What is the talent level of MLS?

[CEO of Morgan Industries]

It is slowly getting better because TAM money is getting higher, and teams are doing a better job of getting foreign talent with it.

I look at the Sounders spending their money on La Liga and Liga MX players. Guys like Svensson, Rodriguez, Rudiaz, Lodeiro are good players. Other than Dempsey, I don't think we've splashed cash on a post-prime star.

The Wayne Rooneys have become way less common. The idea of MLS as a former stars' retirement league is way out of date.

EDITED to make clear that the league still has tons of work to do and the typical MLS Champion would struggle to make it out of League One in England, for example.

 

[Tate]

How big an impact does the MLS salary cap have on its level of competition? Seems like that’s pretty unique in soccer.

 

[Apprentice]

How big an impact does the MLS salary cap have on its level of competition? Seems like that’s pretty unique in soccer.

Its retarded

They try to run the MLS like your typical American league and it hurts em. There shouldn’t be conferences, there shouldn’t be a playoff, there should be a promotion/relegation system. The league format is even shyt.

 

[Montez]

Some of y'all straight disrespectful. I'd say MLS is in that 10-15 range but it's not clear cut. MLS has decent pulling power, good facilities but lacks the 2-3 dominant teams other leagues have. I would say MLS is Championship (English 2nd division) levels.

England
Spain
Germany
Italy
France
Portugal

Austria
Belgium
Ukraine

Brazil
Mexico
Argentina



Scotland

How big an impact does the MLS salary cap have on its level of competition? Seems like that’s pretty unique in soccer.

It's unique but other leagues are trying to adopt some kind of cost management measure. The cost of a managing a football team has to be controlled. Buying Neymar for $300M and then paying for salary isn't feasible.

 

[Jax]

It's a joke! Almost every European League is better. There needs to be a relegation system going on.

 

[BlackAchilles]

Some of y'all straight disrespectful. I'd say MLS is in that 10-15 range but it's not clear cut. MLS has decent pulling power, good facilities but lacks the 2-3 dominant teams other leagues have. I would say MLS is Championship (English 2nd division) levels.

England
Spain
Germany
Italy
France
Portugal

Austria
Belgium
Ukraine

Brazil
Mexico
Argentina



Scotland



It's unique but other leagues are trying to adopt some kind of cost management measure.

MLS is maybe like the bottom 10 Championship teams plus the top ten teams from League One

 

[concise]

In some ways it's like what those Chinese Leagues are to the NBA.

The same way those Chinese league pay big money to former nba stars like marbury and steve francis is how the MLS keeps spending money on washed former world class players like andrea pirlo.

mix that with mediocre american players who get PT and sometimes even big contracts just because they're american you wind up with a pretty
league.


sebastian giovinco was an above average player globally and completely dominated MLS.

MLS can't even dominate Liga MX in CONCACAF champions league and Liga MX is a pretty meh league as well.

Liga MX is a pretty good league, they had several teams make runs deep into the Copa Libertadores when they played and even had a couple of finalists. Probably would have had one broken through by now. Meanwhile, no MLS team ever assembled would even make the quarterfinals of that tournament.

 

[mr.africa]

MLS has money, sponsors, exposure, etc...those things going for it , no doubt.
but there are national leagues in africa, purely from a footballing aspect, that are better than MLS, but they lack the shyt i mention in my first sentence.
let's not even start with europe and south america.
but put a few more billions into it and you never know!!

 

[NYC Rebel]

How many leaguea have 5’3 120 lb men who can survive?

Maximiliano Moralez

 

[TheFryingDutchman]

MLS is championship (English 2nd division) level. The biggest problem of MLS is depth. You can have a great 1st team but once injuries start to happen that's when you see the level of play drop. As someone said earlier the league is improving dramatically. You have to remember that the league isn't even 30 years old.

Its retarded

They try to run the MLS like your typical American league and it hurts em. There shouldn’t be conferences, there shouldn’t be a playoff, there should be a promotion/relegation system. The league format is even shyt.

You can't have a single table because there's not an even number if teams. Also conference help stoke rivalries. I would rather play Midwest teams 3 times than everone twice. It gives me an opportunity to go on more road trips. Remember US is huge and a single table hurts fan travel.

Playoffs are fine. There's a supporter shield for the best team if the regular season. Everyone knows the playoffs are a separate entity, Americans like playoffs and it doesn't hurt the league.

Pro/rel can't work for a multitude of reasons right now. Lower leagues play in smaller stadium ( A lot are less than 10k) and they need around 20k staidum, There's not enough talent, and probably the biggest reason is there's no way in hell an owner just payed 90mil for their team to enter MLS as an expansion and have the possibility of going down to a lower league. I can't see the owners ever signing off on it, there's no benefit for them.

 

[Apprentice]

Some of y'all straight disrespectful. I'd say MLS is in that 10-15 range but it's not clear cut. MLS has decent pulling power, good facilities but lacks the 2-3 dominant teams other leagues have. I would say MLS is Championship (English 2nd division) levels.

England
Spain
Germany
Italy
France
Portugal

Austria
Belgium
Ukraine

Brazil
Mexico
Argentina



Scotland



It's unique but other leagues are trying to adopt some kind of cost management measure.

I wouldn’t put the Bundesliga over Serie A

 

[Miggs]

If you're familiar with MLB, it's similar to AA ball

Bad comparison...AA ball is future stars of MLB top level there is in that sport...MLS is nowhere near the future stars of football.

Its mediocre domestic and south american talents and flabby cacs from europe winding there careers down trying to get paid one last time off there name IE Rooney,Villa,Drogba....

 

[Miggs]

MLS is championship (English 2nd division) level. The biggest problem of MLS is depth. You can have a great 1st team but once injuries start to happen that's when you see the level of play drop. As someone said earlier the league is improving dramatically. You have to remember that the league isn't even 30 years old.

You can't have a single table because there's not an even number if teams. Also conference help stoke rivalries. I would rather play Midwest teams 3 times than everone twice. It gives me an opportunity to go on more road trips. Remember US is huge and a single table hurts fan travel.

Playoffs are fine. There's a supporter shield for the best team if the regular season. Everyone knows the playoffs are a separate entity, Americans like playoffs and it doesn't hurt the league.

Pro/rel can't work for a multitude of reasons right now. Lower leagues play in smaller stadium ( A lot are less than 10k) and they need around 20k staidum, There's not enough talent, and probably the biggest reason is there's no way in hell an owner just payed 90mil for their team to enter MLS as an expansion and have the possibility of going down to a lower league. I can't see the owners ever signing off on it, there's no benefit for them.

Nah 2nd division football in england is better than MLS....

So many MLS players dont have good basic skills and fundamentals,its still very unwatchable.

First touches are atrocious and the pace is so slow...

 

[Miggs]

In some ways it's like what those Chinese Leagues are to the NBA.

The same way those Chinese league pay big money to former nba stars like marbury and steve francis is how the MLS keeps spending money on washed former world class players like andrea pirlo.

mix that with mediocre american players who get PT and sometimes even big contracts just because they're american you wind up with a pretty
league.


sebastian giovinco was an above average player globally and completely dominated MLS.

MLS can't even dominate Liga MX in CONCACAF champions league and Liga MX is a pretty meh league as well.

TFC dominated Tigres UANL and Club America and then blew it in the final

Took an all time great MLS team who had to overspend on imports to compete in CCL...

 

[The_Sheff]

Ok so it seems pretty well established that the talent level is pretty poor. So what is the winning strategy for a team long term? Do you try to find players that are too bad for the other leagues but you know they would be good in MLS or do you try and find good players that maybe slipped through the cracks and are young expecting them to move on once they get exposure? Seems like it would be difficult to maintain a championship level team if your best players are always looking for a better league.

 

[pete clemenza]

bro MLS might be top 7 in south america, and by that i mean 7th best

Top 7 in South America. Of course they have talent in S.A but some of those leagues are broke as shyt, have trouble playing players, and only a few teams have decent stadiums and facilities. MLS is G-League/Championship(england 2nd division) level but from top to bottom -stadiums, facilities, and overall financially above water its a good league that's getting better. Hopefully salaries will keep increasing and they can add more talent.