MLS parity problem is taking care of itself. League turning into 6-7 clubs and everyone else quick.
New York City
New York (this one is debatable)
Toronto
Atlanta
D.C. United (?)
Los Angeles
LA Galaxy
Seattle (they won’t be on this list in 5-10 years, they’ve basically admitted they won’t be able to spend as much as Atlanta and the Los Angeles and New York teams)
Miami will most likely be on this list and I have no idea how the move to Soldier Field will work out for the Fire.
That’s what worries me about MLS Expansion right now, they’re going into a lot of markets they don’t really need to be in. I don’t think Sacramento and St. Louis are must have markets.
The funny thing regarding the latter is that whenever Detroit gets mentioned, stuff like dying city, no money, crime, etc... gets brought up. Thing is THE EXACT SAME SHIT IS HAPPENING IN ST. LOUIS! In my experience, people from Detroit readily admit their city has problems. People from St. Louis are either too stupid to figure it out, are in denial or just say “at least we are not East St. Louis”. Basically Detroit is the alcoholic in this scenario and St. Louis is the drunk.
I think the best test of a market is when the first time the team becomes bad after being good because the “new car smell” has worn off and the team isn’t competing for championships. Philadelphia’s attendance has gone down since 2010. Houston’s has plummeted since BBVA opened. You see a lot of purple seats in Orlando now. Chicago’s problems have been well documented. Salt Lake aren’t drawing what they used to. I worry how Montreal and Vancouver are going to compete long term (especially Montreal if the rumors are true).
MLS has to figure out what to do with teams 10-15 years down the line from when they started. I’m not sure what the answer is to that question.