So what we have now is a weird relic of old 1.0 MLS still hanging around like an unwelcome hard hat crest. MLS Super Draft, to give it its full dumb name, is not working how it was supposed to. And if it was working like it was supposed to, it would be undermining MLS’s attempts to become a better league.

So what to do?

Give it to USL. That’s right you heard me, give it to USL. And I mean all of USL, the Championship and League One. Look, most of these guys drafted by MLS teams are going to end up playing in the Championship anyway, so why not cut out the middle man? Rather than letting Orlando City B and LA Galaxy II get all of the young talent, let San Antonio and Tampa Bay have picks as well. And I mean as well.

This is how I would set it up.

All Championship and League One teams would be able to draft in order of their league table. That means the best teams get the best players. This would be the first time USL offered a reward for doing well in a USL league. Alternate Eastern Conference and Western Conference but let the winning conference pick first. So for this year, the draft order would have been Louisville, Orange County, Pittsburgh, Sacramento, etc. all the way down through League One. But this also includes MLS2 teams, they still get to draft. This rewards MLS teams for investing in themselves by giving them college players if they would like them.

Then, all of the players who are drafted sign a minimum of a two year deal, valued somewhere around $80-$90k for the first pick overall and decreasing after that. This starts the creation of a domestic player market. Imagine a college prospect going to Pittsburgh and tearing it up, crushing the league. That player might be on a two or three year contract meaning if the Colorado Rapids want them, they’ll have to pay a transfer fee to the USL team. Or they won’t and USL gets a marketable star in their ranks.

And suddenly we have MLS teams buying USL players, for cheap mind you, which have been tested in a professional league. This is a win for USL as they get new talent in the league that they could potentially sell on. USL teams would need to invest in scouting and it would give GMs a new thing to trade around to acquire new players. And it’s a win for MLS teams because their USL teams are the ones getting the players anyway, it cuts down on the nonsense around the draft.

Which brings me to my final point: MLS Off Season Convention. Let’s do this right. Bring together supporters, officials, former and current players, sponsors, PRO, everyone with a stake in MLS to one big convention. MLS has a geographic issue that very few leagues have to deal with, making away travel difficult for most fans. But if there was a single moment where all fans knew they could get together and celebrate their league? That could be fun. Let the bigwigs take their cheesy photos, maybe announce who hosts the lame all-star game, let people pose with MLS cup, all that good cheesy stuff. You could even have a Home Grown player showcase, the kids that come up through the academies who don’t get their moment in the spotlight at the draft. The commissioner could have a state of the league address and we call it a weekend.

It would get more interest than a 1pm livestream on Twitter.