The USMNT’s Luca de la Torre aims a jibe at Major League Soccer by saying the promotion and relegation of the top European leagues makes them much more intense. Sebastian Salazar and Herculez Gomez wonder if the Celta Vigo midfielder’s point is a valid one on Futbol Americas.
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34 Comments
He is absolutely 100% right. You can look at the TV ratings and tell which leagues have promotion and relegation. MLS often gets horrible tv ratings and this season maybe even worse depending how Apple TV does things. If MLS wants to grow past a certain point they need promotion and relegation. Imagine 20 teams in MLS or even 18 and 18 in MLS 2 sounds perfect to me.
MLS is not even a farmers league…
It’s a swamp league…the level is soooo bad that they women in the US soccer league earn the same…
😂😂😂😂😂
Herc speaking facts here
American sports is all about protecting billionaires and not what’s good for the game
Renault season is almost meaningless now in American sports
so true 🙂
MLS really needs to change itself!! It is like the NFL where it doesn’t matter where you finish, there will be no consequences unlike European football if a team gets relegated!!
If done right, pro-rel will be a turning point for American football
MLS needs pro-rel
4:19 Maybe if the US used more players from pro/rel leagues and less MLS players they could have gone further😂
MLS is the equivalent to kickball
No Pro/Rel for MLS. I hate how people say the players on the teams at the bottom have nothing to play for. How about their jobs? Do coaches and players at the bottom not get fired or let go all of a sudden? Two, MLS is made up of two countries, so we should put on the table that Canada could no longer have an MLS team? Three, the markets in the U.S. are too uneven, it would be bad business to have big market teams to get relegated and replaced with smaller market teams.
I don’t disagree. Look at any other sports league in the United States. Your club is out of the playoff chase there’s no consequence, and the rest of the season is almost meaningless. In all these other leagues you’re playing for something: ProMotion/relegation, European spots.
Teams in Mexico have folded once they got bounced from the 1a. Look at Chiapas, Juarez (Indios and Cobras).
Says more than enough that the worst consequence of relegation is not being called up because playing in a higher League… Relegation has so much more of a impact, it causes a massive amount of people, working at the club that they love, to be fired because of the financial impact of said relegation. Its literally death for some people, to keep a job.
Also compatitiveness will be impacted and with time it gets harder and harder to get back to the level the club had/was before.
relegation or promotion aside, MLS will never be legit because only amateurs play in it. All the best players in the world would never play here (unless they are 40 years old and done). Until the talent pool reaches that of other leagues, MLS will continue to stay irrelevant
who??
I think MLS can produce good players, but I also think that MLS produces soft players. At least relative to players from leagues where there's more on the line. Nothing is set in stone, so USL could become the dominant league in this country if they implement pro/rel and become better/more exciting as a consequence. I'm not a person who's passionately advocating for pro/rel in comment sections, but I would prefer it over what we have.
Luca da la Torre Is speaking truth i been sayin sense i started watching fotball mls needs promotion nd depromoted rules… but like one dude said America sports only protects its billionaires and being knocked down to lower leagues means losing value so America well never do it even if it's better for the sport
How about be a professional and do your job. You need a gun to your head to do your job properly?
Pro/Rel is why soccer is the most popular sport in the world
I don't think promotion/relegation would be this saving grace for MLS. American sports culture is vastly different from European sports culture. Pro/rel only really appeals to existing soccer fans who watch euro leagues.
The fact is MLS has the disadvantage of not only competing against the bigger soccer leagues around the world. MLS is also directly competing against NBA, MLB, NFL, NHL, nascar for viewership, revenue, etc…
In euro, if a team gets relegated their fanbase is still gonna support them because the sport is just that big over there. No other sports come close to touching it. In America, newer fans are not gonna want to watch their city/team gets relegated to a crappier league. They will go back to watching NBA or NFL because that style of sports league is more familiar.
Maybe some day pro/rel could be a thing in MLS. I do like the competition it brings to the bottom of the tables. But at this stage, I think it would just detract casual americans from picking up the sport.
I agree with his point, but it's bizarre that he's talking about MLS like he's played there. How would he know what the pressure of MLS is like? He has nothing to compare to.
We never hear about how they feel playing in a league where only the same teams win it. So besides playing to prevent relegation, are you truly playing to win the league as well?
MLS can either not give a flying fuch and keep doin what they do, or do promotion and regulation.
It's where Europeans go to retire. Just like the Scottish league.
Pro/rel is not going to change how Americans view soccer here. It won’t grow the sport here. Just let mls be mls
What a non-video
If only all that "pressure" our Euro-based players feel week-in and week-out had led to a few goals and assists at the World Cup! If only one of them could deliver a quality set-piece! Or dribble a defender 1v1, get to the endline and deliver a cross! Hopefully our next manager can unlock all these skills our player pool has developed in the high-pressure environs of Europe's pro-rel system. I've been waiting for this group to break out since 2018 – and they still haven't done it yet.
You are not down or dead if you are relegated, gosh… You are playing in the lower league with all the possibility to get back if the team prove good enough for that, if not… Players who are deem to be good enough individually are picked up by the elite teams and the life continues, thats a system based on merit. Riyad Mahrez and Ngolo Kante were recruited by Leicester City directly from second French league teams, in such open system everyone is trying their best because there is always a chance to succeed{or fail ofc}.Look at PL, there are plenty of teams from small cities while a large ones like Sheffield or Bristol etc dont have ones and nobody is fretting about it, each club compete on level that they deserve based on what they show on the pitch, that is all.
My Little Soccer stans want to pretend that MLS is "closing the gap" to the top european leagues but anyone with a brain who watches european football laughs at that nonsense.
Oh, Sebi, try to learn from Herc. The lack of pro-rel the major difference and what will keep the MLS from becoming one of the top leagues in the world. Players are too safe and comfortable.
The one thing Sebi gets right is rooting for the USL. It's why I support them too. If they add pro-rel, they might grow enough to compete with the MLS.
Watching LAFC is more expensive than attending Barcelona or real Madrid marinate on that 🤣
Success in European football has absolutely nothing to do with trying to avoid relegation. Getting relegated has nothing to do with how hard you try and everything to do with how rich your club is. Most successful clubs in Europe are so rich it pretty much guarantees they will never ever be relegated. The 6 clubs who have been in the EPL every single season of it's existence are also the 6 richest. Relegation isn't even a thought for them. That's for the "poor" clubs. The same goes for every other big Euro leagues. You think pro/rel is every on the minds of Barcelona and Real Madrid?
Pro/rel is a cool aspect of the European game but it does not make or break anything other than "doing things the way they do in Europe". In this country we prefer to have a bit more parity in our sports than that. It's the same sport. It's just a different structure. You can enjoy both things without trying to hate on one or the other. Pro/rel wouldn't work in this country for a variety of reasons. I hope they never implement it unless it's an absolute necessity and not just to copy Europe or anyone else.
Teams with real fan culture make sure the community doesn't suffer. Doesn't matter if Schalke plays first or second league. Their stadium will be packed.
BUT GO WHERE if they are relegated in MLS, there's no minor leagues in MLS just college and the rest of the scrub smaller leagues, Maybe all of them should come together and form a UK STRUCTURE that would be VERY INTERESTING in USA! 🤷🏽♂️
Waste of time talking about this because NO ONE can explain the financial benefit for MLS.
Usl is not going to increase revenue because of pro/rel.
It will NEVER happen. No owner has any incentive to allow relegation to be considered. Futebol is built by CLUBS in Europe and Latin America where the model was built. Soccer teams in the U.S. were never clubs. They are CORPORATIONS. They will never voluntarily accept losing value.