Perhaps one of the most unique aspects of Major League Soccer is the single entity
structure.
In essence, no team can be promoted or relegated from MLS in the traditional
sense.
Rather, new teams buy into the league, just as Minnesota and Atlanta United did
earlier this year.
While single entity is very in-keeping with American sports -- baseball, basketball, and
NFL all operate in this way -- it remains a contentious
issue when it comes to soccer.
As a nation, the US currently has three major professional soccer leagues: MLS, NASL, and
USL Pro.
They are not linked in the traditional sense, but they are classified as differing
divisions.
MLS is considered the first division, while NASL and USL Pro share second
division status, granted to them by the soccer governing body.
USL had previously been considered division III, but this was changed
in 2017 following a petition by the league.
Although the US does not have promotion/relegation, discourse on the matter remains
intense.
A study last year – commissioned by Silva International Investments, whose head,
Riccardo Silva, co-owns Miami FC in NASL – found that 88% believe that “pro-rel” would
boost American club soccer.
Advocates for the introduction of pro-rel suggest that not only would it aid sporting
integrity, but it would generate billions for the US
soccer economy.
A report from Deloitte released around the same time as Silva International’s
study claimed that reworking the soccer pyramid to introduce promotion and relegation
could stimulate changes that would benefit the sport from top to bottom.
“I do think that for the game to realise its full potential in the US, promotion and
relegation feels like part of the solution,” said Dan
Jones of Deloitte’s Sports Business Group.
However, any change requires the agreement of MLS, who currently accept new teams after
a lengthy process of lobbying which includes a detailed business plan.
Although the approach seems alien, it was a direct consequence
of the landscape in the early 90s.
MLS was the by-product of the US’s 1994 World
Cup bid, in which they committed to starting a
professional domestic league.
The organisers of MLS, both in alignment with domestic tradition and in order to generate
financing, adopted the American closed-league model, with a twist: rather than buying
specific teams, investors would take a stake in the league as a whole, which in turn
controlled all the teams.
Those same owners have subsidised the top division in America for years on the
understanding they were buying into a closed system.
Was this to change, their investments would be unstable.
Furthermore, few lower-division clubs have the infrastructure to suddenly
support top-level football, or even something resembling that.​
NASL has attempted to rival MLS, but the league’s financial instability has made that difficult
to achieve, with Minnesota leaving to join MLS and Ottawa and Tampa joining USL Pro.
A report as recent as late July claimed MLS spurned a $4billion media rights deal offered
by Silva which demanded the instillation of promotion-relegation.
"As was stated to [MP & Silva Group's founding partner Riccardo] Silva both in person and
in a subsequent letter, Major League Soccer is
prohibited contractually from engaging in discussions about our media rights with other
distributors," said Dan Courtemanche, MLS executive vice president of communications."We
are not in a position, nor are we interested, in engaging with Mr. Silva on his proposal."
That was followed by a joint proposal by Miami FC and Kingston Stockade, a club based in
northern New York, in which they filed a claim with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS)
to require the US Soccer Federation (USSF) to
adopt promotion and relegation across all divisions
in US soccer.
The outcome of which is still to be decided.
Although promotion relegation is not impossible to implement in the US, it looks unlikely
at being adopted at the top level in the near
future.
The consequence of cultural and financial situations, it will no doubt continue to cause
discussion in soccer circles across the nation.