For as much as I love the way Sporting KC does business, I fear MLS has just officially passed them by. Every year the league gets better. This year is no different. I thought last year was a big jump, but this year is a massive increase in all aspects of the game. Sporting is essentially playing a roster that should be better, but not as much as I once thought at the start of the season. I'm watching other teams with players who are more creative and technical. Less holes to exploit. I think Sporting doesn't have the horses for anything more than a lower playoff seed with how things stack up. They won't be seeing the playoffs this year, though. They have some players, but far too few who are at the new MLS level if we're talking about winning at a high level.
I was on the fence about opening up the team salary cap, but it has to be done, at least to a new level. Get rid of the designated player rules. Increase the number of foreign players allowed from 8 to 10. That's still enough to bring up the young US talent. Right now, teams are filling rosters with older crappy US players that have trouble competing and don't hurt their cap number. That's a horrible way to manage a roster and leads to poor depth, league-wide.
Let the teams fail if they can't keep their financials in order. There are enough teams now and enough popularity; the league is too big to fail for the most part if the cap is realistic. There are enough well run USL teams with solid fan bases that can fill holes if an owner runs a team into financial ruin on the MLS level. I know they're worried about disparity, but that's simply not possible once a league and fandom reach a certain level. Let the league find it's new level without hamstringing teams. With the developing academies being put in place everywhere, there won't be a shortage of talented young players needing a first-team roster slot. Let the teams fight for the young talent. Give them the financial freedom to make MLS just as appealing as Europe for the kids.
The most impressive aspect of the 2019 season has been the excitement surrounding certain USL teams, and the league in general. It's kind of stuck in a strange mix of MLS B teams and those teams wanting to get bigger. Fans are coming out to see them play. Those fans aren't going anywhere. MLS is at 24 teams with plans to get to 30, from most of the chatter being thrown around. 30 teams is too many. We are officially getting to a point where promotion/relegation will have traction. USL has around 10 teams that aren't B teams who have ownership thinking MLS. If the popularity keeps rising, and it will, something has to give. They have 10 teams right now averaging more than 6,000 attendance per game.
More than anything, I'm just excited about the MLS right now. So much good is happening with the game and league. One final shout out to Klinsmann, the man who told us the MLS wasn't a good thing for American soccer development. So glad that douchebag was sent packing.