Why Bother?

US soccer is sensitive to supporter demands - and very sensitive to FIFA. They answer to a world governing body that has made no secret of their distaste of an MLS system in which access and quality are both limited in the search for profit.

Nevertheless, FIFA cannot impose promotion, relegation and independent clubs entirely from outside. US supporters must speak up.

There is hope for change - but supporters must speak out about the barriers to quality and access that MLS clings to in their endless search for low risk profit. When the league abandoned ill-conceived concessions to the American sports psyche like the scoreboard clock and the shootout, they proved themselves capable of evolution. In order to maintain their FIFA sanction, US Soccer must pay lip service to the open league concept that FIFA calls "the essense of the game". Some MLS executives project adoption of promotion and relegation - if only in the cloudy far future of manned Mars missions, high-speed rail, and the retirement of the internal combustion engine.  Discussions on removing strict limits on salaries and rosters, per the global model, are no longer strictly taboo. Make no mistake - the domestic closed league system is the holy grail for many MLS owners, including the one who pays the salary of the President of US Soccer. We are ready to make that final push, and the support of generous individuals, great companies, and supporter groups will make it possible. Together, we can lend players, owners, broadcasters and investors courage to replace our misapplied and shortsighted closed franchise model with the free market open league system that delivered the beautiful game to global dominance. Join us, and help show FIFA that we're not the undemanding casual fans some in MLS would prefer. Help convey to the global soccer community that American expect full fledged membership, not perpetual second class status.

Together we can push US Soccer to sanction a free and open system that includes promtion and relegation - and eliminate the entitlements and league control that hold the US game back - once and for all. We can lend our federation and our leagues the courage to do what's right - not just do what's risk free. We can win the fight to free every club in every league from intrusive restrictions, top-down bureaucracy, institutional barriers and artificial quality limits. We can end the imposition of a MLS single-entity caste system that stands in for the American soccer pyramid. We can free every owner of every club in every league to take their club as far as investors and supporters can take them, not only as far as their leagues will let them go.

Whether you want to see a new club with an unlimited future in your town, or open the future of the Rhinos, Battery, Miami FC, or even Hollywood FC, please join us. If you want to see DC United defeat Club America in Azteca, or the LA Galaxy Milan in the San Siro, please join us today.  If you want to see a flood of new investment in lower divisions, please join us now. If you want to give New Yorkers a club they can wholeheartedly support, join us this second.

As faux promotions in Seattle, Portland, and Montreal, remind us, whenever one new club joins the top flight, excitement and passions rise. Crowds and season ticket holders spike.

imagine three new clubs - every season.