By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (Aug 12, 2016) US Soccer Players - Major League Soccer doesn’t lend itself to easy labels. It's not like the other American sports. The league is only 20 years old. All of its teams are in some state of continuing maturation. There are always extenuating circumstances to whatever ails them. It’s not as simple as poor management making mistakes.

Is it fair to call the Chicago Fire moribund? It's a word thrown around a lot in North American sports. It's an excellent, evocative word. Stagnation, lacking vitality, and not making progress. That's going to stick to Chicago, but there's more to it.

Much of the Fire's issues center on their stadium. Built in the heyday of soccer-specificity above all else, it shows. The location is an issue now. It wasn't when building Toyota Park was a major accomplishment for the club. Toyota Park now is something of an albatross for the team and the village of Bridgeview.

It's a fine soccer stadium. It's just at the western edge of what passes for the city of Chicago. There's no easy public transportation options. It's far from large sections of the team's fan base. There are revenue issues for the team and the village. The lease doesn't run out for another 20 years.

If the Fire are “moribund” now, how does the situation improve? Can the Fire fix many of their problems by putting together a successful team that brings home titles? Of course. But that won’t fix all the problems that ail the franchise.

Chicago's MLS team isn't alone here. That rush for soccer stadiums has other MLS teams locked in the suburbs. The American soccer environment changed and it caught the early adapters. What seemed like good moves at the time are now problems. MLS clubs, as a general rule, are getting richer. It’s the new additions that are driving that increase in wealth.

Modern expansion franchises are looking downtown. Sharing with NFL teams is no longer the major problem for the league to solve. Clubs like the Fire, the Colorado Rapids, and FC Dallas watched this happen from their suburban stadiums. Suburban soccer-specificity was once the future. Now, it looks like the past.

In each case, that suburban stadium was the correct decision at the time. There was no telling what the future would hold. The business of trying to make a professional soccer league work in America is tough. The teams in Dallas, Denver, and Chicago had to move on those opportunities. There was no shared NFL stadium future for MLS at the time.

Only a few MLS teams can get away with that now. The Fire weren’t among them. So here they sit, suffering thanks to making the only rational decision more than a decade ago. Other business decisions haven't helped. It creates a troubling situation for a club that was once the league's future. Troubling, but not insurmountable. Chicago Now's Guillermo Rivera broke the news earlier this week of potential buyers. The team has real value wherever they're playing.

It’s unclear how serious any of the three groups Rivera mentions are. We don't know if the club’s current owners would considering selling at this point. No matter the issues on the local level, franchise values in Major League Soccer are going up across the board. At least that's the story the league tells. What it means for the established clubs now in obvious trouble isn't a new question. It's been there since the flood of expansion success changed the league.

MLS can try to have it both ways. They can point to franchise values and future expansion fees. They can turn their back on suburban soccer-specificity because now they have that option. They can keep reevaluating what it means to be a model MLS team. They can continue to ask for more without necessarily giving it on the field. Business beats quality of play right now. Maybe that changes quickly as well.

What isn't getting the same level of concern is what happens with teams like Chicago. Is it about holding onto the franchise for the next guy? Is it about trying a turnaround on the field with the hope that does enough? Is it imaging multiple teams in the major markets without figuring out how they'll coexist successfully?

Here's why Chicago looms so large, at least for those watching MLS from a distance. It wasn't so long ago that the Fire was the league's model franchise. It was arguably the most successful expansion team on the field in American pro sports history. It developed players and the coach of the USMNT. It's new owners spent on elite players. Fans showed up to a suburban stadium. Then it stopped an MLS moved on with a newer model.

Why does any team in this league think that the same thing can't happen to them?

Jason Davis is the founder of MatchFitUSA.com and the host of The United States of Soccer on SiriusXM. Contact him: matchfitusa@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter:http://twitter.com/davisjsn.

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