On Tuesday, the Los Angeles Galaxy and the Seattle Sounders kicked off the 16th season in Major League Soccer (MLS) history (LA won 1−0). And unlike real Sweet 16s, which are typically marked by teenage awkwardness and boring ceremonies, the game showed how far the league has come, both in terms of maturity and excitement.
In the early days, the MLS was rocked by instability, with franchises moving, renaming and closing seemingly every year and a quality of play that was, to put it lightly, not quite up to snuff. But in less than two decades, the league has undergone a transformation, and in many ways, the Sounders themselves are the best example of that growth.
Having entered the league in the 2009 season, Seattle is an extreme rarity in American professional sports: an expansion team that immediately garnered a huge, passionate fan base and a quality roster. The club won the US Open Cup in each of its first two years in existence (the first time an MLS club had won that trophy back−to−back) and set a league attendance record in 2010, averaging 36,173 attendees per match.
But more importantly, the Sounders found something that critics of the league believed would never exist: Americans who are passionate about soccer and willing to embrace the game in this country, year in and year out. The thousands that pack Qwest Field every other weekend from March to November care about the team in front of them, not Barcelona or Manchester United, and are willing to pay to watch it.
This season, that development of passion is bound to continue, especially with the addition of two new clubs, both in the Pacific Northwest: the Portland Timbers and the Vancouver Whitecaps. These clubs will continue to capitalize on the soccer−crazed region and form a natural rivalry with Seattle, a development which will foster even further interest in the sport. In fact, the process has already begun, even before any games have been played: The Timbers have already sold out their season tickets, and Vancouver has almost done so as well.
But even with the expansion of the league in recent years (four new teams since 2009), there has been no dilution of talent. Instead, particularly over the last five years, the quality of play in the league has drastically increased, and the number of young, talented American players has shot through the roof. Real Salt Lake, for example, has reached the semifinals of the CONCACAF Champions League, a competition previously thought of as impossible to win for American clubs because they were facing tougher (and primarily Mexican) competition.
Of course, as with all teenagers who turn 16, there are many challenges and new developments ahead. Issues like placing another team in New York (Cosmos, anybody?), the role of designated players like David Beckham, club profitability (or lack thereof), attendance, the construction of new stadiums (especially for D.C. United) and ridiculously stupid team names (seriously, Sporting Kansas City?) will continue to confront the league for years to come.
But what the league has proven over the last 16 years is that, yes, it can be done. A professional soccer league can exist in the U.S.A and get a decent amount of support, continue to grow, sign some good players from overseas while developping some of its own players as well.
The MLS must continue on the path of sustainable development until people start including it as one of the five major professional sports in the United States and Canada.
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David McIntyre is a freshman who has not yet declared a major. He can be reached at David.McIntyre@tufts.edu.
