MLS is a league of contrasts. They were on display throughout 2023, a “transformational year for our league,” as commissioner Don Garber said Friday. And they were on display this past weekend in Columbus, even without the transformer himself, Lionel Messi, present. A boisterous, overflowing crowd filled a sleek new stadium for a gripping final. Apple and Fox broadcasted it. Major corporations sponsored it. Fireworks and ecstasy capped a 2-1 Columbus victory, and capped a season that set new benchmarks for attendance, revenue, merch sales and digital engagement.
By those measures and more, MLS is growing, rising toward its stated goal: “To be one of the top soccer leagues in the world,” as Garber reiterated last week.
But by most objective on-field measures, it still isn’t anywhere close. Two oft-cited indexes built on data — Opta’s and Twenty First Group’s — rate MLS around the 30th best domestic league globally. While many subjective eyes would place it in the top 20, the rough industry consensus is that it hasn’t reached the top 10.
And the maddening context for that entire paragraph is this: The primary reason MLS still lags is self-imposed constraints.
For years, the league’s relative youth explained and excused its inferiority. For most of its 27-year existence, its baseline goal has been survival. Fans and pundits tolerated cost controls, like the salary cap, because owners were already losing tens of millions of dollars. Limiting losses seemed necessary to secure their continued investment in a long-term project. Restricting their spending on players suppressed the quality of the league, but contributed to a collective plan that emphasized stability and slow, steady, strategic growth.
Now, though, times have changed — because the plan was brilliant, and clearly worked.
Most MLS clubs still lose money, according to Forbes, but they are worth hundreds of millions more than they once were. And now, the league’s trajectory seems clear. Its foundational infrastructure is excellent. Its stadiums are among the most fabulous and functional in the world. It boasts young,…