As Major League Soccer begins its 22nd season this week, billionaires and business titans from a dozen cities are clamoring for the right to commit more than a quarter-billion dollars apiece to launch a new crop of expansion franchises.

Pretty impressive for a league that still hasn’t proven that most of its teams can consistently turn a profit.

This is the moment nonbelievers in the U.S. snicker about soccer being the sport of the future—just as it has been for four decades.

The most serious skeptics point out that overly aggressive expansion contributed to the demise of the North American Soccer League after the 1984​ season.

Consider that the MLS franchise fee is now up to $150 million, roughly twice as much as investors in Atlanta paid for an​expansion franchise just a few years ago. Meanwhile, the average team payroll is just $12 million—or less than half of what Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi earns in a year, which means the world’s best players will play elsewhere for the foreseeable future. Most teams play in stadiums that seat about 25,000, with tickets averaging a fan-friendly $27. Public financing for stadiums has largely dried up, and therefore many owners will need to pony up tens of millions more for new facilities.