There is growing talk of a joint MLS-Liga MX super league. While the idea may sound crazy, there is enticing upside to the proposition which should be explored.
Major League Soccer has grown enormously in recent years. Commissioner Don Garber has accelerated the expansion process, the league has secured bigger TV deals than ever before, and the standard of player is higher than it has been throughout the league’s 25-year existence.
And yet, while Garber and others may eulogise and protest about the great ambitions of the league, projecting its growth into one of the elite leagues in world football in 10, 20, 50 years time, predictions that are almost entirely ill-advised and unfounded, there is a ceiling that the league will hit in the very near future — if not already.
This ceiling has been crashed against to by leagues the world over. Europe is the pinnacle of the sport, and the Champions League to be more precise. Any team or league that is not a part of it will never grow to rival the elite in the world. MLS, as its South American and CONCACAF counterparts have experienced, will hit this ceiling.
As the league grows and evolves, then, being inventive with the future and structure of the league is necessary. MLS has always prided itself on its ingenuity, its willingness to take risks and to rewrite the rules. And now, there is increasing talk of an opportunity that could reshape the entire football world: a regional Super League.
With the coronavirus having postponed play indefinitely, Liga MX has taken the extremely controversial decision to suspend promotion and relegation for the next five years. Some support the move, pointing to the success of MLS as an example of how the new system can work and succeed. Others believe it is owners protecting their pockets amid this financially uncertain times. In reality, it is a bit of both.
But the foundational change to the league structure has inspired other discussions about how the competition can change in the future. And one idea, from Santos Laguna and Atlas owner Alejandro Irarragorri, involves MLS and the growing relationship between the two leagues.
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