Nick - MLS clubs paid millions, and should get initial first div status. That's it.

Each league should be given the power to set minimum stadium standards.

Wouldn't it be better to rebuild in a lower division, instead of wasting your spot in the top league to do it ad nauseum? (Lions, Clippers et al)

I expect the American system will take decades to shake out - if ever. We may get a few early superclubs leading the way and pushing out the performance envelope (Sounders, Timbers, Galaxy) but I expect the situation will be fluid.

The biggest benefit is in the lower divisions. Capturing fan interest there will be made easier once the bureaucratic divisions between leagues are removed. That's where we will see the largest growth. That's where we will see the bridge between youth participation and the pro game finally built. That's where we will get the American superstars of the 21st century.

The accessibility of the game has always been it's trademark. This extends to the league level. When you remove that accessibility by installing a closed, single entity, exhibition league as a permanent first division, you remove a big part of it's allure. That's why twenty five times more cable tv viewers watch WWE than MLS.

A transition to 160 clubs can be done in three years.

Canada and US leagues must split. The reason the MLS can't recoup investment and make money is because it's a stilted, inferior product in which match outcomes are managed, not because there isn't a ready audience. Cart before the horse argument again here.

Billionaires like controlled monopolies in which their investments can be shielded from risk. Nothing new here. Lower division fans will not let them purchase their dreams.

If you let them monopolize, they will monopolize. That's the natural order.

It's really not USL's fault. For a while, I think there was a glimmer of hope in a lot of USL eyes that someday they would simply take the first div mantle. MLS investors are too well heeled, and are ready to hold on to even a stilted, small minded, exhibition league until hell freezes over.

This is why the flip flop has receded into the realm of unicorns and trolls, and why this has to be a political effort. We can't allow them to blame their troubles on the game itself any longer. We have to separate it out, and display it as the failed business model that it is, not a reflection on the most popular youth sport in the country.

Don't let the word scare you. When the market can't sort out this blatent nonsense, it's left to the supporters. It's a political effort, pure and simple.

DEAD ON. please endorse the plan at www.soccerreform.us

Stop pronouncing the lower open leagues dead. Their supporters won't let you buy their dreams. What's good for monopolizing billionaires is not good for them.

It's the only recourse. Once you understand how NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA owners would be spooked by a successful open soccer league, you can see why they'd rather preside over a stunted, lame, exhibition imitation that is MLS.

Apathy is the mother of dissention, my friend.

Protecting billionaires with mixed motivations and priorities is not getting us where we need to go. Investments in professional sports franchises should not be as safe as public utilities. Maybe that's why MLS is so boring?

Sorry I neglected this topic for so long! As you can see, I've been busy setting up an effort to take this thing back. USL supporters deserve unlimited futures.