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After the obvious few top leagues, you're all just pulling bias out of your asses. How many leagues do you people regularly follow, every team, every week? I mean, seriously...
I have New England Revolution season tickets. Row 5 at the corner kick flag by the lighthouse. It's kind of like watching the Pawtucket Red Sox AAA team. There are a few high skill players but it's nothing like when I'm watching a friendly once or twice per year with real players. Season tickets are dirt cheap. I don't make half the games but it's still a good value to get up-close season parking and a good seat. It costs about the same as one Patriots game for the same seat from a scalper.
I have EPL on for my morning coffee on weekend mornings if I'm not doing anything where I need to be out the door. If I had access to the good European teams like Bayern Munich or Barcelona, I'd watch some of that.
After the obvious few top leagues, you're all just pulling bias out of your asses. How many leagues do you people regularly follow, every team, every week? I mean, seriously...
Right? I know there are some seriously top heavy leagues there, but I'm not even going to hop on leagues in places like Ukraine or Greece that can barely pay their bills. Top Brazilian players go elsewhere and most of their league is teams nobody has ever heard of. The list below has La Liga lower than I would have thought, but the resources are pretty light in Spain once you get too far passed Real Madrid, Barca, Atletico and a couple others maybe.
I'd love to find a '15 version when I have time later on, but I remembered this one...
England
Spain
Germany
France
Italy
Russia
Holland
Belgium
Portugal
Argentina
Brazil
Turkey
Greece
Ukraine
Mexico
USA
There is a very objective ranking for European leagues
Spain
Germany
England
Italy
Portugal
France
Russia
Ukraine
Belgium
Netherlands
Now for extra European leagues like Brazil, Argentina, USA and Mexican they would fit in that order somewhere along the 10th to 20th position. Note that the Chinese league could very soon rank in the low top 10, it has definitely passed the MLS and the MX leagues already.
I watch a bunch of Scottish league which ranks at 25 in Europe now. I'm not convinced that MLS play quality is better. But it's hard to compare, because MLS is such a weird league. MLS quality is very uneven across roster and month to month. Most clubs have pretty talented attackers, crap defense, no bench, and they also play much better in spring and autumn than they do in summer.
MLS has some really high standard players, but a lot of really bad ones too.
But MLS games to me are more fun to watch than most Scottish games simply because stadiums are much nicer, crowds are bigger, it's louder. Broadcast quality is better. Grass is literally greener in MLS because in Scotland it's often worn out, clubs don't spend as much money to look after it.
MLS is a pretty rich league, and they spend vast majority of money on creating a nice environment, rather than on players.
MLS is a poor league, period. I love watching it but its quality is lacking. Yes you have some top players but you also have a lot of players that a poor as the day is long. The gap in quality is huge. Its money bringing Gerrard, Keane, Lampart etc here and that is it. Well see how that plays out with China being able to throw money at players now too.
The MLS pool of players isnt great, expanding teams at the rate were going at makes it worse.
Definitely below what I would call the Big Ten of Europe (leagues with teams that have won a European title of sorts - whether a CL or EL one - since the birth of the Champions League) - Spain, Germany, England, Italy, France, Portugal, Netherlands, Russia, Ukraine, and Turkey. And for sure below Brazil, Argentina's, and Mexico's (and maybe behind a few more countries in Latin America) as far as I can tell! In other words, probably the lower half of the Top 20 worldwide at best!
I just watched the AC Milan vs FC Bayern game in Chicago. Awesome experience and being a Milan supporter I'm happy they won in the shootout (Bayern fans totally outnumbered Milan fans).
If I'm being generous, when the best MLS teams are on form they're mid-table Championship level, but that's only a handful, while the rest bleeds into League One as other posters mentioned. I don't know where that would rank the league, though, since I haven't watched much international soccer of the smaller European countries. I remember reading a few weeks ago that the MLS should aim for the quality of Evedivisie. I thought that was a unique perspective and there might some substance to that.
MLS is slowly getting better in terms of playing quality, but it has a long way to go. Another poster brought up American coaching and youth development, which both are vital to the longevity of the league and the national team. Where the MLS does succeed in is their facilities. For such a young league I'm impressed that each team has (or will have) its own stadium specifically made for the sport; this shows that there are willing financiers who have a soft spot for soccer, that they want the stadium to focus on soccer for the majority of its events. Take for example Arizona United FC who plays in the third tier. The owner seems so enthusiastic. I'm also impressed of the sport's growing enthusiasm by fans.
The league is an exciting venture and who knows how will it grow in a decade from now. I'm just going to be patient with it - I have my own struggles with my city's Chicago Fire.
Last edited by TheSunshineKid; 07-28-2016 at 02:52 PM..
With the level of investment currently happening in Chinese football, I think China will break into the top 10 long before MLS. At present, the MLS is still viewed as a bit of a retirement home for players whose engines are declining, and I think it'll be a long time before an MLS team will be able to seriously compete with any of the European powerhouses. Therefore, the league can only compare unfavourably, even with more minor European ones.
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