Is the MLS Better Than the Premier League?
TThe MLS continues to get better but it isn't better than the English Premier League yet. I had a look at the Global Football Rankings and the Premier League is the strongest league in the world but the MLS is ranked only 16th strongest league.
Based off that, if the MLS's best squad New York City FC were to play in the Premier League last season they would have finished 19th and got relegated. Only Norwich had a worst squad than New York City FC so that shows the gulf in class that exists between the MLS and the Premier League.
In terms of European competition MLS teams would have NO chance in the Champions League. They would be competitive in the Europa League however which is a good thing. The better teams in the MLS are also comparable with sides in the Championship, England's second tier of soccer. The weaker MLS teams would be able to compete in England's third tier, and the second tiers of France and Italy's domestic leagues. Promising for the MLS is that many teams in the league could compete in some of the top European leagues such as the Portuguese Liga and Dutch Eredivisie.
There's a long way to go for Major League Soccer to get anywhere near the English Premier League but there are already five ways in which the MLS is already better than the Premier League:
- Most stadiums are more modern and technologically advanced than English stadiums.
- The MLS salary cap gives the league more parity whereas EPL teams have a greater wealth divide to the top teams.
- A league championship decider means the MLS reaches a climax each season.
- There's no relegation in the MLS and teams are guaranteed survival at the top level.
- The league has the ability to grow with the addition of franchise expansion teams.
Every MLS expansion/rebrand since 2015: New York City FC Orlando City SC Atlanta United FC Minnesota United FC Los Angeles FC FC Cincinnati Nashville SC Inter Miami CF Austin FC Charlotte FC St Louis City SC Impact → CF Montreal Crew → Columbus SC Just a trend or a directive?
— D.J. Switzer (@wrongsideofpond) May 10, 2021
Major League Soccer continues to get better, and here are 5 ways the MLS can continue t improve to complete with the top teams in Europe and get within striking distance of the Premier League:
- Improve on it’s $90 million per season TV rights deal. The EPL is currently on a deal worth more than $2.2 billion annually.
- Many MLS stadiums although technologically superior, are multi-use. Teams need to continue building soccer-specific stadiums.
- The average Manchester City player annual salary is over $8m. The salary cap for an entire MLS team is currently around $5 million per season.
- Youth system needs restructuring. College seniors are 21 or 22 years old and rookies are far too old by the time they join the MLS.
- Continued expansion into large markets, such as Detroit, Pittsburgh and Phoenix.
47 teenagers featured in the first 8 gameweeks of the MLS.
To compare - only 39 teenagers featured over the whole Premier League season. Professionalism, work with youth & scouting are getting better & better in the US. Extremely interesting times coming for all USMNT fans. 🇺🇸 <a href="https: — Football Talent Scout - Jacek Kulig (@FTalentScout) June 2, 2021
At this point in time there is no way that the MLS is even within touching distance of the Premier League. If we had this discussion a decade ago however, it would be a question that wouldn't even come up!
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Nice to read this. It gives proper details to the differentiating factors between MLS and EPL.
In terms of competitiveness, EPL is hard to beat by even the teams in Europe. Also, talking of popularity, EPL goes far and wide.
Over here in Nigeria, people support EPL teams as if they are home based. Haha. I for one, do not even know the number of teams in our local League but I know so much about the English Premier League
I've noticed how passionate Nigerians are for the EPL. What are the most favourite teams? Does it depend on region who is supported more?
Or perhaps when Nigerians play for certain teams do many people start to follow those too?
Hahaha... Nigerians are big fan of the EPL. Very big fans. For some people, they got to fall in love with an EPL club because their parents also love the club.
A team like Arsenal has an awful lot of fanbase here and its because of Nwankwo Kanu who played for Arsenal a couple of years ago.
But, the largest EPL fanbase in Nigeria are for Chelsea and Manchester United. It goes down to the history of the Club and the intense rivalry that existed between the two sides some years ago.
Nor will it ever be in my opinion, soccer can only go so far in America because of the competition from American football, Baseball, Ice hockey and Basketball to name a few and to be fair I have not watched MLS in a while, because it was pretty shocking quality wise when I did a few years back, but maybe things have changed?
The quality is no where near what it is of the EPL. Not even 10 years ago the A-League in Australia was arguably on par with the MLS. It's so stupidly not even close now with the MLS going next level. Having said that, football/soccer in Australia is going so backwards unfortunately.
Pity to hear that about Australian soccer, that's a real shame, I guess Aussie Rules, Rugby, Cricket, Swimming, Athletics are the big sports there, so lots competing with soccer..
Wow! I used to think the MLS pays more since most player go there at an old age and a few young players. I thought it was for the money.
Yep I mean many players do go for the money with the huge commercial benefits. I'd personally love to go to America in my twilight years if I was a pro player and leave the life over there.