⚽️ MLS sucks and no one should support their expansion, especially in Detroit

2019 was quite an amazing year for Detroit City FC and soccer in general in the Motor City.

Last week, DCFC was awarded the 2019 NPSL Members Cup, the City’s first title since the Red Wings were crowned Stanley Cup champions in 2008. However, Le Rouge’s run within a dominating Members Cup season included just one loss — which came against the Milwaukee Torrent the final game of the season in what was really a meaningless game considering DCFC already clinched the title the prior Wednesday in a 1-0 win over the Michigan Stars FC in Pontiac.

Le Rouge’s Members Cup title though was just the culmination of not just an incredible 2019 that also consisted of the team confirming they would be moving up to the National Independent Soccer League — officially the third tier of the US soccer pyramid — the unveiling of a women’s pro team that’ll begin play in 2020 and an amazing win over Liga MX team Atlas FC among other things. Not to mention, DCFC has become one of the embodiments in the United States on how a true, grassroots soccer club is built from the ground up.

🚫 Why NO ONE should support MLS

So with all of Detroit City’s success should the goal for the club to eventually be elevated to Major League Soccer in the longterm?

The simple answer to that is surely no. In fact, no grassroots soccer club in the United States and Canada should ever want the MLS to come knocking on their door.

Something the MLS has been very good at doing (aside from exploiting supporter groups and running a sanctioned Ponzi scheme — which we’ll get into here shortly) is garnering the attention of the casual soccer fan in North America and convincing the mainstream sports media and public in general that they’re a successful organization responsible for the growth of soccer in the United States and Canada.

However, the growth and longterm success of soccer in the United States and Canada is very much an afterthought for MLS which instead is on the look out for making a quick buck.

Over the course of the past 10 years, MLS has gone from 15 teams to 24 with five more set to be added by the 2022 season. Among those teams to debut are Austin FC who’ll begin play in 2021 and the Sacramento Republic FC who’ll begin play in 2022. Again this seems proof positive that MLS is striving by the way they keep adding teams to their League.

Upon closer inspection though the additions of Austin and Sacramento couldn’t be more flawed.

As far as Austin goes, MLS has opted to continue to flood the Texas market despite utterly shit attendance among the teams currently residing in the State, FC Dallas, and Houston Dynamo.

Now based on the attendance numbers below, obviously Texas was in prime position to add yet ANOTHER MLS franchise despite both Dallas and Houston residing well into the bottom half of the League’s attendance numbers.

Now if you want to make a comparison to an actual club (and not a franchise) like the Detroit City FC, I invite you to take a look at some of their attendance figures highlighted below.

Now offhand it doesn’t seem like this is very comparable to even the bottom half of what MLS pulled in this past season. However, unlike MLS, Detroit City FC, without corporate handouts or the support of the United States Soccer Federation and Soccer United Marketing continues to have their yearly attendance numbers trend upward. Moreover, even without being propped up by the USSF, SUM, MLS or a large part of their local media for that matter, DCFC still manages to on average fill up their home pitch of Keyworth Stadium to around 72 percent capacity.

But I digress…

Moving along to Sacramento who are heading to division one from the USL which has essentially sold itself out to become a feeder league for the MLS. What’s funny about this particular situation is that the Republic’s “promotion” perfectly illustrates another pilar of MLS’s business model of money over anything else.

Now one who may not be paying attention may think that Sacramento won their league and sit atop of the USL table.

Well that couldn’t be farther from the truth.

The Republic certainly made it to the postseason in the USL but were seventh in the Western Conference. Meanwhile, USL counterpart Phoenix Rising FC finished their regular season with a 24-4-6 record and a plus-53 goal differential. In any healthy soccer structure it would only make sense that Phoenix would get the promotion but that’s not what we’re dealing with here when we’re talking MLS or USL for that matter.

The MLS’ Ponzi scheme

Deadspin has already made note of MLS’s shitty structure that in every way resembles a sanctioned Ponzi scheme. However in the essence of Major League Soccer we’ll go ahead and “exploit” their article and reiterate some of their good talking points here.

First, let‘s make it very apparent that all teams and contracts are centrally owned by MLS themselves which offhand eliminates the ethos of a true club, something that has been important to the game of soccer itself.

However, if you are a rich investor looking to place your name next to an MLS franchise you can do so if you’re willing to fork over an entry fee of $200 million dollars and a new stadium that may need to be built for said franchise if the MLS doesn’t already approve what is already put in place.

But, like any franchise in the United States these costs like league entry fees or new stadium construction is hardly ever fronted entirely by the owners themselves. As we know here in Detroit, most recently with the Little Caesars Arena and the “District Detroit”, a majority of the cost associated with stadiums especially are paid for by the taxpayers.

Then, even after the MLS has sucked a city’s money well dry and has either exploited supporter groups or turned their backs on their own created ones, there’s nothing set in place that’ll keep a franchise in said city. If an investor is unhappy with attendance they can pick up and leave whenever they like.

Furthermore, what makes an MLS franchise great for a rich investor and not the city and taxpayers they’ve just robbed is there’s no risk of fielding a shit team while you, the investor or the MLS continue to line their pockets with expansion fees from other teams coming into League. You see, unlike just about every other league in the World, MLS doesn’t have an open format meaning there’s no threat of relegation if you suck.

On the flip, there’s also no chance at promotion which illustrates something else MLS has become very good at (aside from mimicking some fake success) is shutting out clubs from ever ascending to the top division of American soccer. That is unless you’re willing to pay and continue to feed into MLS’ only real revenue stream of expansion fees which I’m sure isn’t redistributed back into the community that originally fronted the bill to bring MLS to their town.

And if we’re talking television contracts, I’m sure this is something Major League Soccer would much rather have you look the other way with. Last time I checked, the only real time we have MLS games appearing on network television is when the the playoffs come around. Otherwise MLS games are on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPN+. Meanwhile, the English Premier League enjoys regular coverage on not just the NBC Sports Network, but on NBC every weekend during the season.

💰 MLS isn’t the only bad actor here

You can only blame MLS for their shitty structure and exploitive business model so much. For instance, MLS’s closed system policy isn’t entirely up to them. You see Major League Soccer is entirely enabled by the United States Soccer Federation and Soccer United Marketing whose sole purpose is to continue to prop up the MLS financially while ignoring any other professional league in the U.S..

Ben Fast, who has done an incredible job putting a spotlight on the structural problems within U.S. soccer, highlighted that the USSF could decide tomorrow to require MLS to run an open system and allow other professional clubs to be promoted into their league without having to pay an entry fee. Of course MLS could totally refuse to do this and in turn, lose their division one sanctioning but that would be their decision and theirs alone. Likewise, if they wanted to run a truly closed system without having the support of a USSF division one sanction then, by all means, have at it.

The reality of the problem here though is the USSF has had its own system continually work against them. USSF has done nothing but basically, try and sacrifice other professional leagues around the country in favor of MLS.

And how could you think otherwise?

Soccer is unique in it’s success on and off the pitch. It’s deeply rooted in the communities it represents and has displayed it’s formula for success in more ways than one, none of which are a result of the American closed system.

Or the endless assaults on local communities by Major League Soccer when it comes to their expansion and pseudo prosperity.

Without even batting an eye, the USSF continues to sit back as the MLS expands and expands and expands without any rhyme or reason other than to line their pockets. Even if that means again sacrificing the overall success and health of soccer in North America.

Like previously mentioned, within the next five years, Major League Soccer is going have 29 teams in its ranks with I’m sure No. 30 following not far after that. With that in mind please realize that some of the most successful soccer structures and top leagues around the World like the Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga or Liga MX in Mexico have like 20 teams, tops. Not almost 30!

But that seems to be the measure of success for the USSF and MLS who are running shit like a fucking Starbucks rather than implementing a successful soccer structure in the United States.

“If we can get an MLS franchise in ever city we can then we’re golden”.

🤔 Can MLS be reformed?

So say the USSF does a complete 180 and decides to require MLS to open things up, can they be reformed? I guess they could, theoretically but If we’re ever hoping for a true open soccer system in the United States and Canada Major League Soccer would probably have to be killed off. I mean can you imagine MLS commissioner Don Garber heading into a board of directors meeting (or whatever they call it) telling their top investors that they’re now moving to an open system meaning anyone of them could get regulated to the USL? I’m sure the investors wouldn’t go for it in the first place but then again which soccer fans truly concerned with the health of the game in the United States would really care? At this point, the way Major League Soccer has been propped up and coddled, the only viable and fair solution would probably be to totally kill the league off altogether.

Which also begs the question, what do you do with the USL which has become the MLS’s feeder league? It would seem reforms at that level would be much more viable but then again, if the USSF is going to open things up there’s going to be mass change across the U.S. soccer landscape.

The bottom line though is the MLS isn’t needed. It’s not needed for the health and growth of soccer in the United States and it’s certainly not needed for any measure of success with clubs across the country. Again, the Detroit City FC, Chattanooga FC or even the Phoenix Rising have proven you don’t need a flawed league supported by a flawed system to find true grassroots success. You don’t need the MLS to come in and rob your community as they tout their fake success. What would help though is a USSF governing body getting their heads out of the asses of Major League Soccer to see what exactly is capable in the North America when it comes to soccer in and of itself.