The beautiful game of football, or as I’ll begrudgingly call it for this review, despite being a Canadian, “soccer,” is a popular, successful, and financially viable sport in most parts of the world. Until recently, it had been a very different story here in North America, at least north of the Rio Grande.
The North American Soccer League had periods of success between 1968 and 1984, but it struggled to gain eyeballs and decent attendance numbers. Since then, several American-based soccer leagues, such as the Major Indoor Soccer League, United Soccer League, National Professional Soccer League, and a second, albeit unrelated, NASL, have come and gone. In spite of solid showings by the U.S. national team in global tournaments, and new immigrants moving here from soccer-loving countries, building a loyal fan base and profitable soccer league has been a perplexing puzzle at the best of times.
That changed with Major League Soccer. Founded in 1993, the first MLS season was held three years later with 10 teams. The league struggled in its early years, lost money, and teetered on the brink of extinction. This isn’t the case any longer. MLS has gradually become one of North America’s most widely watched, followed, and profitable sports leagues.
Rick Burton and Norm O’Reilly’s The Rise of Major League Soccer: Building a Global Giant details the fascinating story of the once-little sports league that could. The former is the David B. Falk distinguished professor of sport management at Syracuse University, while the latter is a professor, dean of the College of Business, and executive director of the Center for Sport and Business Innovation at the University of New England. Burton and O’Reilly have authored and co-authored books, and write a joint column for, appropriately enough, Sports Business Journal.
“In 2024, MLS had the second largest attendance — with more than 12 million tickets sold – of all soccer leagues on the planet,” they write. That’s an incredible achievement for this young North American league in the time of European soccer giants. “How big will Major League Soccer get in the next few years?” the authors ask. “Very big.”
The Rise of Major League Soccer delves into different aspects of MLS’s domestic and international growth. Burton and O’Reilly suggest that one of the main reasons MLS has grown in size and stature is sponsorship from the massive technology company Apple. Although the details of the June 2022 distribution package were “never formally released, it’s believed MLS selected Apple as their technology/streaming partner … because of a groundbreaking ten-year offer worth a minimum of $2.5 billion or $250 million annually which could rise higher based on the number of subscribers.” This sum was quadruple what MLS earned in previous agreements with Fox Sports, ESPN, and Univision. More importantly, Apple viewers across the globe had access to every single MLS game without local blackouts or restrictions that affect most sports leagues. This important deal enabled MLS’s visibility and viability to grow by leaps and bounds.
MLS also brought in international talent, similar to what the NASL once did with Pelé, George Best, Franz Beckenbauer, Eusébio, and others. David Beckham was the league’s first big acquisition when he signed with the LA Galaxy in 2007. He wasn’t “the first major global star to sign on to play soccer in the United States,” Burton and O’Reilly note, “but he was the first of his level.” This paved the way for other MLS teams to sign up to three players who would exceed the salary cap, which became known as the designated player, or Beckham, rule. Major stars such as Thierry Henry, Wayne Rooney, Luis Suárez, Evander, and Zlatan Ibrahimović have all played in MLS. The biggest prize was Lionel Messi signing with Inter Miami CF in July 2023. “The average ticket price for any MLS game has more than doubled since Messi joined the league,” the authors note. The “Messi effect is clear.”
There’s an interesting chapter about the 1994 FIFA World Cup that the U.S. hosted and how it shaped MLS. It’s still regarded as one of the most successful World Cups in history, with Sports Illustrated suggesting there were 32 billion cumulative viewers and a “total economic impact” of an estimated $4 billion. The 1994 competition “put the United States on the soccer map,” in Burton and O’Reilly’s view, and “set the stage for the debut and sustained existence of MLS.”
I’d be remiss not to mention MLS’s most successful non-U.S. club, Toronto FC. It went from nine consecutive losing seasons and the depths of mediocrity to becoming the first Canadian team to win the MLS Cup in 2017 and a finalist on two other occasions. Toronto FC “regularly ranks among the top five of all MLS clubs on many of its business metrics” and succeeded in its “efforts to grow the sport in Canada,” which has added to MLS’s global reach.
“From a league with few teams and massive annual losses during the late 1990s,” Burton and O’Reilly note, “the leaders at MLS not only showed they knew (and know) what they are doing, but also were (and are) capable of building what was once unimaginable.” One day soon, America will wake up as a country that sees itself as a land that loves soccer. Arguably, it already is one.
Michael Taube, a columnist for the National Post, Troy Media, and Loonie Politics, was a speechwriter for former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.