, perhaps have a lower spending/salary floor, and they still have their slice of the monopoly, which now covers a soccer loving country of 100+ million in Mexico. Cincinnati is never going to be a world powerhouse in Soccer, the money is in the growth of the league and sport. What difficulties? Mexico plays half their NT games in the US, the US is the biggest market for alot of these Liga MX teams. MLS clubs will be fighting for the chance to play Chivas or America twice a year, they will sell out stadiums in Texas or Florida that haven't been sold out very often recently. It sounds ridiculous but the benefits are simply so large it has to be properly examined. A Canada/US/Mexico league would probably leapfrog every league but the big 5 in Europe, it would be the top league in Western Hemisphere/Timezone. It would have a monopoly on a big wealthy market, and with Mexico included, a market with a large number of soccer fans. Put it another way, if MLS was looking at expansion candidates and there was a US team with the support/following of Pumas or something, that would immediately be the expansion priority. Let MLS "expand" to include the top 6-8 clubs. The top Liga MX teams know how profitable being an american sports owner is, they know its impossible to actually fail. Of course they will take that sort of stability and money, particularly when it comes with the chance to push their club into the big US market, and make it a top tier club in a much higher tier league than the current Liga MX.
Just FYI, people forget that most of Europe is in the Eastern Hemisphere as the meridian crosses through London. (Norwich and Ipswich are the only "biggish" English teams in the Eastern Hemisphere).
Reading back, disregarding the silliness, something similar to this is probably MLS' goal. They'll never talk about it publicly, of course, but does anyone see them stopping at 32? 34? 36? I don't. There's no conceivable reason for them to stop till they're in every significant market in the US and Canada. "But Melba, the TV gods won't like that!" TV viewership is not likely to be the primary source of income anytime soon. Even a league as popular as the NHL still makes most of its money on ticket sales, and MLS' talent pool is far larger than what the NHL is working with. Ultimately, the idea MLS would shy away from being this gargantuan because it would upset the TV gods is a bit misguided; MLS will continue indefinitely to be a gate-oriented league. "But no more Canadian teams! The CPL!" As Brian Johnson once famously sang, moneytalks. The CPL is the equivalent of the Cymru Premier.
Mexican owners are looking at MLS club valuations and they want a piece of it. I mean real valuations based on shares traded, not the Forbes estimates. LAFC $700M, Orlando $500M, DC United $500M. If you look at Statista's valuations from 2019, Colorado Rapids are at the bottom, worth just $190M. Monterrey are the highest valued club in Mexico at $77M. From a Mexican owner's perspective what's not to love? BTW I'm not vouching for the accuracy of the Statista numbers.
The low valuation of LMX clubs is tied to the value of the Mexican currency and the health of the Mexican economy. I don’t know if joining MLS would boost their valuation significantly
When the MLS goes to 30 teams, and I know it wont happen, but, I believe having relegation table would be fun and here's how I break it down First to break up the 30 teams, I would have one table to begin the season, whenever the 30th team debuts 2025?, so the teams who finished 1-15 become MLS 1, teams who finished 15-30 become MLS 2. You can still do the playoffs to have a Cup Champion, top 8? 12? I Randomized the Teams MLS ONE 1.Phil 2.SJ 3.Columbus 4.Orlando 5.NYC 6.Nashville 7.NE 8.Real Salt Lake 9.Inter Miami 10.Chicago 11.LA Galaxy 12.St Louis 13.Portland 14.Austin 15.#30 rewarded expansion team 1-8 Playoffs Home-and-Home series. 13-15 Relegated to MLS 2 MLS TWO 1.Atla 2.LAFC 3.SKC 4.Sea 5.FC Cin 6.Minn 7.Colo 8.FC Dallas 9.Toronto 10.Van 11.Impact 12.Dynamo 13.Charlotte 14.DC 15.NYRB 1-6 Playoffs Home-and-Home series. The 3 Winners get Promoted to MLS 1. 7-15 Would be Picks 1-9 in the MLS Draft. Every game will matter Each League would stay competitive
lol, why are you triggered? It has more to do with the CSA than CPL, they are blocking the sanctioning of new clubs in US leagues. An MLS club did lose over 2 legs to a CPL club, not that you'd know this but sure...whatever make you happy
If you ever find yourself typing "lol, u triggered?", in ANY context, log off. You're doing it very wrong.
And Premier League Burnley lost at home to non- league (D5) Lincoln City. Soccer can be unpredictable.
Agreed although my example was over 2 legs. I was just making fun of his comparison between 2 leagues he seems to not fully understand
The CSA will likely not forbid a new money-making MLS venture in Canada. Why would they rather have a team in the CPL than MLS? The real question is whether MLS wants to be in more Canadian markets, and I think the answer is no for the time being. If anyone can think of a better analogy than the Cymru Premier, I’m all eyes.
I think there's a misunderstanding about the CSA's mandate A)The jury's still out on "money-making". Montreal have never broken even since joining the league, let alone Vancouver. TFC have the benefit of the Maple Leafs and Raptors revenues covering their expenses B)Those revenues would benefit the owners and the league, not the CSA nor the global game in Canada from coast to coast. 2/3 of Canadians live outside the MLS. There's little value to add another in the 4th biggest which is Calgary...which already have a CPL club. C)The pre-Montagliani plan to bank it all on MLS was not viewed by the CSA as a success. No World Cups berth, no HEX, no Gold cups / let alone make it past the QF, no Olympics, no U20 World Cup. In any serious soccer nation, these results would be deemed as failure. D)Following on my previous point, player's development was regionalized instead of being nationalized. CPL closes that gap and players are being developed and given opportunities. Davies was "referred" to the Whitecaps from Edmonton. Jonathan David came out of nowhere in Ottawa...right under the Montréal or TFC's noses. We can't rely on "luck", guys like them need to be identified early - wherever they are. E) CPL clubs provides Canadians more pro minutes which has always been our #1 biggest problem as noted by the past 2 and current national team coaches. Floro, a former Real Madrid coach, said that Canada's problem wasn't talent - it's not having its own league providing "minutes" to more players. 3 MLS clubs was insuffisant in his opinion. And that's fair. So many US markets wants "in", they should have priority to access their own domestic league. 1-The Welsh league have both pro and semi-pro clubs. CPL is 100% pro who even borrowed elements from MLS' SUM by creating CSB which provide a strong fiscal backbone and media deal before a ball was kicked. 2-In term of the way it functions, any Scandinavian + the A-League will do as a fair comparison We share a lot of Australia's challenges in terms of geography and demographic. We have similar cultural traits with Scandinavian nations in terms of schedule and operating these leagues while they are just as crazy about hockey as we are. So in many ways, we are far more different than the US compared to Australia and Scandinavian nations. I took the time to elaborate a bit, I meant no disrespect in my previous reply to you.
2013 Forbes valuations: 10. Montreal Impact Value: $96 million 2019 Forbes valuations: 22. Montreal Impact Value: $210 million So Montreal may be making a small operating loss but if Saputo decides to cash out he'll do quite nicely. Note: Forbes valuations may be plucked from the air but Orlando, DC and LAFC have all sold shares at > than their Forbes valuations. Semi-pro isn't an official designation, it just means they need a secondary income to live on. adjective: semi-pro receiving payment for an activity but not relying entirely on it for a living.
You're stuck in the weeds here. Canada has their biggest clubs involved in MLS, not the CPL. The same goes for Wales: Swansea, Cardiff, and Newport play in English leagues, the rest are small time in the Cymru Premier. Rest assured, if someone wants to invest in soccer in Canada, they will not want to be in the CPL long term. Like has been the case with many lower league clubs in the US, they will seek to use the CPL as a launching point to MLS, to prove the market viable. It's simply a matter of greasing the right palms and MLS being interested in more clubs up north. As for growing the game in Canada, the "lack of minutes" problem is/was a lack of club volume, not an MLS-specific issue. At the end of the day, the CSA would rather have Canadian clubs involved in MLS. MLS provides more exposure at the very least. Resources are richer in MLS. Their moratorium is only there to ensure they get a piece of any future expansion deals.
There are similarities in terms of club status between Welsh/England and Canada/US, which no one denies, for now. All I was saying is that CPL is very different than the Welsh league. So Atletico Madrid is in CPL just for a shoot at MLS? Most would agree that MLS would welcome them with open arms from day 1. Leveraging CPL for making the jump in MLS... you didn't think through that you need both FIFA and CONCACAF approval on top of the CSA sanction. Who said that MLS was the problem? Saying that MLS is insuffisant to Canada's need is not the same as accusing them of being the problem, no need to get defensive. Canada is simply doing what Australia or South Korea by launching domestic leagues to improve their national teams. About the moratorium, you're saying that the CSA gets money from future expansion deals? Wow... that's next level ridiculous. The CSA cares way more about making the World Cup and winning Continental Cups than 3 clubs competing in the US. It's pointless if it doesn't translate into national success, that came from the former CSA president when TFC was winning the MLS cup I see you have a deep misunderstanding of associations mandates and mindset...I'll leave it at that.