MLS hopes to use the World Cup to grow the league's popularity globally

[p]The MLS was set up in the mid 1990s as a pre-condition of the US hosting the 1994 World Cup, when global football bosses were desperate to finally introduce top-tier domestic soccer to the world's largest consumer market.[/p][p]Soccer has since seen dramatic growth in the US, even surpassing traditional American sports like baseball in popularity by some metrics.[/p][p]Major League Soccer drew 12 million fans to games last year, second only to England's Premier League.[/p][p]Big names including [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/messi-lionel/vgOOdZbd/"]Lionel Messi[/a], [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/son-heung-min/Mgg9oPeM/"]Son Heung-min[/a] and - this week - [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/griezmann-antoine/OxCa1jdT/"]Antoine Griezmann[/a] have recently joined the league, as MLS clubs have built their own state-of-the-art, soccer-specific stadiums.[/p][p]But while domestic fanbases have soared, officials now want to challenge the popularity of the top European clubs by cultivating followings around the world.[/p][p]"[b]I want [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/atlanta-united/EPngUvhk/"]Atlanta United[/a] fans in London, in Germany,[/b]" said Victor Montagliani, head of CONCACAF, football's regional confederation for North and Central America and the Caribbean.[/p][p]MLS commissioner Don Garber told AFP that the league's future "[b]is going to be to grow our fan base and our business outside the United States and Canada.[/b]"[/p][p]"[b]We are playing the global game, and we have been primarily a domestic league until now,[/b]" he said, on the sidelines of the Business of Soccer conference in Atlanta.[/p][h2]Salary cap challenge[/h2][p]Emulating the likes of [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/real-madrid/W8mj7MDD/"]Real Madrid[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/manchester-united/ppjDR086/"]Manchester United[/a] is an almost impossibly daunting task.[/p][p]Those clubs have decades of tradition, with fandom passed down from generation to generation, and spread around the world.[/p][p]European leagues also have no salary caps, allowing them to entice the world's top talents.[/p][p]The MLS does allow each club to bypass those limits with certain "designated" star players, but most squad members are on restricted wages.[/p][p]The league itself has on occasion gone a step further to bring in global superstars like [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/beckham-david/S0VmZ6TT/"]David Beckham[/a] and seven-time [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/ballone-andrea/hEPF3PjU/"]Ballon d'Or[/a] winner Messi.[/p][p]Back in 2007, Beckham was offered the chance to buy an MLS team for a heavily discounted sum, while in 2023 Messi was promised exceptional revenue-sharing agreements with league partners such as Apple.[/p][p]But Garber this week indicated those days are over, dismissing a suggestion that [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/salah-mohamed/08FBycgB/"]Mo Salah[/a] - who recently announced he will leave [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/liverpool/lId4TMwf/"]Liverpool[/a] - could be extended similarly extravagant terms.[/p][p]"[b]I'm not sure the league needs to get involved in those kinds of deals going forward,[/b]" said Garber, who added that he would still "love to see" the Egyptian forward playing in the MLS.[/p][p]"[b]There was a time we had to convince players to come, and now it really isn't about that,[/b]" he told reporters.[/p][embed guid="2cf556b9-d116-4a4c-be09-4b80447c0f04" url="https://x.com/JacobsBen/status/2036874481353023778?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p]Instead the league has focused on other ways to make itself more attractive to international stars, like changing to a summer-through-spring schedule from next year.[/p][p]This will allow US clubs to acquire global talent during the summer break and avoid future clashes with international fixtures.[/p][p]"[b]It's one piece of the puzzle[/b]," said Garber.[/p][p]"[b]If we want to be a major player on the global stage, we've got to play the same game the rest of the world is playing, even if it's a little harder for us,[/b]" he told reporters.[/p][h2]World Cup fever[/h2][p]Another piece of that puzzle is the World Cup, which will be hosted in the United States, Canada and Mexico this summer.[/p][p]The MLS is planning a major marketing campaign so fans attending World Cup games will be tempted to keep following the sport's domestic league once it concludes.[/p][p]Officials also expressed confidence that visiting World Cup players will be impressed by the gleaming new facilities that many MLS teams now boast.[/p][p]"[b]We've had top 10 national teams come and use our training center before, and we've had players on those national teams say 'this is better than the training center that I train at with my club every day,'[/b]" said Brian Bilello, president of New England Revolution.[/p][p]"[b]I think it's actually showcasing the soccer infrastructure that we already have in this country.[/b]"[/p]