How Many Americans Does it Take To Move a Pyramid? 

Pulling Together We Can Open the Doors

Since 1894, the American closed franchise model has failed scores of soccer leagues. Despite a century blighted by bankruptcies, reorganizations, purges, and a long casualty list of storied clubs, our current league executives cling to the same fundamental structure of their predecessors - and continue to suffer the same problems.  In MLS, average attendance records are as old as the league itself.   TV audiences for signature league games continually lag far behind international matches.  Attendance at preseason European friendlies dwarfs turnout at domestic league matches.  The high water mark for US club international accomplishment was set over a decade ago.  Despite this continued inability to reach a fraction of their potential market, and any demonstrable increase in quality of play, our top league executives are unable to recognize or apply the lessons of the open league model that delivered professional club soccer to global dominance.  They refuse to accept the possibility that their closed franchise model is simply incapable of realizing the potential of the game here in the United States.

At soccerreform.us, we readily accept that the closed American franchise model stunts the growth of American club soccer - and are also the only group committed to doing something about it.   We support the adoption of the proven open league system featuring independent, autonomous clubs, promotion and relegation that made club soccer the most popular sport on the planet.    We are a true grassroots effort committed to tripling the number of American professional soccer clubs while freeing every one to reach their regional, national or global destiny.  We enlist ordinary supporters, raging fanatics, investors, players, coaches and teachers of the game regardless age, ethnicity, religion, wealth and ability in our fight for this common sense reform.   Together, we will finally connect the success of club soccer to the open, entrepreneurial model in which it thrives all over the world, and pry it out of the closed system that stunts it here in the USA.

Supporters of the open league model for American club soccer agree on many things.  We are tired of the American pro-sports establishment pinning the failures of soccer leagues on the sport itself.   We see that promotion and relegation are key components to every healthy, thriving system of professional club soccer.  We believe clubs should have the power to choose their own destinies, not a league for them.   We watch with disappointment as our closed, single entity first division artificially governs the progress of top American clubs through arbitrary salary caps, squad size limits, and roster micromanagement.  We feel the arbitrary limitations on our lower division clubs as they bounce off a glass ceiling of funding, supporters, and media coverage.   In short, we watch a stunted, closed pyramid fall far short of realizing the potential of the American game.

While many agree on the cause, many have settled for less than ideal solutions.  Some supporters of the open model shrug, shrink from powers that be, and pronounce American change impossible.  They are content to watch televised matches from other continents, and save their pennies for their bi-annual pilgrimage to Old Trafford, Santiago Bernabeu, the Azteca, or the San Siro.  Some believers in free and independent clubs suggest it might be possible to convince current MLS execs to adopt a program of incremental change.  Others believe promotion and relegation are important to the game, but are so grateful to the current franchisers for providing us leagues of any stature that they equate public opposition with opposition to American soccer itself.  A few, despite a century of evidence to the contrary, believe the American pro-sports establishment nimble and pragmatic enough to choose a change to an open league system as an alternative to bankruptcy.

At soccerreform.us, we are certain that a bright future awaits American soccer supporters under the open league model – but not without an organized effort to unite the millions of avid, yet disaffected, American soccer supporters.

Together, we will fund strategic ad campaigns, develop national outreach, organize national meetups, and execute a solid media strategy to educate supporters about the wide open future of the American club soccer under an open league model.   We will allay fears of relegation, enable communities from every corner of the country to dream of supporting their own club with an unlimited future – free of the bureaucratic roadblocks between leagues that face lower division clubs today.

Join to show that change is possible.   Join us to prove that one hundred and sixty clubs across four divisions is not a pipe dream.  Join us for cool schwag.  Join us to dramatically increase opportunities for players, coaches, staff, investors and supporters.  Join us, and help American club soccer finally reach it’s full potential.  Please add your name, your contributions, your stories, and your moral support to this effort.  Let’s find out how many Americans it takes to move a pyramid.

Thanks

Ted Westervelt

soccerreform.us

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