In 2013, DC United, a professional sports team in America’s Major League Soccer (MLS), finished dead last in the standings with 24 losses from their 34 regular season games and a paltry 3 wins overall. A turnaround happened immediately, with a first-place finish in their conference the following year, and five playoff appearances in the six seasons following 2013. However, the top professional soccer leagues in the world, such as the Bundesliga and the Premier League, are structured in a completely different way than MLS.
Enter the
promotion/relegation (pro/rel) system. This system, adopted by majority of the
professional soccer leagues in the world, punishes the bottom-dwelling teams of
each league at season’s end by moving them “down the ladder” to the country’s
lower league, while the top teams of that lower league will move “up the
ladder” to fill their spots for next season. Used for decades, the pro/rel
system is one of the main reasons why these top professional leagues strand
from the Americanized version of sports, with playoffs to determine a champion,
and rewarding poorly performing teams with a draft pick. Struggling to gain the
spotlight in the American sports world, and with an uneven salary cap amongst
all of its teams, the MLS should adopt the “pro/rel” system to gain fan
interest and earn more revenue to give the league its due in America as an
established professional sports league.
Soccer in America differentiates
from European soccer in more ways than just the pro/rel system. For one, the schedule
for the major professional leagues in Europe, like the Premier League, Serie A,
Bundesliga, and the La Liga, start regular season play in mid-August and
conclude sometime in May. The MLS regular season starts in March and ends in
late October or early November, with playoffs (for the top half of teams based
off regular season points) finishing in early December. The structure of
bringing players into MLS is much different from the structure used in Europe. MLS
and its teams “operate within a so-called “single-entity structure”, which means
that [the teams] share revenues” (“Differences Between...”). MLS’ teams have
owners, but instead of signing their contract with their club, as done
overseas, the players sign their contracts with the league.
Along with these differences,
MLS contrasts from European soccer in various other forms. Playing styles are different,
where the MLS adopts elements of the diverse styles that vary across each
European league to create a hybrid form, mixing possession and conservatism with
end-to-end, quick transitions and counterattacks. Player development also
stands out between America and Europe. While more and more MLS teams are adopting
the European way of creating youth academies to develop talents for kids from
as young as 9 up to 17, MLS tend to rely more on “finding college standouts so
they can prepare them” for professional play (“Differences Between…”). Lastly,
cultural differences are a big reason why European soccer stands out from American
soccer. “Soccer is more than just a game in Europe, it’s a lifestyle and a part
of the culture,” writes the Celtic Football Club. Undoubtedly the number
one sport in Europe in terms of TV ratings and popularity, fans devote unparalleled
loyalty to their local teams. In the U.S., while soccer has a significant
following, the sport does not match the attention and recognition soccer in
Europe does. Even if there are some similarities between the US and Europe for
soccer, most importantly abiding by the universal rules of the sport enforced
by FIFA, it is evident that professional soccer in America contrasts from
European professional soccer.
So, is there a possibility
that the MLS will slowly adapt to become similar to European soccer, putting in
place the “pro/rel system” and getting rid of playoffs? It looks unlikely that
change for that system will happen in the near future, as the commissioner of MLS,
Don Garber, stated in 2019 he does not see the system as being effective in the
U.S.A. “Just because there is promotion/relegations in other leagues doesn’t
mean that it would make sense in MLS”, said Garber in 2019, adding that the
country has “no economic rationality” to pro/rel (Galarcep, 2019). However, legal
battles have ensued to try to implement pro/rel into the U.S. Riccardo Silva,
owner of Miami F.C., who are situated in the lesser professional league North
American Soccer League (NASL), bid $4 billion for TV rights that were given to
the MLS in 2017. Silva hoped that the MLS would soon implement pro/rel. The offer
was never considered by MLS. Additionally, the NASL filed an anti-trust lawsuit
against MLS when they were “moved down the ladder” after U.S. Soccer made the new
United States League (USL) the second tier of pro soccer in the country. NASL
claimed that “U.S. Soccer and MLS had conspired along with USL to keep it from
competing with MLS”, implying that the potential of pro/rel possibly being installed.
Yet, as of today, there are no set plans from within the U.S. Soccer and MLS to
even consider implement pro/rel.
Support for pro/rel system
being implemented in the U.S. is continually growing, with MLS players calling
for the league to seriously consider making the change. DaMarcus Beasley, who had
played for the US men’s national team for four World Cups and who has played
within MLS for a handful of seasons, is openly for the switch. “100 percent”,
he said when he was asked by SBI if the league would benefit from having
pro/rel. Beasley furthermore went on to say that pro/rel “would put more pressure
on the league” and “more pressure on players to perform” (Panizo, 2019). Beasley
noted the mentality for American soccer players must change, suggesting that a
new system such as pro/rel could be that change. Prior to Beasley’s comments,
renowned soccer player Zlatan Ibrahimovic, playing for MLS’ LA Galaxy at the
time, trashed the current league format, stating that it “foster complacency
and does not make for an environment that is intense enough to bring out the
very best in players (Panizo, 2019). Ibrahimovic told SBI, “I think the system
is sh-t. Results in every game is important but here [if] you [finish] 7th,
you make playoffs. How do you create mentality to be on your toes [for] 24 hours?”
Ibrahimovic left MLS three months after those comments, returning back to Italy
to play for AC Milan in Serie A.
Change should occur within
American soccer, most notably, adapting to European soccer and implementing
promotion and relegation. More and more American born players are ignoring to
play pro in America and are heading off to play overseas to play in a more
“competitive” environment. For American soccer to gain more recognition from within
their own country and from international professional leagues across the
Atlantic, U.S. Soccer should put in place the pro/rel system for their
professional leagues.
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