Where To Go From Here

Major League Soccer Roaring In The US

What is next for America's Premier League?

As you can see there is a lot of potential for MLS to be a great league. You have talent, you have the venues, you have the passionate fan base. There just seems to be a couple things missing, a couple things that keep it from reaching its true potential. 

I personally am an avid watcher of MLS and a die hard Timbers fan. I personally want nothing more than to see the league succeed in a big way and rival the other big 5 sports in the United States.

Better Upper Management Decisions

 

Interesting Deals TV, Ownership 

 The other year MLS had a deal with ESPN to show their games, but it really felt like the television super giant ESPN really didn't care. Forcing all of the MLS games to ESPN2 and the very moment that American Football Season kicked in, you could see the bottom ranked team in the American Conference play some poor D2 school, but you could find the MLS end of the season or the playoffs anywhere. Over the summer the coverage was great. I could see the World Cup and then watch the regular season every day after work. I feel like their move to FOX Sports was by far the smartest move the MLS has made regarding television deals.

More Content In The News

 I shouldn't be forced to scrounge and beg for news to be pouring out of MLS. I know that each team has their SB Nation Blog, but the only ones in my opinion who are churning out great content at a rapid pace are "Black and Red United". It is getting better, but it can be really slow at times.

 

A Form of Relegation and Promotion

First if you are from the US you may need a little research for this like I did, you can read up here. I do however feel that a system like the European system would not work for the US. I would like to see something similar to how NCAA Division I, II, III are set up. Alot of what determines your status in a league like this would be spending, profit, stadium, fan base and just overall resources. To give you an idea of what this looks like in my state DI is OSU and UofO, DI-AA Portland State, DII Western Oregon University, DIII George Fox, Willamette, etc. In my belief there is no way that these Divisions could compete against each other nor would they want to. While some teams may move up or down based on performance or resources, for the most part it stays pretty stable.

This is something similar that we currently have in place with the MLS, NASL, and USL PRO. All of these divisions are governed by the United States Soccer Federation. An example of this in teams would be MLS Portland Timbers, NASL Minnesota United, USL PRO. I would like to see the teams move out of a franchise sort of mode and more to a very permanent home sort of way. I don't have a solution, but I feel following a similar college model in a way might help MLS and soccer in this country as a whole.

Expansion and Location of Teams

Clearly defined Minor Leagues 

Lots of teams are following suit to the LA Galaxy and fielding their own USL PRO team in 2015. Rightfully so, if you saw someone winning 5 MLS Cups I would like to start doing what they are doing as well. 

Just The Naming of Stuff

 Why in the world are we calling clubs "FC", I do not understand. FC is a common abbreviation for Football Club. This is not the language we use in the United States, normally Football is associated with American Football, not Association Football. Examples of the teams who got the name (and geography) game right are the Columbus Crew Soccer Club and Orlando City Soccer Club. I can give it to "border" teams or countries (looking at you LAFC, Toronto FC and FC Dallas) you all can stay. But please people stop with the FC for official names of the club.

Intersting choice naming professional teams after tragedies that claimed the lives of many. The San Jose Earthquakes and the Chicago Fire. What is next (and you will have to forgive me) the OK City Dust Storm, the New Orleans Flood, the Miami Hurricanes (ok, the last one is pretty cool and already a team) As far as this is concerned the Earthquakes are able to spin a nickname "The Quakes", fire is a little tougher to spin a good PR label on though.

I have no idea what is happening, and I like it

Organic Fan Bases

We have seen a very successful thing that MLS has done in 2015 and that is that they have "promoted" one of the lower league teams that is already wildly successful into the top tier. As mentioned previously Orlando City SC is doing a lot of things right in how they are expanding.

Creating a Team From Thin Air 

Ok I get it, Soccer is popular in the US now. I love this fact. However that does not just give you an excuse to just plop an MLS team wherever you think you can make money, I am looking at you Dan.

 

More Team Identity

Being from Oregon I have the very honored privilege of rooting for the greatest team on Earth, the Portland Timbers. There isn't a team like them in the US and I am very happy about that, the Green and Gold is a unique treat to the Rose City. In fact, the Timbers have the color green all to themselves in this league. Just seeing the color green in soccer I have to think Timbers. There is a strong connection to color and team.

Other examples of teams in MLS who have a color all to themselves are Orlando City SC (purple), Columbus Crew SC (yellow), Houston Dynamo (orange), Seattle Sounders FC (that really jolly rancher green), Colorado Rapids (maroon), and I would even argue DC United (black), of course that could change pending LAFC. Finally Philadelphia Union (whate The point is that all of these teams have a very distinct color that set them apart form the rest of the league, and boy do they use this color.

Teams Do Not Look Unique 

The biggest problem that I have been facing when watching MLS is that so many teams look so similar! For example I give you the thorn that has been in my side for so long. This is related to the home kits of FC Dallas and Toronto FC. For the recod, I would love you to see how FC Dallas used to look like for years and years. I think this is a very classic American look. Now for some reason they have forgone a very distinct look that I think separates them from the other teams in MLS. Now I feel they look identical to Toronto FC, at least on Television. The point being, how can we expect to grow an orgainic fan base that really is driven by the city where it is if teams keep alienating their past and becoming a plastic shell of their former selves. For reference, this is what a Toronto Dallas game used to look like. All I ask is that you look at the below picture and ask yourself, do I feel like my team is original and represents my city.

FC Dallas

Toronto FC