Is There A Major League Soccer Hierarchy?

San Jose says no.

 

Wait, what's the recent development of montreal? Didn't explain much.

It seems like half an article.

 

What the hell kind of article is that?

Also, no.

 

this article is about h.s newspaper quality.

 

There is, but in the North American sense of haves and have nots developing in a system that enforces parity as opposed to the European super club sense.

 

San Jose is the best team this year. Sporting Kansas City is one of the best teams over the last two years. Real Salt Lake is one of the best teams over the last three years.

 

A lot of people think that parity in a sports league means that every team is exactly the same when it comes to competitiveness.

All it means is that every team has to play by the same rules and abide by the same restrictions when compiling a roster. Teams with the best FOs will be the teams that can consistently put together a winning team. Teams with lousy FOs will suck.

You will have mini-"dynasties" in MLS, just like you've seen it in the NFL. San Fran, was a dominant team in the 80 and early 90's. Went through more than a decade of sucking....and now are starting to get good again.

The difference between the NFL, which is also a parity driven league, and MLS is that there is no competition from other leagues for NFL players. NFL players, stay in the NFL, so it is easier to build a "dynasty" that lasts a lot longer than MLS teams.

That said, we've seen similar arcs in MLS, its just that the periods are much shorter.

You can say that DC United was an early 'dynasty', that fell off and is returning to prominence. The LA Galaxy made the playoffs for 10 straight years before missing the playoffs for a couple seasons in a row. New England made the MLS Cup final 4 years in a row if I'm not mistaken, and then fell apart.

Its harder for MLS teams to maintain extend periods of greatness because in addition to other MLS teams coming after players, there are about a dozen leagues worldwide that are also scouring MLS for talent.

So know, I'm not worried about MLS turning into La Liga Jr. where only two teams ever have a chance to win. I see it more going towards the direction of the Bundesliga, where there is a lot more competitive balance than the other Big 4 leagues.

The teams that consistently finish near the top of the league standings are the teams that do the best job of managing the salary cap, scouting South and Central America for cheap talent, have the best eye for the draft, and eventually will be the teams that have the best youth development.

The teams that are consistently at the bottom of the league standing are the teams that are run by a gaggle or retarded monkeys. TFC being the best example of this.

 

3 of the last 4 mls cup champions are Columbus, Salt Lake and Colorado i really dont think that any of these 3 clubs have any sort of special outside advantages yet they were league champions. this league will continue to be filled with parity regardless of what clubs like LA and NY do simply based on the way we crown our champions through a short, end of season tournament which allows teams to get hot at the right time and win it all

 

The NHL has had a different champion every year since 2002, and yet you'd be hard pressed to tell anyone that there aren't haves and have nots in that league. The New York Rangers will always have more money even in a hard cap system and even though that money doesn't necessarily translate into titles... they're always going to land top end free agents because they can. The same is true for certain MLS sides, LA and Seattle will have advantages Columbus never will in terms of money and prestige even if it isn't reflected in scudetti.