It is clear that the effects of covid-19 are being devastating. Teams fight day after day to avoid being swept away by this threatening current. Proof of this is that a team like Birmingham (Premier League) has been forced to close its academy, despite having made the highest sale in its history this summer with the transfer of Jude Bellingham to Borussia Dortmund.
At this point I wonder, if the European leagues could turn back, would they opt for a more sustainable model of competition?
The other day I had the opportunity to attend a webinar under the title “A legal overview of the MLS”. For the moment, it is a league devoid of passion and light-years away at the competitive level. However, on an organisational level it has more light than shadow and has a foundation that it would be interesting to extrapolate to other competitions.
First and possibly most surprisingly, it is a closed competition. There is no such thing as a promotion or a demotion. The only way to get into the league is to claim an expansion and provide a relevant amount of capital. The evolution of the competition is evident in the following fact: in 2010 Toronto only needed 10M to join, while Charlotte is expected to spend about 325M to enter.
Followingly there is the presence of the “Salary Cap”. A serie of guidelines that limit the salary limit of each of the franchises (they are not considered teams there) guaranteeing their financial stability.
Finally, it is a league that embraces the singularities of each of the cities that host its matches. Let’s take Nashville, known as the music city, as an example. MLS promotes events related to the art on game days to cultivate local markets.
Thanks to this line of peculiarities and others not described in this post, MLS is no longer a retirement league but an export league. Maybe it is time to put sentimentality aside and be more effective.
Foot Renegades 