There is a general lack of FReeper understanding how soccer is positioning itself to take a substantial slice of the sports entertainment adult interest pie. That is where the money is at.
- adjusted the soccer schedule to coincide with Europe
- introduced another professional league to feed into MLS; more stadium deals
- introduced promotion and relegation just like Europe
- reformed the soccer academy scheme in order to not rely merely on “pay for play” child athletes: kids will be getting recruited much earlier to play inside an academy, surrendering their rights to the respective academy
In other words......they are doing everything other competing American sports Directors don’t do. The foundation is being built...and is mostly already done.
But the best the MLS can do is be like the Euro Basketball League.
The best players are still going to play in Europe, just as the best basketball players will play in the NBA.
It still costs an arm and a leg to develop good players here.