Hope You're Ready To Get Mad

[@SuperJNG18]

This is the San Diego Loyal/San Diego FC thing all over again.

[@Soundersandusmnt]

most current mls teams that were once in the usl went through this same process. only difference is that some of those teams actually got to keep the club name despite being a newly established club when entering mls

[@ParksEndurance]

Absolutely. We got boxed out of snapdragon for that exact reason

[@furkanyapar5246]

As a person who lives in Indy and tried out for Indy Eleven 2 years ago this makes me very very sad. Love that you are talking about this though.

[@RonnieWave]

Same, I'd never thought he'd talk about us

[@eighteenYearOld]

same here, glad to see theres care for teams across the world that get bullied by greed

[@SuperJNG18]

@@eighteenYearOld You can see how it worked with Wimbledon versus MK Dons, also of course Wrexham. Americans are aware of these teams in the first place cuz more famous Americans (and Canadians) stood up for and financially supported them.

[@MichaelDanger19]

paving over any sort of non-MLS soccer history and replacing it with corporate feeling soccer experience will have long term effects. They've done this before and will do it again. Rumor is, they're looking at Tampa Bay and Detroit. I think Don Garber knows soccer in this country is bigger than 30-ish teams, but I don't think he cares.

[@bryangutierrez]

He wants the other 30 teams to pay to play

[@SuperJNG18]

Would be so mad if they did generic teams for Tampa Bay and Detroit when they probably have the best fanbases in the entire USL, with lots of history. The Rowdies have been around about as long as the Sounders or the Whitecaps, so I can only hope they'd still have their identity if they joined the MLS. They're owned by the Rays owners so it's not like the front office is godawful either.

[@asapaul7671]

Detroit won’t let it happen, they’ll still support city, Tampa may still be strong in their support for the rowdies too (at least that’s the hope)

[@FAITHandLOGIC]

I'm a Rowdies supporter and I would never support an MLS club that isn't the Rowdies.

[@talisenamell]

Damn not only fucking over a “small” club but a area that would get a new new development + jobs

[@uwja_]

As an Indy resident, there is an insanely dedicated and passionate fanbase for the 11. It is sadly extremely tone deaf to abandon their plans of the new grounds that so many were excited about (on the 11s birthday yesterday no less) and pivot the financing to the MLS. I will never watch another MLS game because of this. The 11 are not the only USL host city at risk of this happening to btw. Thank you for your coverage and raising awareness on this heartless corporate bullying. It truly means a lot for our local club ❤

[@mwgaming5167]

Hope your club finds a way of overcoming what's happening, sad to see tbh

[@maxl.b.m.y.g.5918]

USL vs. MLS will be an incredible court case when it comes. I will always root for USL.

[@thepeopleslibrary9345]

USL were are on the same side as MLS in the NISA case, they have literally no legal grounds to stand on, they would have to do a 180 degree turn and argue against what they are currently defending in court.

[@TheJonBob]

Im alr mad cause zea didnt go for a run

[@ValyrianPrince]

The joke fell off

[@donnyjepp]

Maybe run went for a zea 🤫😉

[@tamagonbagel6569]

Indy resident and Eleven supporter here. For context, Indy Eleven draws about 10,000 fans a game and it has more cultural impact on our city than the Chicago Fire have in Chicago (used to live there). I’ve been following potential MLS developments here for a good while now, and all the different factors going on here are confusing even to me. Why is the mayor involved in this way. Was the original development deal actually that bad for the city and taxpayers (apparently the development group has a history of sleaziness and over-promising) or is it a cover for this MLS thing. How relevant is the uncovering of the unmarked Black graves on the original development site. Who in the world is involved in the new ownership group. There’s a lot of conspiracy theories out there but I really came away from this announcement with more questions than answers. Indy Eleven fans thinking we could just jump to MLS with the same organization haven’t been paying attention to what MLS demands. Some die-hard people would rather have Eleven stay and remain in MLS than start MLS with a brand new team.

[@SuperJNG18]

...what was that about the unmarked Black graves? That'd be a whole new wrinkle right from the beginning.

[@thepeopleslibrary9345]

The Indy 11 thing is pretty wild all together. The site they were in an agreement to develop that the city backed out on was found to be an unmarked grave for civil war soldiers. Likely black soldiers or confederate POWs. The owner of Indy 11 is a real piece of work. Hard core right winger and prominent Armenian Genocide denialist. Funds the GOP heavily. Clearly made a lot of enemies in local government well before they chose to stab him in the back. Fwiw the athletic is reporting that the city is leading the way on this, not MLS. Athletic reporting that MLS has not held meeting on approving expansion past 30 prior the the mayor’s announcement. This seems more like a local politics story about a mayor choosing to reneg on a deal with a pretty scummy owner of a beloved local team, and essentially full court press their way into MLS. Not really part of the soccer warz narrative people are putting it in.

[@thepeopleslibrary9345]

@@SuperJNG18 I get why people have assumed this is the same deal as San Diego, but it seems the local mayor has lead the way on this and it’s come more or less as a surprise to everyone. Love Zealand but he may be going off a bit half cocked like a lot of people rn and missing a much weirder story of local intrigue, a shady former Chelsea exec, unscrupulous property developer, unmarked mass graves, and a mayor deciding he didn’t like who he was in bed with. I’m excited to see how this all pans out, making of a great bizzare local government tail but it’s definitely not the story people thought it was at first.

[@neilbiggs1353]

@@thepeopleslibrary9345 I hope he sees your comment and contacts you directly. YT won't let you post links to the story but I'd love to hear the full weirdness in the story

[@thegreatattila]

@@thepeopleslibrary9345 Refuting BS “genocide” claims is not being a denialist. Being a racist against Turks ain’t helpful to your cause either.

[@CraigMorrison]

MLS tried a similar thing to Orange County SC (who won the USL championship the very same year!) by having the LA Galaxy try to rent their stadium out from them through the city council (who own the stadium). Thankfully the fans organized and turned out in force to City council meetings to make such a fuss, that it ended up with the council giving OCSC a ten year lease on the stadium to protect them a little.

[@slidermyths4463]

Detroit City fan here. We know all too well how Garber and the mls operate. He wants to tear out the roots of our clubs.

[@seanmcpherson]

Thank you for taking the time to talk about USL. It's an exciting league with a lot of potential to create an authentic "global football" experience in the United States.

[@liamhospidales9812]

the USL sucks man

[@DrZaius3141]

Y'know, when MLS does stupid stuff, it behooves us to talk about them using the name "the MLS" just to bully them back a little bit.

[@Hartwik]

Wait it's not the MLS

[@gideonthomas8856]

The major league soccer doesn’t sound very right

[@SortOfEggish]

@@Hartwik How about that jolly good "The" Major League Baseball game last night? See how fucking stupid that is?

[@beatnik09]

​@@SortOfEggishpeople that get their underwear in a twist about it and act like it's a huge insult are much worse than people that say "the MLS"

[@thomasgrant8074]

​@@SortOfEggishthe MLS is shit.

[@KalenAlmeida]

The thing I really hate about this is we're getting robbed of some of the best branded clubs in the country. San Diego Loyal was a beautiful name and colors, Indy Eleven is great too. Cant wait for the new MLS team to be named "Indianapolis FC". If they do this with the Las Vegas Lights or Detroit Cityt im officially done

[@chrissao_502]

Racing Indy FC for a little bit of spice and to "connect to the long history of auto racing in the city"

[@t.c.4321]

El Ràcing clùb de Indianopolissa to really appeal to the latino fan base

[@sweetpepino1907]

​@@t.c.4321 I can just hear some crusty white shambling corpse say to a board room "Mexicans LOVE soccer don't they?"

[@StefanBrandowX]

The MLS cares about money only, not the sport. They WILL try to have a team in every city that pays them their $500 million entry fee and then make their own promotion/relegation out of it all after USL teams have been killed off

[@x311transistorx]

​@@chrissao_502 Indy Eleven already has a huge connection to the state and city, taking its name from the 11th Indiana infantry regiment that fought in the Civil War.

[@ZeezyTop]

I gotta give MLS props for getting me interested in watching professional soccer in the first place. Now that i am interested, i dont care much for MLS

[@house382]

USL needs to anti-trust MLS. That's all there is to it. There is zero reason they need these anti-compete rules any more. It is only hurting everyone involved. Everyone involved needs promotion and relegation. As I sit here in my Detroit City FC shirt, FCK MLS. They will never add another mid-west team. The only way any of us are getting to that level is for MLS to get anti-trust hammered.

[@joaomarques4030]

11:00 tbf that is also something that happens in the english pyramid, the prem will go above and beyond for their own benefit, there are clubs in the brink of dissolution in the football league while the prem earns billions

[@AjZ530]

Yea but the difference is that the Prem doesn't actively seek to surpress everyone else, tey just kinda ignore them and pretend they don't exist

[@neilbiggs1353]

The clubs are on the brink of going bust because they overspend. The average Championship team spent £1.08 for every £1 they earned (and that's just the average). They can't blame the Premier League for their own insanity, and if you really want to get in to the details, the problem at the heart of this is the TV deal in La Liga that means the PL big guns have about 20% less to spend than those two to compete in Europe. The PL TV deal is relatively even, which would be one way to solve it, change the balance so bigger PL teams get the advantage, but most people like that the PL is reasonably well balanced

[@stopspyingonme9210]

@@neilbiggs1353yes. Because the prem is so profitable you have a bunch of clubs willing to bet the house on getting promoted

[@shadybrady4320]

my hometown OKC Energy of the USL haven’t played a match since around 2020 because the USL wouldn’t let them play in their temporary stadium any longer and while they’ve not outright said it, it’s clear the city keeps delaying building the new one solely because they aspire to raise funds to reach MLS requirements. but there’s been no word in years. most everyone thinks our franchise the city was so passionate about is all but dead. if we had a promotion/relegation here this wouldn’t have been a problem imho, because then there wouldn’t be this game of trying to get a spot in the top league.

[@SuperJNG18]

If Indy Eleven’s ultras make a tifo for their next game of Hoggsett getting pounded by Don Garber, that’d be epic

[@armavir740]

tifos are epic in general imo

[@Haxzzer]

As a fan of Indy Eleven this makes me very sad. They were already starting construction and this could've made the soccer scene here in Indiana bigger and get more opportunities

[@manning0]

10:59 Premier League: shifty eyes.. nervous laugh... backs out room

[@rasmuserikandersen4786]

Zealand. Love the videos! Your filling an important hole by just talking shop without bells and whistles. My needs a thoroughly met! Keep on trucking - Lightnings admirerer from Denmark.😊

[@lordpelagius5078]

I continue to be baffled that relegation is just not a concept in American sports

[@cdrant666]

Because American sports owners want monopoly control. It sucks.

[@wildf1regaming651]

that might hurt the tycoons' wallets, and we couldn't be having any of that here. It's hell 🙃

[@Jaco059]

Most sports comes from colleges not developed in clubs only baseball had a similar club style. The way to keep parody in theory is that the bad teams get higher draft picks and everyone again in theory has their money capped.

[@jmkiser33]

Thank you so much for covering this. -from a member of the BYB (Indy 11 SG)

[@drizmas]

Indy till I die. We will not go quietly

[@wongtongshum]

So crazy Zealand covered my favorite/ hometown team Indy XI.

[@Dkmo94]

This is the worst part of american culture. We cant even have the world's sport without some monopoly corporation trying to squeeze out the competition and anything that doesnt make them a dollar

[@parkerstearns6743]

Thanks Zealand! I knew I could count on you

[@maxl.b.m.y.g.5918]

USA 🤝 Having Trouble with people name Donald

[@joshnolan2744]

I work for a USL club and have worked for a different USL club in the past. If I ever wanted to move to another club, something I’d legitimately have to consider is whether the club is TOO successful (and therefore a threat to MLS, causing them to suffocate the club, putting me out of work in the process). I can’t think of many other industries where success is such an imminent threat.

[@CrescentCitySweaters]

So there are problems with the stadium site. Namely, there are human remains that were found there. The costs are going to be far more than initially projected and the time to remove them is going to significantly delay the project. Public funding for a minor league stadium is risky to begin with, but now there is incentive to question the feasibility of the site. Also, Indy Eleven’s owner is a very politically divisive figure, and there ostensibly must have been a falling out with the mayor for this to have happened. I think MLS is definitely taking advantage of these recent developments to screw growth of the USL-Championship, but even without MLS in the picture, it looks like they might be a convenient excuse for the mayor to stop working with Indy XI

[@alexanderdunfee9657]

Don't forget the mayor declined to support Indy Eleven's previous bid for MLS. We're not happy about this.

[@leesmith8197]

My last comment on this channel was about me visiting the US as a Brit and going to some soccer matches, one of which was Indy Eleven. Without wanting to sound harsh, that's definitely a team in need of a new stadium if they're ever even going to utter the letters 'MLS'. So why the MLS would act the way they are in this situation is genuinely mind-boggling. There's a good club progressing to be ready to join your league and you just take a dump on their doorstep for no reason? Disgusting.

[@rossanderson1892]

Wow 🥳🥳 Only need one more square in the Zealand Bingo, after he mentioned the film ~Deepthroat~ 🥳🥳 What?!?! 👀👀

[@NeverwascooL]

As shitty as that is I will say I never thought that when I got into soccer seriously I'd see cities fighting to get most teams

[@aaronackerman4364]

If MLS so much as lays a finger on the Rowdies I will riot

[@AStallman]

Another thing to know about this situation is that the Indy Eleven owner doesn’t have the money to put the IXI in MLS and was *potentially* unwilling to become a minority owner to make it happen. That owner btw is the owner of the Keystone Group, or the guys who were supposed to be building the new stadium. Truly greed on every level.

[@finlayyearsley_guitar]

I remember seeing cosmos v Indy 11 in 2015 when I was an holiday in NYC

[@RacingAtHome]

"We're already struggling to build our sport. Why have a Civil War?" Amusing this is an Indy based team having this issue. Because this quote could have been said in the 90s about a CART/IRL split.

[@aaronedwards4953]

This video shows that it's not about the sport (insert whatever sport you prefer). It has not been for decades, in favor of finance/profit, and always will be going forward. It's time we get used to it because we can either give up on our sport (to force change) or enjoy what is put there by people we cannot control.

[@brgracio]

I can’t get my head around the fact that what is recognized as the top tier division is a closed system, without a clear pathway to get there based on sporting merit. I know this is probably an euro-centric view on things, but I feel that in the long run this will limit the potential of football in the US. The risk/reward side of having relegation and promotion helps build football identity for clubs and their fanbases, which then is important to generate interest in matches and in the storylines that develop each year (e.g. a club that has been in the top tier for decades and is now fighting to escape relegation; a team that was promoted through multiple tiers and now is somehow fighting for a title, the return of a fallen giant, etc).

[@meanyvizzini8347]

Glad MLS hasn’t caught wind of our 8500-seat proposed soccer stadium in Grand Rapids. We’re half the metro population of Indy with zero sports teams in major leagues, while Indy has the Colts and Pacers.

[@fabiantaveras8458]

Pretty sure they're aware of it they just don't care, the grand rapids media market is Peanuts compared to Indy. As far as MLS is concerned USL can go hogwild in grand rapids

[@chrissao_502]

Grand Rapids will like go to MLS Next Pro in an attempt to still have Detriot open for an MLS side.

[@meanyvizzini8347]

@@fabiantaveras8458 USL is all we’re looking for. Still, it’s a growing metro area with no major sports that’s larger than both Buffalo and New Orleans. Detroit and Chicago are too far away to go to an evening game, so it’s a large underserved population. My fear is that they’ll give us a MLS Next team instead of a USL team, and people around here would not support the MLS Next team to the same degree.

[@lomas4202]

Falling, Falling Fall.. Gone

[@BeardedCarlos]

At the end of the day these are BUSINESSMEN, not SPORTSMEN. The economics will always take precedent to anything else.

[@StandardRossoneri]

What really makes me mad is that Z hasn’t gone for a run yet

[@kieronparr3403]

I think every major country should have promotion and relegation. Without that there is no point in playing for merit.

[@mortiphago]

I'm mad about the lack of green lights

[@Alex-uc3ye]

As an American, I can honestly say the relegation system just better.

[@tylercady3985]

I grew up watching MLS. I went to Galaxy games for years. But I haven't watched MLS since what they did to the San Diego Loyal. I became a Loyal supporter because I'm closer to San Diego than I am LA, and Loyal was a club that had such a deep connection with its community. Since MLS essentially drove the Loyal out of business, I've switched my allegiance to OC, and now I hear that MLS is doing the same to Indy. At what point do the USL and its clubs get together and try to sue the MLS for what is essentially monopolizing soccer. This, imo, is why the US will always struggle to become a top nation. We're getting better, the players are improving, but as long as this kind of thing is allowed to happen, we'll never be a truly great football nation

[@ajlawton1]

As an Indiana resident, I am very confused to this whole thing. Eleven Park was a good idea. I don't think Indy is a good market for MLS rn, especially with Chicago, Cincy, Nashville, St. Louis and even Columbus having teams all in the region

[@asapaul7671]

It’s not a good MLS market, it’s clearly MLS attacking USL

[@ezvioc]

Phoenix should get a team next, imo. It's just MLS doesn't want to share stadiums cause their head are too far up their... to let an MLS team share stadiums

[@camvanhouten5655]

Hogsett was fuckin there when they broke ground on the USL stadium.

[@YourC0nsc1ence]

I was wondering if this was going to get talked about. Absolute leech level stuff from "The Don" He's going after Tampa Bay and Detroit and other USL stallwarts. And that's not even counting the treatment of Sacremento Republic.

[@cardswithcoach4610]

this is really disappointing, I am season ticket holder for OCSC in the USL Championship and I really have fallen in love with the league. I was heartbroken to lose the neighbors down south in San Diego and have a whole new ownership group get the rights to the MLS team (what a horrid badge on that team as well) the MLS will never play nice when it comes to their pockets and that is why pro/regulation is impossible in america is impossible. They want their investments to be safe at the cost of the fans.

[@MrJagger112]

Implement the promotion/relegation model instead of the half assed system you have atm where you can be as shit as you want and still stick around. Implementing promotion/relegation will take alot of the power out of that Gerbil (or whatever his name was) guys hands.

[@Renegade76892]

I'm an indy eleven fan and was born and raised in Indiana..me and my gf are actually going to the game tomorrow night and when I first seen this it boils my blood. We've been wanting mls here for years and for Don Garber to do this is absolutely outrageous. Look we have waited so long to even get this stadium...it had so many complications to even get approved and finally after it did and after we finally break ground this happens?? We don't need them we are still a successful usl team (not this year so far lol) and we can continue to grow without them. Ticks me off man

[@ryanmcniff2245]

Z, totally agree with 99% of what youve said. Idk why businesses and cities keep getting in bed with these guys (MLS). Its obvious that theyre snake oil salesman. Now, the point I dont agree with. Tampa doesnt need an MLS team. Tampa has an incredibly successful, well supported, and historic club that has been around longer than MLS. The Tampa Bay Rowdies games are electric. They're an incredible team and were very competitive in the NASL when it was the top league and Pele was here. I believe George Best played for them at one point. We're blessed in FL to be able to enjoy high quality professional football without MLS (even though we have 2 MLS teams). I feel like that should be acknowledged because many states or cities would kill to have a club like The Rowdies to support. Also, their kits are sick

[@kramchancel1266]

the mayor is more worried about this shit than their homeless problems? What a mayor

[@axelgonzalez2806]

The American sports industry in a nutshell

[@Dave_Nosdivad]

That's one of the few reasons why MLS aren't taken seriously outside of the USA. Here in Brazil will always be the "retirement league" joke or "me and my neighbourhood friends" can build a better team will be the reality of Football in the USA. The free market of capitalism rules.

[@jgasparmiswiredke]

The worst part is, the mayor was probably told "you know how you already have the Colts (NFL) and Pacers (NBA), well look at all the cities that have those and an MLS team. Traffic would go through the roof. And we can make it happen. All you gotta do is scratch our back, and we might scratch yours." Talk about putting a potential future legacy that might not happen over the here and now

[@BeardiusMaximus]

I'd still like to see FIFA insist NO top tier be "exclusive". Every top tier should have some kind of relegation/promotion system enforced. On this point alone, i can't take MLS seriously

[@Byrthor]

I don't think we'll ever see another team go from USL->MLS again. MLS wants full control over the branding.

[@isaacdiaz9451]

Aspirations and goals of making soccer in America don't matter. Greed corrupts and takes over everything unfortunately.

[@chrissao_502]

A thing that I think a lot of MLS fans don't quite understand is 1) why someone would dare to support a lower league, inferior, club, and 2) why someone wouldn't immediately support an MLS club if one came to their city. Those fans, I think, miss a lot of what makes football such a great sport. IXI has been around long enough that there are academy grads that spent most of their youth time at IXI. There are people who supported IXI from day 1 who could have had a kid that's in middle school. People love IXI, so if "Indiana United SC" or "Indy City FC" or Racing Indy/Indiana", came in, it wouldn't be IXI. What people have come to love would die. If San Diego Loyal were the ones moving up to MLS, a lot of people would be upset, but still love it because it would still feel like their team. That's why when MNUFC, or OCSC, or NSC, or FCC, moved from USL to MLS, USL people were upset, but at the same time happy that it was the team more or less moving up.

[@ajbianchi85]

It makes economic sense but its not logical you say? Next convo, planned obsolescence.

[@Galaxy6913]

Whilst Zea is talking about a country's league system and is mad about it, can you do a video on the Australian league system and it's history. Because they announced a new national second tier, and how Football has had to compete with AFL, Rugby and other sports in Australia. Thanks, and please go for a run with regular (every 5 minutes to 10 minutes maybe?) chocolate turtles breaks.

[@EmpereurNapoleonex]

Nah I'm gonna say MLS is bad for US Soccer. The fact that the us soccer federation just bends over to the MLS is not healthy. Short term it may be okay, but MLS has continuously chipped away the building block for the future of us soccer.

[@SuperJNG18]

The team I’m REALLY surprised MLS isn’t charging full-speed towards is the Las Vegas Lights, given how every major sport is trying to get a team in Vegas (I don’t even have to mention the A’s).

[@chrissao_502]

Cause LVL sucks pretty bad, both on the field and the FO. Though the new owner and FO are bringing fans back and the team is pretty good.

[@SuperJNG18]

@@chrissao_502 They’re pretty trashy, but I do like how they’re playing now at least. Hell, if there’s any team that could BENEFIT from a big-business takeover that actually helps them out…

[@asapaul7671]

The problem with the lights is that ownership doesn’t know how to run the club, they announce their signings a week before kickoff and then are terrible

[@thomasautry6158]

Do more people use light or dark mode?

[@jordylont1879]

Maybe the mayor needs some chocolate turtles

[@nameanteater4772]

Isn’t it great that leagues like MLS and Premier league to hinder lower leagues, thus hindering player development and competitiveness within other leagues aswell as their own (due to promoted teams being closer in ability in premier leagues case). Just so they can keep more of the money

[@ian_r125]

The EFL leagues get millions from the PL

[@neilbiggs1353]

You should see La Liga, they screw over the smaller clubs in their own league for the benefit of a couple of clubs! The ratio between what the top team in the PL gets paid to the bottom is about 1.45:1 with it scaling down proportionately. The ratio in La Liga from the top two to FOURTH PLACE is about 2:1. The ratio used to be about 10 or 11:1 about a decade ago to the bottom sides, the PL are positively angelic compared to other leagues in Europe

[@nameanteater4772]

@@ian_r125 every premier league team gets between 100-150m each a season. The clubs coming up get 1/10 of that, while parachute payments favour clubs relegated so they can become yo yo clubs rather than the competitiveness being better. Not to mention the amount of clubs going into administration without any association doing anything to stop this

[@ian_r125]

@@nameanteater4772 Thats a different conversation, Im talking about the grants the EFL gets from the premier league. As for the teams coming up from the championship its way more than 1/10. The winner gets 35m in prize money

[@mrpiesalot]

As an Indy 11 fan idk what to say

[@tcb2324]

We need some anti don garber chants during mls matches

[@frankiepaez9829]

You have a perfectly fine football club with a bright future and a new expansion plan including a brand new stadium, yet you decide to burn it all down in favor of I guess money?

[@chrismiller5793]

The way we do sports is backwards. I like the competitive balance aspect but it fosters greed since only billionaires are the ones who can even consider buying into this. And if you were one of those owners, would you want to lose out on all that revenue due to relegation? It's why there were and have been talks of the super league in Europe. I think while the MLS did good in fostering a good fan base here in the US, it has done a lot of harm in continuing that growth. We could see it turn into the NBA and I could be totally wrong, but this is not a good look and I feel pro/rel is the better solution. Is it the best 🤷‍♂️ but i know it's better.

[@maxl.b.m.y.g.5918]

Why would you spend 500M on MLS when you already have Caitlin Clark

[@andreanecchi5930]

I watch USL matches on KZbin, I feel sorry for this team

[@sawyertuide7636]

I hope the MLS one day does promotion and relegation, and the Surf/Eleven can be restored (and I can see my Oakland Roots in the top tier) But they won’t. The USL will become a small 2nd tier league like the AFL was to the NFL for many years. The MLS will remain soulless. No pro sports in Oaktown 😭.

[@armavir740]

It feels to me like the good MLS has done for US soccer, or at least the most of it, is merely a side effect of throwing a bunch money at the wall.

[@reverendroar]

Promotion and relegation is the only way you can develop the leagues and the improving the difference in quality of football from USL to MLS. This cooperate money-grabbing egotistical capitalist approach just makes me sick!

[@jamieevans4317]

Capitalism ruins X story once again, a tale as old as capitalism itself.

[@reverendroar]

@@jamieevans4317indeed my good friend indeed

[@reverendroar]

@@jamieevans4317*DAMN THOSE CAP-IT-AL-ISTS!!!*

[@zekasbazooka7104]

USL isnt the "2nd division" because there's no promotions

[@stopspyingonme9210]

Seriously let USL do the hard work developing the clubs and then promote them when proven profitable. Everybody wins.

[@kripos2201]

Joe Hogwash & Don Garbage

[@AdminAbuse]

MLS to me is an artificial nonsense take on football, no relegation, no risk, just a foreign weird way of football i know as a european

[@Stfguac]

The premier league is slowly destroying the rest of the English football league. If it was up to the top teams, promotion and relegation wouldn't be a thing

[@lucasluchetti434]

American monopolistic sports

[@drww1]

I would prefer my club to be in the "second" tier if it means true control of the club and not having it treated like every American team: a bargaining chip to use when it comes to business. MLS is just a waste of potential

[@nyykSIUUU]

2800 views in 1 hour, I have no idea if that‘s good or not

[@ganaed9954]

MLS broke up my Sunday league team >:(

[@kennyajcampbell79]

Tried to kick Orange County SC out the stadium they played at cause of LA Galaxy wanting to use it.

[@DMFroomer]

Classic Don Garbage moment.

[@PunnyPanther]

Are you ready for a Run, Zealand?

[@teaspoonsofflavor4871]

Where's the turtle

[@pavel228]

Sounds super-league-esque. The richest clubs in one league without any relegation. How is there no relegation??? That’s already stupid. (I am German, so my view on football might be a bit over-romanticised.) In this situation it is particularly stupid.

[@JMThought]

This is so depressing

[@tardaboveall491a]

It only makes economic sense in the short term.

[@hrodebrt]

Tier system that makes the MLS a natural end goal for lower league teams? Nah lets just make one league that no one cares about cause there are no consequences to losing.

[@Alexgreenie]

181 views 5 min. after uploading. Falling off.

[@armavir740]

USL is governed by MLS? I thought it's independent, like an alternative to MLS.

[@stephenmorris341]

It is. All clubs in the USL are independent. USL has nothing to do with MLS.

[@savagecabbage138]

usl>mls

[@JuanNunez2023]

It's not pretty. It's not how sports developed for 200 years. It's not the romantic ideal of what sports should be. It sucks. But MLS will eventually kill USL. MLS has billionaire owners and USL can not compete with that. The market can only have one major league, the people with the money don't want to support a minor league, and fan support is not enough to sustain USL in the long run because fan support isn't going to get you stadiums, media coverage, millionaire player contracts, etc. 20 years from now, MLS is going to be at the top of the soccer pyramind, and MLS Next Pro is going to be the minor league system that USL eventually gets merged into after it has been squeezed out of the market. Again, it sucks but this is inevitable.