Why Bother?

US soccer is sensitive to supporter demands - and even more sensitive to FIFAs. Our federation answers to a world governing body that has made no secret of their distaste of an MLS system in which access and quality are both limited in the search for profit. US Soccer can sanction promotion, relegation and independent clubs with a stroke of a pen - when US supporters demand it.

FIFA cannot impose promotion, relegation and independent clubs entirely from outside. It is up to us to speak up, and there is hope for change. Some MLS executives have dared to project adoption of promotion and relegation - if only in the cloudy far future of manned Mars missions, high-speed rail, and the retirement of the internal combustion engine.  Discussions on removing strict limits on salaries and rosters, per the global model, are no longer strictly taboo.

Make no mistake - the domestic closed league system is the holy grail for many MLS owners, including the one who pays the President of US Soccer. This change will require more courage than our federation has shown since the 1920s. They need our strength.

The support of fans, companies, and supporter groups will make it all possible. Together, we can lend our federation, players, owners, broadcasters and investors courage to replace our misapplied and shortsighted closed league model. The free market open league system that delivered the beautiful game to global dominance beckons. Join us, and help show FIFA that we're not the undemanding casual fans some in MLS would prefer. Help convey to the global soccer community that American expect full fledged membership, not perpetual second class status.

Together we can push US Soccer to sanction a free and open system that includes promtion and relegation - and eliminate the entitlements and league control that hold the US game back - once and for all. We can lend our federation and our leagues the courage to do what's right - not just do what's risk free. We can win the fight to free every club in every league from intrusive restrictions, top-down bureaucracy, institutional barriers and artificial quality limits. We can end the imposition of a MLS single-entity caste system that stands in for the American soccer pyramid. We can free every owner of every club in every league to take their club as far as investors and supporters can take them, not only as far as their leagues will let them go.

Whether you want to see a new club with an unlimited future in your town, or open the future of the Rhinos, Battery, Miami FC, or even Hollywood FC, please join us. If you want to see DC United defeat Club America in Azteca, or the LA Galaxy Milan in the San Siro, please join us today.  If you want to see a flood of new investment in lower divisions, please join us now. If you want to give New Yorkers a club they can wholeheartedly support, join us this second.

Monopolies and cartels don't break themselves up. If you think you deserve the same unlimited clubs and open leagues the rest of the soccer world enjoys, the time to speak up is now. Spread the word on twitter, on facebook and in person: It's time for a change.

As faux promotions in Seattle, Portland, and Montreal, remind us, whenever one new club joins the top flight, excitement and passions rise. Crowds and season ticket holders spike.

Now imagine three new clubs - every season.