My solution for making Major League Soccer more interesting to watch for fans around the world
If you are watching the current playoffs, then you probably aren't too enthralled
Major League Soccer struggles to be relevant in the United States’ sports landscape. On a recent episode of The Price of Football podcast, football finance guru Kieran Maguire spoke about the league’s inability to break the hold that the NBA and NFL have on America. He also talked about MLS’s lack of ability to crack the market in Europe. Maguire’s words were timely, as the MLS Cup playoffs are currently taking place.
The league has its fanbase, but it is challenging to grow the support base further inside and outside North America. Television ratings were tricky for MLS to grow before signing their deal with Apple ahead of the 2023 season. Reports claim that Apple had over 1 million subscribers to MLS Season Pass in July, but full figures have not been forthcoming.
Not too long ago, I covered MLS for several websites and even appeared on a weekly radio segment for Yorkshire Radio on the latest news from around MLS. Very quickly, it became apparent that not a lot happened from week to week in MLS, and after a while, it felt like every show was the same.
I knew this already, but working on articles and radio shows each week magnified the dullness of MLS’s regular season even more. A significant signing moves the needle a bit, but the excitement doesn’t last long. Sure, this past summer saw Messi join Inter Miami CF and bring new eyes to the league. Yet, his addition to the league has created short-term gains. I argue that those gains won’t last long, especially once Messi leaves North America.
I had been watching MLS since 1996 as a teen when the league started. Over the last few years, I halted my religious following of the league as more teams joined, and the games became even duller. I stopped writing about league as well. There came a time when non-US-based sports websites were no longer bothered with MLS content.
So, what makes MLS dull? The obvious answer is its structure from start to finish. The regular season means very little, and there is a lack of importance on the games played every week.
Sure, the teams are battling for playoff positions, but the clubs are mostly jockeying for position until the postseason begins and things get serious. A match in MLS’s regular season played in April is often no different from a regular-season game played by the same teams in September.
Teams are likely still jockeying for a playoff position. There is no reason for anyone to tune in unless you support one of those teams. Even then, you may choose to do something else. In 2023, nine teams from each MLS conference qualified for the playoffs for a total of 18 teams. There were only 29 teams in the league this past term. Sixty-two-percent of MLS teams qualified for the postseason.
On a number of occasions, through Radio Yorkshire’s weekly segment and social media, I was asked about MLS’s structure by non-US-based soccer fans. Many, if not all of them, didn’t understand the Eastern and Western Conferences and that teams play other teams in different conferences, yet the points still affected the playoff positions.
There was some frustration on the part of these individuals, which led to them being turned off by the league. Add in the ridiculous salary structures and rules, and you lose many fans outside North America where these factors don’t impact their favourite soccer teams and leagues.
For some time, there has been a discussion on how MLS can make the regular season more interesting. A more interesting regular season would bring in more fans and keep current supporters. It would also possibly make more fans from abroad.
I have the solution for MLS, and it isn’t for the league to simply turn itself into a single-table league that imitates the Premier League. Although my idea does make use of a single table, it uses another idea to make the league more competitive.
The Solution to MLS’s Boring, Dull, and Tiresome Regular Season
MLS ridiculously had 29 teams in 2023. Soon, it will add a 30th team in 2025 as MLS expands to San Diego. Unless the league can come up with other revenue methods, MLS will continue to use expansion teams to fund itself. I have long predicted the league will one day crumble due to the saturation of clubs. That is a topic for another day.
So, how can you make a soccer league interesting with so many teams? In 2023, MLS teams played 34 matches, with 17 home and 17 away games.
According to Wikipedia: “17 at home and 17 away games; the frequency of opponents was different for each conference due to the unequal number of teams. The 15 Eastern Conference teams played two matches against every other team in the same conference and one match each against six Western Conference teams. The 14 Western Conference teams faced each other twice as well as an additional one or two matches against an intra-conference team; they had one match each against either six or seven Eastern Conference teams.”
A Single Table
My solution to the MLS regular season problem is simple. First off, let’s do away with the Eastern and Western Conferences. MLS needs a single table with teams ranked No. 1 to No. 30 (based on the teams in 2025 to give us a nice even number).
To make the MLS regular season interesting, the playoffs will be abolished - sort of. So, the Supporters’ Shield will be handed out at the end of the season, with the team with the most points in the single table being awarded it.
You may ask yourself how my solution is different from MLS currently. I’ve simply taken away the two-conference structure and made the league standings a single table, and abolished the playoffs. How is that different? Well, read on.
A 30-Game MLS Season
Now that the teams are in a single table, each club should play the others one time. This will leave us with 29 matches. Of course, we could just end the regular season with an odd number of games, but if the league’s executives like it, why not add a 30th game on the final day of the campaign in which a club plays its nearest/local rival? There is nothing like having an end-of-the-season derby to excite fans. Now, that is a true decision day match-up.
For example, on the season’s final day, the LA Galaxy and LAFC xould meet, and NYCFC could face off with RBNY. These local rivals would meet twice, allowing those clubs to play home and away. In addition, owners and clubs could cash in on the regional rivalry.
Playing once against the rest of the teams in MLS makes the games special because fans will only see those opponents once a season. The teams can rotate which side plays at home from season to season. For example, in 2024, LA Galaxy can host DC United, and in 2025, DC United could welcome LA Galaxy to their stadium.
What grows fan interest isn’t that teams play each other three or four times; it is when games are rare. Therefore, fans will see their home club play fewer times against the same team unless it is a local rival. A 30-game campaign will make the MLS regular season a sprint rather than a tiresome marathon. The 2023 season had 34 games and started in February. It didn’t end until October, making it slog. Even some players complain about the length of the season, especially when teams aren’t playing many games from week-to-week.
The single table also makes it a sprint in which every game counts to win the title, qualify for international club competition, and MLS Cup (wait for it...).
To add further flavour, you could even stop giving three points for a win and only give out two, like in years gone by. Doing this would make it possible for teams to stick around in the race for the Supporters Shield. I’m of the opinion that all major soccer leagues should go back to two points for a win and one for a draw. Especially in leagues with little competition in terms of a title fight from season to season.
I’m sure you are thinking, what about the MLS Cup? Well, let’s get to that now.
Make the MLS Cup Great Again!
Since the start of the 2023 MLS Cup playoffs, I’ve hear a lot of people complain. The biggest complaint currently is the format of the first round. It is a best-of-three-game series, in which total goals do not matter. This is a format MLS used from 1996 to 2002.
It was only in 2003 that MLS used the two-leg format that nearly every soccer competition around the globe employs. The reason for bringing back the best-of-three-game series is to give Apple more matches to broadcast. Of course, this is another problem with MLS, as it tries to make its masters happy by giving them more meaningless games.
The MLS Cup gets watered down each season with so many teams making the playoffs. Over half of MLS’s teams in 2023 made the postseason. That doesn’t make it very exclusive. As I wrote, my solution is abolishing the MLS Cup Playoffs. Yet, I still want to keep the MLS Cup around.
The team that wins the MLS regular season will be given the Supporters’ Shield, just like it is currently. The trophy will be handed out to the side that finishes in first place in the single-table structure of MLS. As part of my solution, the MLS Cup will be a separate tournament from the regular season.
The MLS season will occur from March to August, with the best team after 30 games receiving the Supporters’ Shield. The MLS Cup tournament will begin in September, with all 30 teams (from 2025) qualifying. The team that won the Supporters’ Shield will play the team that finished last in the regular-season table in the tournament’s first round. The runner-up team will play the 29th-placed team in the final standings, and so on.
For example, if Sporting KC finish first in the MLS regular season and wins the Supporters’ Shield and Nashville FC finish 30th, then the two teams will meet in Kansas City in the first round of the MLS Cup tournament. The higher seed will host each game in the MLS Cup tournament. Each tie will be a one-off, creating excitement, intrigue, and a do-or-die experience.
Now, you might say, how is this different from the current MLS playoffs? My solution is for the playoffs not to exist and for the MLS season and MLS Cup tournament to be two separate entities. However, teams are rewarded in the regular season in the seeding and bracket for the MLS Cup tournament.
Throughout September and October, the MLS Cup tournament can be played out as a single-game, single-elimination tournament until the winner is crowned. The structures of both phases of the MLS season will add excitement and meaning to every game played.
If a team fails to win the Supporters’ Shield and finishes dead last in the league, they can recover to win silverware in the MLS Cup tournament. At the end of the campaign, the MLS Super Trophy can be handed out to the winner of the Supporters’ Shield and MLS Cup tournament meeting.
MLS executives won’t have to worry about fanbases being turned off if their club has a poor MLS Supporters’ Shield season. Those teams will always have another chance for silverware in the MLS Cup.
MLS has spent a lot of time trying to get fans to care. Many of their ideas are to create rivalries with Mexican teams through competitions no one cares about. Why not alter the league structure and try to build some excitement with more meaningful games?
Aren’t meaningful games week in, week out why soccer leagues such as the Premier League, Championship, Bundesliga, and other major European leagues draw fans?