After reading about the Toronto rift and realizing some of the best soccer cities/markets for possible MLS expansion already have existing A-League teams, why not merge the two leagues or buy them out. I think of the AFL merging with the NFL as an example. Also the NBA in talks of buying out the CBA before they decided to start their own developmental league. Most A-League teams have their own stadiums/venues, already marketed and have a loyal fan base, and are active intheir communities. Those are several of the prerequisites MLS is looking for when considering expansion teams. Yes the talent pool will drop off for a year or two. But our MLS teams cannot keep on getting younger and younger as new and more skilled talent continues to develop, pushing away talent in their mid- to late- twenties. I think in the long run it will be good. There will be more owners, more teams for player development, a larger pool of players for the US National teams, it will grow the WUSA expansion for their league, more sponsors, more attractive to the TV dollars, more opportunities for coaching evelopment, more international visibility and attraction, and the list of pros goes on and on and on....Your thoughts?
The MLS would have to pay owners compensation for not accepting teams. Only a few cities in the A-League could make a crossover to MLS.
I dont think that really a merger with the a-league is that great an idea. Maybe a half-merger. A-league would become the official minor league of MLS. Kind of like the AAA, AA, and A league of MLB.
First of all, your premise isn't exactly right; Philadelphia, Cleveland, and the Oklahoma cities don't have A-League teams, to pick a few of Garber's latest "big 7." More importantly, the structure, finances, scale, facilities, and fan bases of A-League teams aren't really up to MLS standards at all. Look at all the thorny issues raised by the possibility of Rochester joining MLS - and Rochester is the unquestioned elite A-League franchise. Finally, the A-League has a distinct reason to exist: to provide that level of soccer in markets that can't, at this point, handle MLS teams. Let it be.
I seem to remember way back in the early days of MLS, they were intereseted in putting a team in Seattle, and just absorbing the Sounders. But the Sounders owner didn't want to give up his team to become part of the single entity thing. I also think this has scared off a couple of other A-League types from joining MLS. Besides, the A-League is an organization tying together many businesses. I assumed that the league infrastructure is privately held by the collective A-League owners. You'd need to throw a lot of silly money at those owners to give up their stuff. I think that money would be better spent on increasing the salary cap than building a traditional American farm system. Let MLS worry about developing Div 1 soccer, and let the A-League and USL develop below that.
Personally, the only way I see that happening is for MLS to either buy up USL lock, stock, and barrel, and use it as a true minor league (which it should anyway), or do away with single entity, and let the stronger USL teams come in, provided they can ante up the kind of dough necessary to make it work. As long as there is single entity, don't count on it happening, unless MLS buys out USL. And, I don't think we'll ever see the kind of promotion/relegation that they have in other countries. There is too much disparity between MLS and USL, and always will be, for big-money MLS types to allow their team to be "lowered" into the cauldron of the A-League, where they would play at such holes as DeKalb Memorial Stadium, home of the Atlanta "Only Rich Fans Need Show Up" Silverbacks.