Regional Leagues - A Modest Proposal

No? It's not broke. Like all middle tier leagues, MLS can't compete with the top tier leagues on the player quality level. It's not something that is unique to MLS and changing format isn't going to change that.

You have no evidence that this is a problem. Every expansion has brought in more fans. The league is making more money that it has in the past, player quality is improving, etc, etc. By most metrics, (aside from TV ratings) MLS is improving while it is expanding.

It's not MLS's fan base saying that. It largely originates in US soccer fans that aren't MLS fans.

 

I'm not going to make predictions about MLS's size or format, but if we were to treat your question as a hypothetical, I don't see why MLS couldn't be a league with 36-40 team with a playoff type format.

 

There is no evidence that MLS’s format is harming its growth.. My sole position is “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. Your proposal is literally “I don’t like the current format, let’s just throw something at the wall and see if it sticks”.

The burden of proof here lies on you. You have to provide evidence (actual evidence, not your opinion) that your format is superior to the current format.

 

*looks at Liga MX, the most popular soccer league in this country*

*looks at the NBA, NHL, NFL, and MLB, collectively the most successful sports leagues on the planet financially*

I don't know man, guess we'll just have to wait and see...

 

LigaMX/FMF does seem to be working hard to destroy that tho. It really does seem that ending pro/rel really hurt Mexican soccer... And that's not because pro/rel is superior, it's just the format Mexican fans are used to and, all of a sudden, having the lower divisions cut off from the top division didn't improve things in the top division and hurt things in the lower divisions.

I can't help but think that, at this point, a lot of the popularity of LigaMX in the US comes down to a failure of MLS to penetrate the Spanish language market and tradition.. Kind of like how Rangers and Celtic were very popular in the US well into the 2000s despite them being a significant step down from the Premier League.. And yes, I'm aware I just made a backhanded comment to Scotland's primary language. Hehe.

 

I'll agree the lower divisions are in bad shape, but they cut them off because they weren't financially stable. So is it worse or is it just a different kind of bad? And is the top league hurting at all? I don't follow it closely but it doesn't seem like it.

 

From what I understand, while the lower divisions of Mexican soccer were in disarray, the knowledge that their teams were cut off from the top division sent fans away from their home clubs and sent them even further into disarray. That was only in the immediate aftermath tho. As with many fan protests, those fans very well could have come back.

Like you. I don't follow it THAT closely. Other than seeing Mexican soccer fans pointing at that decision as one of the reasons the MexMNT has fallen off in the last few years and why MLS seems to be catching LigaMX faster. The impression I'm getting from that specific complaint is that FMF/LigaMX cut off the pipeline from lower division players to upper level teams and they are paying the consequences for that.

 

You have no evidence for any of this.. MLS is making hay out of the Messi announcement. Seriously, go check out InterMiami's socials. They freaking blew up over Messi's announcement. Go look at the price of tickets for InterMiami's games on the secondary market, they are freaking huge.. Hell, pretty much everything Messi is touching is gold for MLS right now and he isn't even officially signed to a contract yet.

Chicken or the egg scenario tho. College football's popularity is largely driven from the fact that college football was THE sport back before the NFL started. There was legit questions about why the NFL was even being created because college football was so popular. The localism of college sports is largely a result of those colleges having generational support from the locals..

I'd also be curious what second rate, minor league sports flourish to enormous levels under the college system. The only college sport that are huge is Football. Don't get me wrong. March Madness is huge and the College World Series was huge, but regular season college basketball and baseball is pretty regional outside of the top basketball teams. Outside of those three sports, what second rate, minor league sports have flourished?

Yes.. The most successful league in the world shouldn't be emulated. Heh. Seriously, for the US, the current format has worked for all of the top professional sports. MLB is hurting, for sure, but that's largely because they are failing to attract new fans. But NHL, NBA, and NFL are all doing pretty well.

 

The areas MLS takes big swings at are in areas that matter. Players, player development, and revenue. I'm including stadiums in revenue as owner controlled stadiums has had a large impact in the revenue coming into MLS teams and ownership groups.

Paying players more, spending more money on player development, and increasing revenue has all had a proven record of improving the overall quality and popularity of a league. So far, drastic changes to a league's format has not. J league is really the only league that I can think of that has had a degree of success in changing league formats, but that was more a return to their previous format than a change to a drastically new and unproven format.

 

except, much like Beckham’s arrival, Messi’s arrival is increasing the popularity of the league as a whole. Yes, most teams in the Western Conference aren’t getting a visit from Messi, but they are still benefitting from the increased attention the league as a whole is getting.

SuperLiga says Hi! The only thing Leagues Cup is doing is capitalizing on the proven history that LigaMX teams playing in MLS stadiums CAN have higher attendance than MLS vs MLS games.

 

SuperLiga failed only after it achieved its main objective of waking CONCACAF up to beef up the Champions Cup/League to be bigger than a quick 8-team tournament and to have more MLS/MX matches. Once the CCL had more of the top teams, the SuperLiga ended up with a second-tier field and there really wasn't much point in continuing.

 

Its always a question of what problem is pro/rel trying to solve..

Is it picking up the euro fans? meh the eurosnobs will just shift to hating MLS for a different reason… it could be a simple matter of the word “Soccer” being in the leagues name (though I always argued MLF would play well with the search engines)..

Is it to pick up the Hispanic audience… or more specifically the Mexican audience? the chunk you want view futbol in a Nationalistic sense.. they wouldnt “lower” themselves to MLS and mock those who would lower themselves to it....Sure some may tune in to watch for certain players sure, but they do so with preconceived biases..If Messi is great then it shows MLS sucks because a 37 year old “washed up” player dominates.. if he doesnt it shows it really is a “retirement league”… expand the audience sure, but dont overexert yourself trying to win over those who will always spit in your eye

The only reason I would buy into pro/rel is because the league is healthy and continues to balloon up in many more markets… putting pro/rel as a result of a healthy league is much better than the illusion that it will be the magic bullet that validates/elevates it… should that day come all owners will see it as a natural progression and not a desperate gambit as such will be more willing to cooperate and take whatever inherent risk there is…

I mean by all means experiment away (MLS sure does)… but as always time always has a way of resolving these things

 

A regional professional league is a great idea and should be included in the PLS. Call it D4 or DReg or whatever.

I don't think anyone would be willing to invest significant money in it though.

 

The Football League started as a regional league. The German leagues were regional until 1963. The ASLs were regional until the last one expanded nationally and broke itself. The APSL/USISL/USL was a merger of regional leagues was it not?

 

The D3 standards have no geographic coverage or market size requirements, so a league could be established and get sanctioning in one region or even one state. It just needs eight teams, stadiums with 1,000 capacity, and owners who meet the financial requirements.