The Growth of MLS

Major League Soccer made the announcement on Friday that the Montreal Impact were chosen as the next expansion team (in 2012) for the ever growing MLS. The Impact will be the 19th team, and third Canadian squad joining Toronto FC and the expansion (2011) Vancouver Whitecaps.

This is exciting for the league, but we may be reaching the tipping point. Like many other professional leagues in North America, they are expanding quickly, and the talent is having trouble keeping up. When watching games recently I would count the number of passes that teams could string together - the number didn't get above 3 for about 25 minutes and this is the league that is adding 3 new teams in the next two years. Where are they going to get players?

The MLS has big decisions to make, like how big do they want to get and do they want to follow the European model of promotion and relegation.

The how many teams question is an easy one...they can probably expand once more, to make for a total of 20 teams. This would match the English Premiership and is a nice round number and there aren't many other cities clamoring for a team.

The bigger question is the idea of promotion and relegation working in North America. It is a idea that most fans on this side of the Atlantic are not familiar with. It provides motivation for teams and a reason for fans to cheer, it is also a great way of making sure small and big market teams play against the proper competition.

There are leagues and teams out there to make this happen. The USL currently has 12 teams (three of those are Vancouver, Portland and Montreal who are getting "promoted" to the MLS) and a second division with six teams that would provide the perfect feeder system to the MLS. It all makes too much sense for it to actually happen. The other benefit of having all these teams as part of one bigger league, you could run a tournament similar to the FA Cup, where all the teams of the MLS, USL and the Premier Development League (which has about 50 teams). It would be entertaining and with the love the Champions League is getting it would be a great scenario to have a tournament on home soil.

The one thing I wouldn't bring up is the MLS getting rid of their championship game and crowning a champion like the Premiership (the best team at the end of the season wins the championship). That is too much for North Americans to handle.

The MLS has done a lot correct in the last few seasons. Bringing in promotion and relegation by joining with the USL and Premier Development League would be the next great step in growing the game.