MLS expansion? Again?

Time is of the essence, or so the saying goes, and it appears that the MLS alarm clock has gone off again, causing them to leap from their comfortable chairs and scream the word everyone loves to hear: expansion.

It is a wonderful, romantic thought that the addition of more teams all over the country would inspire larger support for the game in general, but then again, we've been here before, haven't we? MLS Commissioner Don Garber is expected to announce today that the self-imposed ceiling of 18 teams will be raised to 24 MLS franchises by 2013-14. Amazing stuff. In addition to the addition of Seattle in '09 and Philadelphia in '10, Garber wants to add four teams in 2011 and at least two more by 2013.

And this is after he added Toronto and San Jose within the last two seasons!

It's a nice idea, to be sure, but we've seen it fail before. Considering that their prime targets for the moment (or, to put it in the MLS parlance, their "expansion priorities") are Vancouver and Montreal.

For those who are excited to finally see an MLS team in Seattle, is the Vancouver team really a wise move? And Montreal? Will they play indoors year-round due to the weather?

The spread of MLS to this point is agreeable, and it appears to be working. Most of the major soccer centers are geographically represented, as well as enough action in the nation's major media markets for it to be considered profitable and successful, which is what we all desperately want it to be. However, the NASL made the exact same mistake: hey, we're riding the wave of current success, now let's expand to every corner of the country and see what happens with our product!

The quicker you spread, the more danger you run of seeing your product diluted, not to mention the costs of creating franchises out of thin air. Who will pay for soccer-specific stadiums? [Just look at the problems Rochester had in paying for their new bank-financed and city-subsidized stadium, or even an established MLS team like DC United!]

Not only that, but where will all the players come from? It's tough enough for the MLS to retain its young stars thanks to the appeal of Europe, as well as the difficulty in finding top-class players to make the journey in the other direction.

MLS is very much flirting with the Icarus effect: their desire to expand and grow is so ravenous that they're losing sight of the #1 factor in their success: the overall quality of their product. MLB flirts with contraction all the time due to its bloated collection of teams and the massive disparity between the worst and the best.

The first iteration of the Premier League was 22 teams, and that lasted 3 seasons before they scaled it back to 20. FIFA wanted all top leagues in Europe to cull themselves to 18 teams due to the lack of quality for those minnows struggling to hang on, and while most have yet to make such a change, it is still within the realm of possibility.

I understand Garber's eagerness, I really do. His product has an established popularity due to the brand names and the promotion, but spreading it too quickly will only lead to another NASL situation. I'd love to see some figures from MLS about just how well they're doing, but for the moment, this pie-in-the-sky expansion plan should be put to bed. Otherwise, in 5 years time, we might well be putting the entire league to sleep.