I like pro/rel and I think it would have made for a better system in the U.S., certainly let the sport stand out from the crowd a lot more than it can now. There were several opportunities to set up American soccer as pro/rel, first in the early 90s when MLS was being formulated as a requirement of the '92 World Cup, then in the early 2000s when it almost went under and Lamar Hunt basically saved it, and finally recently NASL wanted to set up a competing tier 1 League as pro/rel and couldn't get sanctioned by USA Soccer.
But you are absolutely correct that we can't force Pro/Rel on MLS at this point. That's not happening and is a complete pipe dream. I wouldn't mind USA Soccer setting up USL as a competing First Tier League and then seeing what American's prefer over the long-term.
But you are absolutely correct that we can't force Pro/Rel on MLS at this point. That's not happening and is a complete pipe dream. I wouldn't mind USA Soccer setting up USL as a competing First Tier League and then seeing what American's prefer over the long-term.