MLS: Expansion, expansion, expansion not always beneficial

Major League Soccer commissioner has heavily hinted at expansion beyond 28 clubs. MLS needs to be careful. Expansion is not always beneficial.

Major League Soccer is growing. The sport in general is booming in America, with the Premier League and Bundesliga taking effect in the normal sports conversations in the local bars at the weekend.

And MLS is a part of that growth, both contributing to it and benefitting from it.

As a part of the growth of soccer and MLS in particular, there has obviously been an increased quality — fans spend more than they ever had, there are more attending supporters than ever, the viewing figures are higher than ever — but there has also been a very basic element of growth in quantity also.

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MLS is bigger than it ever has been. FC Cincinnati will enter the league as its 24th team this year. In 2020, just next season, two more teams based in Nashville and Miami will also enter the fray. And on Tuesday of this week, it was announced that FC Austin would be the 27th expansion team, starting competition in 2021.

All in all, there will be 28 franchises in MLS, although the identity of that 28th franchise is yet to be revealed. But MLS Commissioner Don Garber has heavily hinted at the figure expanding even further, admitting in his public State of the League address in December:

"“Every time we evaluate how large we want the league to be, it really is in the context of what we think the country can support. And we’ll have to decide if we want to go forward beyond 28 teams. That’s a discussion that is taking place. We’ll begin to introduce the subject at our board meeting in the middle of next week. I don’t expect an announcement coming out of that, but there’s no doubt in my mind we can support having more than 28 teams in Major League Soccer. No doubt in my mind.”"

That is all well and good. America can indeed support far more professional soccer franchises. England alone — not the United Kingdom — has 92 professional football clubs. For context, England is roughly the size of Alabama and the population of California, Pennsylvania and Arizona combined.

But sometimes, just because you can do something does not mean that you should do something. Expanding the league does cause problems. There is an increased unfairness in the schedule. More and more teams miss the playoffs have little to play from earlier and earlier in the season. The competitiveness of the league, which is something that MLS seeks to preserve with its extolling the virtues of parity, is diluted.

There are obvious commercial benefits. More is almost always better in that regard. But the quality of the product that is ultimately put on the pitch might well be worsened to quite an alarming extent. And over time, that does have a major impact on the success of the league. Just ask La Liga and Serie A.

The relentless desire to grow is a good one. But sometimes growth should not be taken so literally. Expansion is not always beneficial. There is a tipping point, and I cannot help but feel that Garber and MLS are coming close to it.