MLS anonymous executive survey, Part 2: ‘Messi boost’, roster rule changes and Apple TV deal

A few years ago, poolside at a hotel in Orlando, a group of chief soccer officers sat down for the first time as a committee. The idea was to present ideas to the league about what team executives were seeing from their day-to-day perches atop the soccer operations’ hierarchies around MLS.

This part of our annual MLS executive survey is meant to give a glimpse into how those conversations go, the way those team executives think about value in MLS and their perspectives on what the league needs to do to grow.

This year, we spoke with 30 soccer decision-makers from clubs around the league. Most of those surveyed are the chief soccer officers (CSO) of their respective clubs — their official titles vary, but CSOs are the individuals in charge of the sporting side of their organization. Several of the respondents are slightly lower down their team’s organizational chart, but all are highly involved in soccer operations and more than fluent in league matters.

Participants were asked a wide variety of questions. Part 1, published yesterday, deals mostly with picks and preferences for the 2024 season: MLS Cup predictions, the best players at each position, the top coach, and best and worst ownership groups, etc.

Part 2 is more open-ended. Execs were asked about several different topics from Leagues Cup and the Apple deal, to U.S. Open Cup participation and Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami.

In exchange for their candor, execs were granted full anonymity.

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Leagues Cup

What did you think of the first Leagues Cup?

A common feeling was distilled down by one executive in particular.

“I ate some humble pie,” he said.

A number of people interviewed said they did not expect Leagues Cup to resonate with anybody — not the fans, not the teams and not their own staff. They walked away feeling differently, even while acknowledging that Messi’s arrival in MLS changed the dynamic of the tournament in a big way.

“I thought it was going to be dumb, and I saw it firsthand, our stadium was filled with Mexican fans that I know had not been to our venue to watch our team,” one executive said. “A lot of first-time viewers, and they really wanted our team to lose. You could taste it. The competition, the desire to beat the other team, was of a level that isn’t present in a regular season game. I was really surprised to see that.”

One executive said the timing of the tournament also nicely set up a “sprint to the finish” in the MLS regular season after it was over.

“I was a skeptic, but I genuinely thought it was a hit,” one said. “The Messi impact was obviously incredible for it, but I also just was caught way off guard with how successful and interesting it was. I caught myself watching the games even when my team was out — not because I was supposed to, but because I wanted to. I think that is incredible. I, in general, don’t have time to watch soccer for fun anymore.”

Said another exec: “I think Year 1 was very successful. I’m cautious to judge it in its entirety because there was a great Messi boost and we need another year of data to give a full evaluation, but Year 1 was excellent.”

One executive said the tournament did a good job of showing “how far behind the top (Liga MX) teams we are” but “how far ahead of lower teams, which people didn’t understand going into Leagues Cup.” That executive also said the tournament “stimulated the player market”, adding: “You see players being sold between the two leagues, which is really healthy for both Liga MX and MLS.”

Multiple executives, however, said the league has to find a way to solve the long layoff for teams that are eliminated early. Teams lose important summer weekends that bring in big gates. The format could use tweaking, too, some said.

“The groups of three is a poor idea,” one said. “Two teams knowing what they need in the last game is just not sporting.”

Another worry is how the Leagues Cup break extended the season, pushing MLS Cup back into December after a previously successful run of squeezing the playoffs between the October and November international breaks.

“Imperfect,” one exec said. “I don’t like that it pushes our playoffs to where it does. That’s my biggest issue because the 2022 format was the best playoffs ever.”

How much of an advantage did MLS teams have?

Liga MX executives have voiced multiple complaints about the tournament, including the extensive travel teams faced. Some rule changes are coming, including ‘hubs’ for top-ranked Mexican teams to be based in one city, but there was very little sympathy for the Mexican teams among the MLS executives surveyed.

However, every single one acknowledged that MLS teams have a fairly substantial advantage playing every game in the U.S.

“It would have been very different if games were played in Mexico,” one said.

After years of feeling as if Liga MX had the advantage in the CONCACAF Champions League, however, no tears were shed.

“Nothing was more satisfying than hearing comments from Mexican clubs about Leagues Cup, verbatim, word for word from what we said about Champions League for two decades,” one respondent said. “‘It’s not the right time in the cycle, it’s not fair, we have too much travel.’ The reality is the leagues are pretty close.”

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The Apple TV deal

What was your impression after one year of Season Pass on Apple TV?

Executives around MLS remain optimistic that Apple will help propel the league into a new era of growth.

“The streaming play was the right one and we partnered with a company that wants to be innovative,” one said.

“It was a huge step forward for the league,” said another. “Finally, we have a media partner who seems vested in the growth and improvement of the league.”

Opinion was split on the actual production of games. Most executives said the quality of the broadcasts had improved over those on local stations from previous years. Others felt like production was not great. “I thought it was a rough start,” one executive said.

However, Apple’s willingness to shift on the fly impressed execs.

“They are one of the richest companies in the world and they have the wherewithal to see what needs to be tweaked and then execute on that,” one said. “As long as we are with them, it’s going to continually improve.”

Ways to improve broadcasts

An almost unanimous opinion was that the league needed to bring back staggered start times, which they did this season. Executives said they struggled to watch as much MLS as they would have liked last season, and felt it prevented fans from getting a chance to see more of the league.

The execs said they appreciated that the broadcasts didn’t have the “biased local coverage” of the past, but also felt there were games where it was clear the broadcasters “need to do more homework before matches and have more expertise around tactical approaches.”

Former players have earned prominent positions in broadcast booths and the studio, but one executive said the league is missing important perspectives on its studio shows.

“They need more coaches and maybe former CSOs that talk about player movement and roster rather than just former players,” they said. “Overall, the broadcasts need a deeper understanding of rosters and some of the young players. (Matt) Doyle brings it, but some former players need more work to understand that.”

Another executive felt the same: “I want real analysis like Sky Sports ‘Monday Night Football’ in the Premier League. We have people that are capable of that. Doyle is as good of an analyst as anyone. I’m surprised no teams have tried to hire him, he’s as good as anyone in our building. He’s so high-level to me.”

Another executive felt there is a clear “state media” feel to the broadcasts.

“I want the commentators to be less company men and more honest,” the executive said. “It became very boring because it was very milquetoast in terms of commenting. No one criticized anything. That’s just not good commentating if you’re not willing to say anything interesting.”

In the end, however, the hope among the execs was that Apple’s influence would make an impact on decision-making at board level.

“What I hope is that Apple pushes MLS to grow, and if they do it’ll be a better magnifier for the product,” one executive said. “If nothing else, being with Apple helped us get Messi. That’s a game-changer in and of itself.”

The all-out Messi coverage makes sense, but it is not universally beloved by all within MLS.

“Honestly, I’d like to see less Messi,” one executive said. “When you open Season Pass, he’s all you f—ing see. The people who want to find him will find him.”

Another low-key annoyance comes before and after games.

“The screensaver thing is just a personal pet peeve,” one executive said of the standard overlay and music that appears before and after match broadcasts and during weather delays.

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MLS rules

What is one rule change that has to happen?

There seems to be real momentum for the league to alter its rules but it’s unlikely we see the structure of the league taken down to the studs and rebuilt. Considering that, we asked executives what one rule they would change within the current constructs.

One gave his answer, but not exactly willingly: “The problem is the existing system,” he said.

He was not the only executive to voice that opinion as a caveat to suggested rule changes.

“If they aren’t going to give complete freedom, ideally you give teams a significant budget increase and let them spend freely,” one said. “But if that doesn’t happen, they should increase the number of DPs (designated players) on every roster to at least do more restricted DPs or young DPs.”

Multiple execs said an internal transfer market is long overdue and will stimulate player sales and movement both domestically and abroad, and help the prices of MLS players. Currently, MLS teams can’t directly buy players from other MLS clubs, and instead must execute a “trade” of allocation money, draft picks, another player, or some other form of compensation.

It’s a change that’s been on the docket for some time, but hasn’t gotten over the finish line at the board level.

There were also some more niche changes proposed: lowering the 12.5 percent DP charge (the ‘maximum budget charge’ at which DPs hit the cap is 12.5 percent of the total MLS salary budget), moving benefits and agent fees off-budget, increasing the number of special discovery players and increasing senior roster sizes.

“General spending overall has to go up,” another said. “The discovery list is annoying, but I think short-term call-ups are an issue, too. If you have MLS Next Pro, we at least need more flexibility to call them up.”

The flexibility between MLS and MLS Next Pro rosters was a topic flagged by several executives.

“I want our Next Pro players to play eight to 10 times before we have to offer a contract,” one said. “I want to see them more.”

Others pointed to MLS’s 30-man roster size as limiting at a time when teams are playing more games than ever.

“More roster slots as we’re playing more games,” one exec said. “That needs to happen.”

Crucially, however, most execs said the league is screaming out for bigger changes.

“The ultimate goal has to be that there is better quality throughout the roster and more balance throughout the roster,” one said. “I don’t know the best way to achieve that, but that has to be the goal… Raising the mean is what raises the level — within a team and within a league.”

How would you change MLS rules?

You’ll see a lot of the same themes popping up: simplify the rules and allow teams to operate as they see fit within one bigger salary budget.

“The best way for me would be to do a total overhaul,” one exec said. “Maybe that’s too big and too drastic, but I think the best way to do it would be to give teams a higher budget and allow them to spend more freely and trust the teams will put together good teams and be responsible with the money.”

Another added: “I would simplify the rules as much as possible. Perhaps creating a floor and ceiling with a couple of DPs on top of it. Allow teams to build the roster as they sit fit for their club, their ownership group, their market.

“And a little deeper, I’d do away with homegrown territories. We have incredible talent around the country and it’s not distributed in an even fashion. Strides were made with the new lists and protected players, but it doesn’t make sense to have the greatest asset and resource we have, young talented domestic players, and we give their rights to a small number of teams.”

Another said: “My preference would be to have a hard salary cap, if we need a floor then add that too. Within that, complete flexibility. We’ll always need DPs — you can’t not have the opportunity to sign Messi, (Thierry) Henry, (David) Villa or any of those players — but I don’t know how many. Two feels right, maybe three.”

Some American sports leagues with salary caps don’t have a hard-and-fast ceiling, they have different tiers that come with luxury tax and other restrictions that allow for some to pay more than others.

“I’d move to a luxury tax model so the ones who want to spend can be encouraged to spend and the ones who don’t can benefit from the ambition of the owners who want to move the league forward,” one said.

Added another: “The Kansas City Royals operate differently than the New York Yankees. Our league doesn’t allow that. Every league has teams that spend more than others.”

Another hopped on the idea of simplifying things: “One pot of money, increase it to what owners feel comfortable with and let us manage it the way we see fit.”

More: “It comes down to simplicity. Increase the salary cap in some substantial way — let’s say take it up by $10-15 million — and leave room for one DP and one U-22, with some flexibility if something is not perfectly in the salary cap. A lot more to it than that, but keep it simple.”

Another executive: “The best way is to allow clubs to do their own thing, have a strategy and approach to build a successful roster that’s financially viable long-term for their club. That’s important.”

One exec said, at minimum, the league needs to do a better job of communicating what its teams are spending.

“What we have to do is stop playing with the silly salary cap and start deciding what the real spending is,” the executive said. “By definition, our cap is below $6 million. Come on. It’s ridiculous. That’s something we need to reestablish as a league. We need to tabulate and publicize what teams spend each transfer window.

“Let’s reward owners that are spending. It puts natural pressure on the other owners and their fanbases. There is money being spent that we’re not using as a league to show we are getting better. We’re letting naive and, frankly, asshole doubters say things about our league that are fundamentally not true — but it’s because we’re not defending ourselves with the actual facts.”

Will MLS actually reform its rules?

MLS owners are actively working behind the scenes on roster rule changes. As The Athletic reported, some of those changes may be coming as soon as this summer.

All the executives surveyed confirmed as much, replying in the affirmative when asked if they thought actual changes were coming.

“I have to take them at their word that they are contemplating something,” one said. “What does that mean? I don’t know… The rules don’t make sense. You’re just limiting yourself and your own growth the longer you hold on to them.”

Said another: “I don’t think we have the choice.”

“I think having Apple involved is a good thing,” one said. “Because they’ll keep pushing the league to evolve and you can do that by spending more money or spending differently. Having that extra voice pushing this will be helpful.”

Said another: “I think everybody realizes the league is well-positioned to take a step up. But they need to figure out the best way to do that.”

Yet another: “I hope so. We’re in a unique moment in our sport between the increased interest, increasing value of clubs, increased relevance, tournaments coming with Copa America, the Club World Cup and the World Cup. These moments don’t come along very often, all these things happening at once. It seems like the moment to add a stimulus into the product on the field.”

One more: “It’s hard. Anyone who has been in the league a long time (knows) we haven’t seen the type of change we think is possible, but I think — hope — the league is looking at Messi, the World Cup and everything that now is a moment to take a leap forward investment. But I don’t have full confidence.”

Others were a bit more cynical in their outlook.

“Nope. No way,” one said succinctly.

“I think they will, I just think it’s going to take way too long. We’re going to lose this window with Messi and it’ll be something maybe around the World Cup.”

Added another: “Yes, but whether it’s before (Commissioner Don) Garber leaves or not is a different story. That’s the real question. Is it before a wholesale change in executive leadership or not? We’ll see.”

Do MLS teams try to cheat the existing roster rules?

The answer to a seemingly binary, yes-or-no question was more nuanced and complex for the executives asked. All teams play in the gray area, as more than a few put it, but opinion was split on if teams blatantly skirted the rules.

Most agreed, though, it’s not very hard to color outside the lines.

“Who’s going to be able to prove it?” one asked “The league has definitely upped their compliance, but it’s really not hard to break the rules in this league.”

“Yes, teams do break rules,” one executive said. “No, I don’t really want to expand on it other than that. Clearly, some teams are able to operate in gray areas. That falls on the league office.”

Another didn’t love the line of questioning.

“Jesus, what are you asking me? Are you trying to get me in trouble?”

Miami was often mentioned thanks to their signings of Messi, Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba, along with the club’s history of breaking MLS roster rules when adding the France international Blaise Matuidi. But, by all accounts, Inter Miami is fully roster-compliant in 2024. They moved on from Gregore, Jean Mota, Kamal Miller, Coco Jean and Josef Martinez before the season, then traded DeAndre Yedlin this month in part for flexibility for further incoming signings.

“Their mathematics intelligence must be incredible,” speculated one exec.

There was still an optimistic view that all MLS teams aren’t blatantly skirting the rules.

“Cheating was widespread before,” one executive said. “Look at five years ago, all kinds of scouting agreements and stuff on the side, like Miami with Matuidi. Today? You don’t see that.”

Added another: “I guess I’m being too kind, but blatant attempts to break rules don’t go on rampantly. I think with every structure in place, there’s room to bend the rules and gray areas.”

(Top photos: Getty; Kevin C. Cox, Matt Kelley, Maddie Meyer; Design: John Bradford)