Opinion: MLS’s biggest problem is perception
Last week the MLS board of governors met, but elected against voting on any major changes. The switch to a fall-spring calendar and creation of an internal transfer market were discussed, but no votes were cast.
Listening to longtime executive Nelson Rodriguez, changes don’t appear to be imminent. From Paul Tenorio at The Athletic.
“The outcome today was positive in the sense that the board has authorized that we continue to do the work,” Rodriguez said. “The work started with our annual premise of, let’s review what we do and how we do it. And over these 11 months, that review has morphed a little bit into refine. What are the things we can polish and get better? And then there are a few things that we look at, what do we revise and reimagine? So in short, we leave the meeting with a unanimous consensus to continue to explore and see what may be revised.”
You’d think the league would implement serious changes to help capitalize on the 1-2 punch of Messi in MLS and America hosting the 2026 World Cup, but as Rodriguez explains that’s not exactly the case.
“It’s natural and logical to assume that a change has to be attached to the World Cup in ‘26 but that’s also artificial,” Rodriguez said. “It doesn’t necessarily have to be that way. It depends on the number of changes we may look to do and the magnitude of the changes. And those determine the timeline, more than just a date of saying you do it ahead of or coming out of the World Cup because it happens to be a World Cup here.”
I love Major League Soccer. Who doesn’t like entertaining soccer hosted at gorgeous destination venues with vibrant atmospheres? Tickets are stilI affordable. I even have a soft spot for the league’s bystanzine roster rules which frustrate fans but have successfully cut down costs over the years.
Clubs are starting to take off at developing talent. Attendance is soaring. I can go on and on. MLS is arguably a top 10 league at this point, and IMO should be more popular than it is.
The problem is, MLS is perceived as an inferior league by many soccer fans in this country. They don’t care about the high quality of play or the league’s rapid growth on and off the field. They want the best, which usually means supporting one of the European powerhouses.
We can scoff and label them Eurosnobs all we want, but it’s American exceptionalism plain and simple. And fair play to them, as no amount of money can buy the prestige of century old league nor the cultural attachment bridging folks to Liga MX for that matter.
Based on the league’s current trajectory, there may be a fixed amount of popularity Major League Soccer can continue to attract. If MLS has serious ambitions of becoming one of the top leagues in the world, eventually the difficult work of dramatically increasing ratings must take place. This means converting more of the Eurosnobs and the casual fan.
If major changes aren’t coming in time for the World Cup, how else does the league accomplish this? It certainly won’t be easy.
To the league’s credit, they’ve begun to promote their product more aggressively. Earlier this year MLS and Apple TV announced an all-access docuseries from Box to Box films, the crew behind F1’s transformative ‘Drive to Survive’ series. Can Box to Box capture lightning in a bottle twice?
I’m no expert on the issue, but one thing I’ve noticed? MLS doesn’t have much of a national presence, a critical component of attracting mainstream media attention. You don’t see many Foot Lockers crammed with MLS gear after all.
It’s a tad baffling that in all this time, something as simple as a consistent highlight show hasn’t come to fruition. I’ve pondered to press box colleagues, “Why isn’t there a MLS equivalent of Inside the NBA?”, the popular studio show starring Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaq?
I enjoy the content on the league website tremendously. (Hell, I’m friends with half the writers!) It does tend to be catered to us fellow MLS sickos however. Not pushing the envelope in creative new directions is potentially another missed opportunity.
Despite these drawbacks, the transformative growth of MLS seems all but inevitable. The question is the speed at which it occurs.