Why Major League Soccer Needs to Up the Ante

A Call for Higher Stakes and Bigger Rewards

While Major League Soccer has grown into a respectable competition over the years, its current format lacks the narrative tension and stakes that make each game significant, leading to a dilution of fan engagement and overall excitement. This piece explores the reasons for this shortcoming and proposes creative solutions that can enhance the league's competitiveness and viewer appeal.

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It is the dreaded summer lull. When the European season ends and you have to wait weeks and weeks before International matches, while MLS should be the go-to entertainment for any soccer fan. But last weekend a funny thing happened, I found myself watching an amateur 7v7 tournament dubbed “The Soccer Tournament” being shown on YouTube instead of Major League Soccer. 

Separately last week I sat down with MLS veteran, analyst, and author Bobby Warshaw and he made some undeniable points about why Major League Soccer feels a bit lackluster at the moment (you can find the conversation with Bobby here). The conversation with Bobby stuck with me, and infiltrated my perspective as I flipped through the channels and apps on Saturday night. All I could hear as I scrolled through NYRB vs Orlando, or Union vs Montreal, or NYCFC vs New England was “none of this matters.”

So why then did anything matter in The Soccer Tournament? Well for one there was something on the line, a metaphorical death for every team that lost and the anticipatory jubilation worth $1,000,000 for the winners. Before we get to the problems with MLS I do want to highlight a few things about TST that I thought were great.

By the way, something else that’s crazy - the winner of the CONCACAF Champions League Leon received about $500k in prize money. That is HALF of The Soccer Tournament.

I also want to say that I love Major League Soccer, I love the domestic leagues and I want them to succeed. I closely follow and cover NYRB and Philly, and watch every match I can… *usually.

The Soccer Tournament had wacky rules, but the rules that differed from regular matches made so much more sense. For instance, at the end of regulation time the teams move into “target score time” where a team only wins when they score the current leading amount +1 goal. For instance, say Jake FC is beating Tac FC 4-1 at the end of regulation, the first team to reach 5 goals wins. This easily removes the need for any team to waste time, and provides an excitement akin to “golden goal” without it feeling unfair to the winning team.

To ensure that each match finishes in a timely manner and to discourage dropping back in “target score time” each team must remove a player every five minutes if the game hasn’t ended. This has led to matches where the final teams on the field were playing 3v3 or 4v4.

There was always something at stake for every team, and the stakes were always rising. Watching Conrad and Beasley FC lose in the quarterfinal while up 2-1 going into target score time, or seeing amateur sides like Newtown Price FC advance to the $1m match made me feel something. And that’s what soccer is all about for me. I look forward to feeling with the sport, the highs and lows and everything in between.

International matches are usually the same. Something is on the line - a regional title, conviction over your fiercest rival, a World Cup, a legacy. European leagues have promotion and relegation, an easily identifiable path towards creating a winning legacy or dying a metaphorical death. Every game matters no matter the opponents.

But what’s at stake in Major League Soccer? What is ever on the line? If Real Salt Lake are a good team or a bad one it doesn’t matter. Their attendance and finances will stay relatively level. If the Philadelphia Union start the season winless in 5 it doesn’t matter, they’ll still get a home playoff. If Sporting Kansas City have the worst start to a season ever, their coach is still employed and they will easily make the playoffs. If teams and players and coaches don’t have to care about every game then why should I?

And speaking of players… No matter what happens to the Chicago Fire Xherdan Shaqiri will make $8m, or if Toronto finishes dead last then Insigne and Bernardeschi are still getting paid. There is very little at stake from a financial perspective for players.

Clubs will continue operating, fans will continue to watch, players will continue making money hand over fist no matter their performance on the field, and nothing matters until the very last matches of the season in MLS Cup. I mean our regular season trophy doesn’t even count! Who cares if you win a Supporters’ Shield? We all know that raising MLS Cup is the holy grail for clubs and fans.

We often poke fun at “MLS defenses” but the truth is MLS defenders are no better or worse than the English Championship, they just don’t have to care if a goal goes in or if they win a tackle. They’ll still make the playoffs, they’ll still get paid, and they’ll still be at a club in the top division no matter what.

And look… I’m not a huge proponent of pro/rel in MLS. It’s not that I don’t want it or think that it would make the league a lot more meaningful, but the fact is that Americans probably aren’t ready for pro/rel in a domestic league. And if we’re being truly honest, the ruling class of billionaires that have funded MLS expansion would never agree. 

I think some answers lay in having a version of promotion/relegation within MLS. If we move to 32 or 36 teams, could we eventually have MLS League 1 and League 2? Essentially providing a safety net and a “floor” of revenue for the failing clubs.

Or maybe we can encourage the Shaqiris of the world to join Chicago Fire on a guaranteed $2m contract and let him earn the other $6m through performance bonuses. I posed a similar question to Bobby Warshaw about the contract situation potentially removing the possibility of signing players like Shaqiri. His response? 

“If we stop getting these players who don’t need to care then all the better for MLS.”

Or maybe we can incorporate more elements that help fans get engaged in the matches. Can we add graphics to the broadcasts that help track the individual battles of Carranza vs Almada or Muhktar vs Acosta? And as much as I hate to say this, maybe betting should become a larger part of MLS. At least that way fans could engage in some meaningful way with skin in the game with every win and loss.

There are so many small ways in which MLS could improve the excitement and engagement. I’m not even talking about player quality here. None of the players at The Soccer Tournament could play in MLS, but it was damn fun to watch because in every moment, in every pass, every shot, every save there was something on the line.

In Major League Soccer's defense, it’s still a relatively young league compared to its European counterparts. In just over two decades, it's grown into a respected competition, attracting international talent and continuously expanding. But is respect enough? Does the thrill of a stadium's atmosphere, or the dazzle of fireworks in the night sky, compensate for the lack of narrative tension? Can it ever be enough for a sport that thrives on the triumphs and heartaches of its clubs and fans?

Perhaps one of the best ways to illustrate this could be through an anecdote. Imagine, if you will, a child being told a bedtime story - one without a villain, without a hero in distress, without any real stakes. It would be a story where everyone lives happily ever after, but without any reason why they should. Sure, it would be a safe story, one without fear of nightmares, but also one lacking the crucial elements that make a story worth telling, or in this case, a match worth watching. The child might enjoy the story at first, but eventually, they would crave a tale with a little more substance, a little more drama.

It's no secret that I love Major League Soccer. It's given me a platform to analyze, write, and discuss a game that I'm deeply passionate about. However, it doesn't mean I can't criticize it when it's falling short, and at the moment, MLS feels like that safe, undemanding bedtime story.

I want to see MLS succeed, not just survive. I want it to be a league where every game counts, where the stakes are high, where clubs are either rewarded for their efforts or penalized for their failings. It should be a league where every player on the field is playing for something more than just a hefty paycheck, where even a defensive tackle is a battle worth winning.

Why did The Soccer Tournament captivate me so much? Not because of its wacky rules or its amateur status, but because it felt like the games mattered, because the players seemed to care, because there was a discernible goal at the end of the tournament. It was compelling, it was engaging, it was real. Isn't that what we should aim for Major League Soccer to be?

MLS needs to find its meaning. It needs to shed the 'every team is a winner' mentality and embrace the reality of winners and losers, success and failure. Only then can we start to see it evolve into a league that doesn't only fill the summer lull but becomes a year-round obsession for soccer fans. Only then will the child stay awake to hear how the story ends, eager for the thrill of the unknown. The challenge, the excitement, the emotional - that's what soccer is all about. That's what Major League Soccer could, and should, be all about.

If you were commissioner of MLS for a day, what would you change?