Major League Soccer 4.0
Image via St. Louis City SC twitter.
February 26, 2023
A full schedule of night games in beautiful soccer specific stadiums brought to Apple TV viewers in a stunning 4k stream. Raucus banner waiving supporters urging on players in distinctive Adidas kits seemingly designed to look good on Apple screens around the world. Major League Soccer is back and it may have finally found its form.
With the growth of the Premier League and other European divisions in the U.S. (not to mention Deadpool hawking a Welsh 5th tier club on Hulu) there has been increasing pressure on the U.S. top tier league to conform to a structure and style similar to that seen everywhere else in the world. Promotion and relegation adds an edge to every single season game for teams from London to Lisbon and it increasingly has been suggested as the only way the staunchly anti pro/rel American soccer league could grow and compete. MLS’s response? Hold my $16 can of beer.
Last night saw the start of what is without a doubt the most important season of the now 29 (!) team US league. It also saw the league lean into everything it’s detractors hang their perenial criticisms on. Games too inconsequential and boring? Try Thiago Almada’s two golazo’s at the death of Atlanta United’s victory over San Jose. Too many teams created from nothing water down the over all product? Try St. Louis SC shocking league darling Austin FC in Austin’s own glowing green stadium full of funky Tifo’s and some serious footyscran. No way true supporter culture can be manufactured for so many teams with so little history? Well I’d take the atmosphere at almost any of last nights game over the graveyard vibe that is Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium.
It’s easy to disparrage Major League Soccer in this era of global football, and it is not yet a top league in the world, it is however coming into its own. And as Europe’s leagues have to rely on state backed finacial groups with questionable politics to keep up with the astronomical costs of running clubs in the open and loosely regulated world of UEFA maybe it not such a bad thing that MLS is doing their own thing.
As a longtime MLS supporter the start of this season has made me more optimistic then ever. Now I am off to order my Bruce Lee kit and spend a few hours trying to understand the new playoff format.