Remember, if you will, what Major League Soccer was as the 2000s drew to a close. There was no Sporting Kansas City, only the Kansas City Wizards. The New York Red Bulls still played at Giants Stadium. Chivas USA still existed. The verdict was still out on the “Beckham Experiment,” and the large majority of the league’s 15 teams still struggled for local and national relevance. The league’s darkest days were over, but a massive uphill climb remained.



Ten years later, all of this is a bit hard to imagine. Major League Soccer has added nine teams in the past decade, and the league is unquestionably on the upswing. It regularly attracts big-name players from overseas and has begun, ever-so-slowly, to raise talent of its own. Clubs have benefitted from a slight loosening of the pursestrings, too, as the league has allowed its clubs more flexibility to add big-name players or invest in young talent.



All of which is to say: things have changed a lot...