In Reply to: My take posted by blindness on July 21, 2026 at 11:18:39
...all seem to me to grab a greater share of American youth's best athletes, year after year.
Maybe that will change with the 2026 World Cup.
Here's an example: Before the IOC announced (in the 80s) that tennis would be an Olympic sport starting in 1992, Soviet tennis was nowhere on the world map. The sport was dominated by Americans and Europeans, but mostly Americans in the 80s and early 90s (McEnroe, Connors, Sampras, Agassi, Courier, etc.)
With the IOC announcement in the 80s, the Soviets poured money into development of tennis players, and the tennis world was forever changed. Marat Safin became world #1 for a bit on the men's side, Maria Sharapova won GS titles as a 17- or 18-year old, and Eastern European countries behind the Iron Curtain followed suit with their own stellars...which crowded American men out of the top 10.
American male tennis players now have as much chance of winning a GS as America does of winning the WC. American women, in both tennis and soccer, still seem to be viable threats. USWNT is not as potent as they were in their heyday, but I still think they're threat (Trinity Rodman)...I could be wrong.
On the men's side, soccer competes for the best athletes with tackle football, bball, baseball and even hockey. The NBA is the best professional bball league in the world, and its based in the US. The NHL is one of the best hockey leagues in the world...US based. NFL...best tackle football league.
MLS? What, 6th best? Countries with more prestigious pro soccer leagues are:
England
Spain
France
Germany
Italy
Let me ask the futbol hard cores who care to chime in:
1. Do you see a point in time when MLS will be on par with or above the top soccer leagues in the rest of the world?
2. Does it need to be? (Seems like Brazil doesn't have a great league that is native to Brazil, and most Brazilian superstars play abroad...but it seems like Brazil is slumping as a world soccer power)
3. Are there other countries where soccer is 5th on the option list for the native kids and is still a perennial Final Four team in international competitions? (I put soccer as the 5th team sport option for boys in the US because the TV exposure and salaries for tackle, bball, baseball, and hockey are all much higher than MLS.)