If the most popular sport in the United States were always soccer instead of American football or baseball...

If the most popular sport in the United States were always soccer instead of American football or baseball, would we have the best league in the world?

Yes, but it isn't and you don't.

Probably, just because of the sheer size of our market+the relative ease with which Europeans and South Americans can handle American society. Part of the reason that FIFA helped destroy the American Soccer League in the first place was that some British execs were annoyed about British players coming to America for huge contracts (by the standards of the time).

We'd only have 30 teams and not have youth systems, so no

>We'd only have 30 teams and not have youth systems

Why do you think that? Baseball has youth systems.

>Part of the reason that FIFA helped destroy the American Soccer League

Is this some kind of joke or do you actually believe this shit?

Already the case for the women.

Not necessarily

Being the best league in the world means you need to have the best players in the world, which in footy means players from all around the world.

For that you need two things: money to get them, which USA clearly has, and legitimacy to attract them. Last one you get it by having elite competition (like UEFA has nowadays) that accredites you as an elite player.
Unless you push the rest of Concacaf with you (economically), your fantasy league is gonna reach as far as the Mexican league.

Inb4 USA doesn't need Concacaf competition, we can buy them all

That's not how footy works. You can't saturate a league with all the top players in the world because there is gonna be a quality gap between them and as an at least above-average player you will not accept being the eternal sub of one of the top 25 player so they will either went back to his country or play in a second tier league with relatively high economic power.

And if you think America can survive with its own top players and create their own Negros versions beckenbauer, cruyff, Muller, etc. Then kekking at you famalam

Sorry, didn't meant to reply to you Harry

Not sure. Depends how far you're talking as alot of clubs pride and expose themselves by history. If say for example there was a massive culture shift tommorow and a huge money sum went into the MLS you would just have a leauge of Man Cities.

maybe, but it seems sports are a show more than a practice in the US of A. i doubt kids play baseball, american football or wrestling in the streets

It's not a joke at all, look it up. FIFA and the USFA declared the ASL an "outlaw league" because a couple of the clubs didn't want to travel the continent-sized distances required for the "challenge cup" (with the USFA pocketing 50% of all the money too). The USFA then funded a new league, which destabilized the ASL, helping cause its collapse during the Great Depression.

>i doubt kids play baseball, american football or wrestling in the streets

Kids definitely play football and baseball in the streets. Baseball is less common in the cities than it used to be, though, because the white people all moved to the suburbs. You're more likely to see kids playing basketball these days.

>wrestling

lol, nobody gives a shit about wrestling

niggas dont like baseball?

Requires a dad

Best would be debatable.

It would literally have to go hand-in-hand with the sport having the greatest player pool in terms of talent over the other sports in the country, to create an indispensable and solid foundation of local players who can keep up and play alongside the inevitable International Stars that show up. It cannot be a repeat of the NASL, where the local player was often overshadowed and outperformed by imported talent that was either second-rate or washed-up.

What basically happened was the ASL refused to enter the 'challenge cup' on account of travel time and so on, and when a few clubs actually participated under their own power, the ASL cut them right out, as in cast them out of their league. Then the USFA responded with the 'outlaw' designation and then the Soccer War came, and you get the rest.

I'm pretty sure >we could've gotten in on Copa Libertadores if we had kept a top-tier league.

Underrated

>And if you think America can survive with its own top players and create their own Negros versions beckenbauer, cruyff, Muller, etc. Then kekking at you famalam


>Implying we haven't consistently produced the greatest athletes in the world for the past century

aren't your youth systems high schools and colleges? I always thought those were the equivalents of local youth sporting clubs in Europe

Depends on the sport.

American Football relies the most on the system, instituting the most rigid process possible. All of High School, and at least three years of College. On the one hand this works as it permits players to develop physically in a sport that might otherwise cream them. On the other, both systems(high school and college) are NOT affiliated with professional Football, which means player development becomes secondary to the success of the school team.

Baseball is closer to ideal with its farm system, which refines a lot of flaws in the game, but still has a hard starting point of High School graduates.

When it comes to Soccer, High School and College have proven to be decisively ineffective in truly developing working skills for the pitch, mostly because they start too late, but for the same problems they cause with the other sports; they are unaffiliated, and thus development is secondary.

>hurr durr it's because a nation-wide league didn't catch on

Brazil didn't have an actual national league until 1971.

and look at your league now, non-existant..

No.

Your obsession with communist style sports rules means the talent will be poached to Europe.