I'm just not sure the sheer distances between matches will ever help USA ie away fans. A think smaller countries historically create better leagues. Spain... Italy England.. The kind of distance for away fans to travel created a following and atmosphere for the tv channels to want to get in on the act.

The mls will grow no doubt.. And will grow bigger than baseball and American football.. I mean it must lol... Ultimate padded rugby and rounders can't compete with the beautiful game can they?

I just can't quite picture the states being the center point of the future of our game... But if it does happen... It'll take over no doubt.

Edited by matthau (26 Oct 2017 11.05am)

Never. The question should be more like how long before the Prem is bigger than MLB or NFL?

Optimistic as ever

The love is there Ok, but the MLS is a joke league(I am currently watching NY Red Bulls v Toronto)there is a growing grassroots disatisfaction about the way MLS is run the bone of contention that there is no pro/rel

Pro USA & Israel

The Prem's money all comes from broadcasting rights. Teams make a fraction of their overall revenue from ticket sales and even less from away fan ticket sales.

The US broadcast market is massive so, as MLS grows its audience, so will its revenue from TV money. And in this country, you gotta make the money first. Then when you get the money, you get the power. Then when you get the power, then you get the players.

We don't do possession; we do defense and attack. Everything else is just wa**ing with a football.

The problem with the MLS is that in essence it's a ponzi scheme, with each team paying a 'franchise fee' to join. There is talk of the league having as many as 28 teams in it. To join you (usually need) a Soccer specific built stadium usually at tax payers expense. teams trying to join are the likes of San antonio & Cincinatti whilst it looks like poor old Columbus (Crew) are about to move to Austin (Texas)
Further down the ladder teams like NY Cosmos, Rochester Rhinos etc who get solid support have no chance of any promotion know matter how they do...

Pro USA & Israel

The unbalanced schedule is by design because MLS follows the US sports model of having regional divisions (cuts down on travel time/cost) who you compete with directly for a playoff spot. It's deemed more fair that you play more against those teams who are in the same division for this reason.

A good example of how the American model works is reaching its denouement as I type. We have Game #7 of the World Series tonight, which is the decider for all the marbles. The Houston Astros won the Western division of the American League to get into the playoffs. They then beat the Boston Red Sox in the divisional series (best of 5 games) to get to the American League Conference Final where they played and beat the Yankees (best of 7). On the other side of the bracket, the National League, the LA Dodgers went through the same process, beating Arizona and the Cubs. The "World Series" is the final proper, where the two conference champions meet, and it's tied a 3-3.

So, after 162 regular season games - mostly against your own division and scant few against the other conference - 5 games in the divisional series, 7 games in the conference final and 6 games up to now in the World Series, it's come down to one game, winner takes all, Houston vs. LA.

That's pretty f***ing exciting!

Edited by Ray in Houston (01 Nov 2017 8.58pm)

We don't do possession; we do defense and attack. Everything else is just wa**ing with a football.