[memyselfI]

Originally Posted by WoodDraw

You should find a new sport. All of these teams buying mls talent? They all sell their best players to better clubs. Some of them are quite new to the top league. Stoke is basically midtable mediocrity defined.

But transfers are a fact of life in the game. If you don't sell players, they'll leave for a free and with the club getting nothing. In a lot of leagues around the world the players and club have a tacit understanding that the player will sign a new contract and the club will let them go if any offer comes along. It protects the club and the player. Ajax has acted like that for years now.

People here just expect the same heavily unionized, bargained leagues that we have for our other sports. That's fine, but it doesn't work that way for soccer. Until mls can start making TV money, it'll be like this. Even then, there are tons of leagues in the world growing along with mls. In Brazil, Asia, and so on. There's no ten year plan to being a top league. Just embrace the club culture and have fun

Nope not after 35 years of watching the sport and waiting for it to catch on. I think there are two different issues here. One is how the sport operates worldwide. The other ihow it grows and operates in the US. I foresee an unhappy convergence as the MLS starts losing star players on a regular basis.