Kicking it: MLS growth hits a roadblock in a busy week for U.S. soccer

Let’s just get right to it this week, there a lot to cover.  

St. Louis residents turned down a proposal in a tight vote on a business tax that would have provided funds for a new stadium to a lure an MLS expansion team to the city. MLS investor Jim Kavanaugh did accomplish the vote tally advisors believed would win the ballot box by more than 7,000 votes, but an unusually heavy turnout pushed the results the other direction. Fans are so upset the proposition lost they’ve turned to a crowd-funding site to show their support for a new venue. Out of the 12 cities in the running for the four proposed expansion teams only one, Sacramento, has stadium financing in place as of now. 

Obviously the support is there for the MLS in St. Louis, but with Charlotte suddenly a hesitant to put their proposal up for a vote, is the league in a bit of bind promising to announce two of their four expansion slots this year when sports fans in general are feeling a little cold towards new venues in the aftermath NFL and NBA relocations? What the best plan for them to go forward and make their case to new cities? 

Megan: I don’t think MLS should force itself on new cities but having promised to announce two of its four expansion slots this year forces the league’s hand to do so. If it were me (and I clearly have enough experience and credibility to run a major sports league), I’d focus more on continuing to build the franchises currently in place, advertising for Los Angeles Football Club and expanding in cities that very clearly want to support a new MLS club. In this instance, Sacramento. 

To answer the question of what the best plan is moving forward? Don’t force it. But it’s never that simple. I just worry if the pros to push for expansion in multiple cities weigh out the potential cons if none or very few of said cities actually want MLS. What kind of hit does MLS credibility and reputation take then? You obviously want MLS to grow, but you always want your league to be wanted.  

Demetrius: I agree when it comes to building what the league currently has in the cities that it’s currently in and cities that are actually showing interest. I just think that they have to avoid falling into another Miami situation where they announce their presence in a certain city and then proceed to spin their wheels in that city for a few years. Granted, you can’t put all of the blame on the league for the issues that Miami’s ownership group is having when it comes to getting a shovel in the ground for a stadium, but that could be the case in the next situation if one of those cities isn’t all-the-way ready to bring in a team. 

The league’s done a great job of expansion with their most recent clubs, and I’m sure that they’ll go about the next round in a smart manner. However, there’s always the risk of forcing yourself onto cities and you never want to do that. As long as they avoid that, they’ll be fine and the league will continue to grow in a positive manner.

On that note, the U.S., Mexico and Canada announced their joint bid for the 2026 World Cup this week. Do you think they make a strong case for hosting, and if so, why? Do you think the MLS is driving growth with this nine-year deadline in mind?  

Demetrius: Considering that South America, Africa, and Europe will have all hosted World Cups before North America by the time 2026 rolls around, I’d say that unless we have another wacky FIFA moment that this joint bid will have a very good chance of succeeding. It also helps that with the expanded World Cup in mind, the US would be hosting the lion’s share of games which would help out a little with travel so that hopefully certain fans wouldn't have to traverse the entire continent just to follow around their nation’s squad. So yeah, I’d be shocked if this didn’t end up working out for the three countries involved.

Megan: Agreed with Demetrius. The process of elimination is working in the favor of Canada, Mexico and the United States’ bid. I also think the fashion in which the U.S. hosted Copa América last summer only pads the odds.

As far as the MLS correlating its expansion with a possible 2026 World Cup, I don't place too much weight in that. I think the MLS wants to grow for MLS, further establishing itself as a league away from international competition.  

Speaking of the World Cup and the MLS, things became really heated between Dom Dwyer and Tim Howard this week. Now that Dwyer is an U.S. citizen, what do you think are the odds of the two of them ending up on the same USMNT roster? Is this just typical on pitch jawing, or something more, since Dwyer was unwilling to spill what Howard said to him? 

Megan: I believe Dom will get a call from Bruce Arena and U.S. Soccer eventually. Nobody has more goals in MLS since 2014 than Dwyer except for New York Red Bulls striker Bradley Wright-Phillips. And if he gets the call, there are good odds that he will at least be sharing a camp with Tim Howard. 

I watch Sporting Kansas City and Dwyer every week, and Dwyer would tell you himself that he’s cheeky on the field. That’s my best guess as to what happened. Dom was being Dom, Howard was frustrated having given up three goals in the game and wasn’t in the mood. Without knowing what was actually said, I don’t know what other conclusion can be made. 

Demetrius: Yeah, this just seems like typical chirping. Dom’s the typical “love him if he’s yours; loathe him if he’s not” player, and this was just a case of him putting that personality on display by getting under Tim Howard’s skin. If Dom does earn a call-up and he has to join Howard on the squad, this spat will have stayed on the pitch in Kansas City instead of turning into an actual beef. You don’t expect the players on the national team to be best of friends, but you expect them to at least be professional and work towards a common goal and I can’t imagine that something like this would get in the way when it comes to representing your country.

We’re finally getting into the meat of the MLS season. Opening jitters should be long gone. Which two teams from each conference do you think are much better than their records indicate and why? 

Megan: Given Toronto FC and Seattle were in the final last season, you'd expect them to be higher on the table than ninth and seventh respectively. But both clubs took the entire 2016 season to really find their footings, so maybe this is just protocol. 

Demetrius: It was a bit shocking to see Toronto as low as they are in the standings. Granted, they’re still only three points away from Columbus at the top, but there’s plenty of quality in the East this year. However, they’re clearly better than their record indicates and they showed it in that barnburner against Atlanta last weekend. They’ll be fine. 

Also, the Galaxy are starting to get things together. Not surprisingly, this coincides with Jermaine Jones being healthy for them, so there’s that. As long as he’s on the pitch and playing at the level that we’re used to seeing from him, then he can help the Galaxy continue to rebound from what’s been a relatively slow start for them. 

And lastly, the confusing new changes to the CCL. Did they make what was only a small problem into a larger problem or is the common sense response some people (like your editors!) don’t understand.

Megan: Lord knows. 

Demetrius: After getting a rundown on what’s in store for the new format from MLS themselves, all I have to say is that I’m actually praying that a Canadian team wins MLS Cup this year, because the chaos that will result from that will be amazing. With that being said, I think that the format change could actually work out and make things simpler once they actually figure out the whole qualifying thing. 

With that being said, MLS won’t be on equal footing in this competition with their friends from Liga MX until they raise the salary cap and use that extra money to bring better quality players to the league so that CCL teams can have the depth to actually be a legitimate threat at that level. That’s another conversation for another time, though.

Megan: I like Demetrius’s answer better.