The new Major League Soccer season is about to kick off and Jozy Altidore wants to talk about money. Not just for the sake of it — which would have been fine, too — but because he sees it as part of a bigger conversation, one vital to the future of American soccer.

Altidore is now 29, a 12-year veteran of the United States national team and a newly extended core member of Toronto FC. Before he is done with his career, , he wants to see change. Put simply, he wants to see more young American players that look like him.

“Soccer in the U.S. is still seen as a rich, white kids’ sport,” Altidore told USA TODAY Sports ahead of his team’s MLS opener against the Philadelphia Union on Saturday.

Whether the perception is fair or not, he’s essentially right.

While the sport in general and MLS in particular have made strides toward encouraging and developing talent from minority communities, Altidore remains a relative rarity as an elite American player who also happens to be black.

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Yet with the league’s salary offerings now at an all-time high, he believes it is time a career in professional soccer was more widely seen as a legitimate aspirational target for young minority athletes seeking a better life.

“Families in inner cities don’t yet believe soccer is a game that can help in that way,” Altidore said. “It is a great strength in America that we breed athletes. But right now parents still want their kids to go towards football and basketball because of the money in it.

“It is important that people know about the financial benefits (in MLS). It is unknown to a lot of kids that this opportunity is there to provide for your family and to achieve a lot in soccer, to use it as a platform to take your family out of their underserved situation. Kids in inner cities sometimes have no way out other than through athletics. It is time for soccer to be a bigger part of that.”

Altidore was frustrated recently when Alphonso Davies, an 18-year-old Canadian winger, was signed by German powerhouse Bayern Munich for a transfer fee that could reach $22 million, and the news made barely a blip on the sports media radar in either Canada or the U.S. Even when U.S. standout Christian Pulisic joined Chelsea in a $100 million deal, there was no onslaught of headlines.

The top European clubs have the deepest pockets of all but there is also serious money to be had domestically as MLS prepares for its 24th campaign. Historically, the vast sums available in the NFL or NBA made it easy to see why promising young athletes, and their parents, would gravitate towards those traditional American sports.

While no one in MLS is making Aaron Rodgers ($33.5 million average annual salary) money, a typical soccer career can last well into the player’s 30s. The churn-and-burn nature of pro football means the average career length in the NFL is just three years. Altidore made $5 million last year and was the league’s sixth highest earner, according to the MLS Players Association, with his former teammate Sebastian Giovinco pocketing $7.1 million and 50 players enjoying contracts worth more than $1 million per season.

It should also be considered that there are thousands of lucrative soccer-playing jobs available with international clubs, something not open to those who either wash out of the NFL or fail to make it there.

What it needs to spark an influx of outstanding black players, Altidore believes, is more soccer role models for them to look up to.

“Those (youngsters) have to see themselves, or a version of what they could become,” Altidore said.

To that end, the league has made positive strides. Atlanta United’s George Bello, Sporting Kansas City midfield Gianluca Busio and Philadelphia’s Mark McKenzie are all teenagers and among MLS’ most exciting prospects. All three have been tipped for big things.

MLS clubs have invested heavily and are on course to build 500 new fields or playing areas in underserved communities by 2023, while providing a pipeline to funnel elite youngsters into the pro ranks through the academy system.

Altidore himself played basketball just as seriously as soccer until 14, making his eventual decision to specialize with the US Soccer residency program largely because his father, originally from Haiti, was more familiar with the sport than with hoops.

Another way he thinks American soccer can tap into a rich and diverse talent pool is if its players project a bolder image and become more outspoken, whether it be about broader social issues or matters relating to the sport — and if there was more encouragement from above for them to do so.

“In other sports, people like Odell Beckham Jr. and LeBron James have strong opinions,” Altidore said. “In soccer, you get looked down upon if you have opinions like those guys have.

“In the NBA, they do a good job of letting players be themselves. When you talk about growing the game, it needs to be okay to talk about issues.”

Some encouraging steps on that front may already be underway. MLS was proactive in making it clear its players would have the freedom to kneel for the anthem if they wished. It has been steadfast on encouraging LGBTQ rights and has staged some events around Black History Month and told MLS MVP Josef Martinez, who is from Venezuela, that he would be supported if he chose to use his platform to speak out about his country’s controversial political situation. When national team newcomer Jeremy Ebobisse voiced powerful opinions about social injustice, the league was supportive of his stance.

There was a time when Altidore, like many athletes, kept most of his public comments restricted to matters directly affecting his career. But now he's a father and finds himself as one of MLS’ experienced and accomplished veterans.

“I am at the point in my career where I am not so worried about people telling me what I can and can’t say,” Altidore added. “It is important to be heard.”