Why Doesn't MLS Have Promotion and Relegation? - YouTube

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.