“It’s really hard, and that’s where I say you can use a varying number of metrics to try to capture quality: money spent, head-to-head competitions — that’s really difficult because MLS doesn’t get that experiment,” Thorrington said. “Almost every person that comes from a stronger league — and I’ve had these conversations, we’ve had these players — they come to MLS and you talk to them, whether it’s Wayne Rooney, whether it’s Thierry Henry, whether it’s Carlos Vela, any of these guys, playing in MLS is an eye-opening experience.
“It’s really hard to measure an MLS team based on the MLS conditions and the idiosyncratic nature of our travel climate, humidity, all the rest of it… and try to sort of teleport that into another domestic league.”
We’ll get one intriguing data point on Feb. 2, when the Seattle Sounders will become the first MLS club to play in the Club World Cup against the winner of Auckland City (New Zealand) and Al Ahly SC (Egypt), for the chance to play against Real Madrid. But even then, the minuscule sample size of Seattle’s participation in Morocco — in the midst of their 2023 preseason — prevents any meaningful lessons.
The Leagues Cup this summer — a new World Cup-style tournament involving Liga MX and MLS clubs — is another chance for MLS to measure its progress. Despite the Sounders conquering the CONCACAF Champions League last year, the common perception is that the Mexican league still reigns supreme in North America. From a popularity standpoint, that’s not in question — Liga MX has consistently found a larger television audience in the U.S. than MLS — but it’s logical to assume it retains many fans based on the notion that it is the superior product.
While there is a natural rivalry between the leagues that’s rooted in their proximity, it’s much more of a collaboration. As joint hosts of the 2026 World Cup, the U.S., Mexico and Canada have incredible incentive to generate as much collective enthusiasm as possible for the sport over the next three-and-a-half years.
“Anyone that’s involved in soccer in the United States, Mexico or Canada, we’re looking at the World Cup as a north star that we could work together over the next number of years to continue to build the game so that when the World Cup is here we will be able to utilize it almost as rocket fuel to help develop the game,” Garber said.
