Bright Future: The Emergence Of American Soccer and the MLS

Tim Yu

Senior Analyst Written on March 01, 2008

(Page 3 of 3)

in the finals after a penalty shootout.

That's not to mention the crucial additions of several expansion teams in Chivas USA, San Jose Earthquakes and Toronto FC. The city of Philadelphia is set to become the 16th team in the MLS after they were awarded a franchise by the Garber's MLS committee. The league has announced that it plans on expanding to 18 teams by 2012 with two more cities to be awarded franchises. American cities such as Detroit, Portland, Charlotte and St. Louis are all rumored to be keen to add a professional soccer team to their respective cities. North of the 49th parallel, Montreal and Vancouver are itching at the prospect of joining their Canadian counterparts in Toronto--especially after considering the success of the recent 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

With the league growing at a record rate, there's always a possibility of implementing a two-league relegation system. Similar to how the European pyramid systems in football, the top teams of the second tier of soccer would get promoted to the top league while the bottom teams would be relegated to a lower league. However, despite the popularity of the this type of "relegation" system in Europe, the idea would most likely seem foreign to the eyes of most North Americans and keeping the current playoff system seems more like a more realistic scenario.

The recent resurgence in popularity following the arrival of worldwide superstar David Beckham has brought North American soccer to new heights. Despite the recent success, Don Garber and the rest of the league owners know that they still have quite a ways to go before they can truly become competitive with the leading European competitions.

However, Major League Soccer deserves full credit for maximizing the potential of the American game to the public. For all we know, the English journalists that once called the MLS a "Mickey Mouse League" could end up eating their words in the future.

After all, the potential of North American soccer has never been brighter--there's no doubting that.

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written on March 01, 2008 Sports