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It's mostly a matter of ownership stability and stadium resources most likely. To become and MLS team now thru expansion it costs a good chunk of money. I think NYCFC paid almost 100mill. The ownership groups in MLS are actually quite stable and the attendance is really strong overall across the league save Chivas and a few others which is normal. Some of those NASL teams play in college stadiums I think which wouldn't work...the teams in MLS will all have soccer specific stadiums or nfl stadiums designed with the anticipation of a soccer team (like Century link in Seattle) but the Vikings and Falcons in the nfl are building new stadiums in the next couple yrs with soccer teams in mind so I wouldn't be shocked to see Atlanta, Minneapolis get new franchises.
Also Orlando City should be a shoe in bc they've been working on a stadium deal and they get great attendance too. Maybe Miami with Becks getting a squad down there. Maybe St. Louis to get another strong fan base.
All in all I think this ambition to have 24 teams is leading toward a single table format eventually...and mayyyybe in like 15-20 yrs once the teams are well established (the whole league is younger than me
) and as kids now grow up with teams from birth and the academies get up and running well; then we could see a pro/rel system set into place. It'll be a while though. I think in 20 yrs though the league will be extremely strong as the cap goes up and owners with more money get into it, take Seattle and how they flexed to pay 9mil for Deuce and afford to pay him 8 mil per....there could be like 5-6 guys on those wages by 2022 which would mean more and more talent. I think the league should aim to be THE major one in the Americas in 25 maybe 30 yrs. lofty goal for sure with Liga mx and the Brazilian and Argentinian leagues but I think it's doable if they make the right moves and the US gains more and more fans especially if we do fairly well at this WC and the next one in 2018. Sorry for the long post but I've wondered about that too myself edit: oh and Tv revenue from a big deal will be extremely important too...if in like 10 yrs they can get a deal similar to the NHL that would go a looong way
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