Recently, I came across a CNBC interview featuring MLS Commissioner Don Garber discussing the future of Major League Soccer. Throughout the interview, Garber discussed rising club valuations, the impact of Lionel Messi on Inter Miami and the league as a whole, growing infrastructure investments, and MLS's long-term ambitions as a football league.

Listening to the interview made me think about how much MLS has changed over the last two decades. For much of its existence, the league was focused on establishing credibility. MLS needed stable ownership groups, soccer-specific stadiums, stronger commercial partnerships, and a sustainable operating model. The primary objective was proving that professional soccer could succeed in the United States. Today, many of those questions have largely been answered. Club valuations continue to rise, ownership groups are increasingly sophisticated, and the league has built a much stronger foundation than it had twenty years ago.

As a result, MLS appears to be entering a different stage of development. The challenge is no longer whether soccer can work in America. The challenge is determining how MLS can continue growing its audience, improving its product, and capturing a larger share of the world's largest sports economy.

Many discussions about MLS focus on whether the league can eventually compete with Europe's top competitions. While that remains an interesting long-term question, I believe the more important opportunity is much closer to home. Before MLS can think about winning globally, it must continue winning domestically.

The United States already represents one of the most valuable sports markets in the world, and soccer still captures only a fraction of that spending relative to other major American leagues.

That is what makes MLS such an interesting investment opportunity.

The league does not need to surpass Europe for the investment case to work. The first objective is building a stronger product, attracting more fans, and creating greater value within a market that has already demonstrated an enormous appetite for sports and entertainment.

MLS now appears to be moving from its early growth stage into a more mature phase of development. For much of its history, the league was focused on establishing credibility. MLS needed stable ownership groups, soccer-specific stadiums, stronger commercial partnerships, and a sustainable operating model. The objective was simple: prove that professional soccer could work in the United States.

Today, many of those questions have largely been answered. Club valuations continue to rise, ownership groups are increasingly sophisticated, and the league has invested heavily in stadiums, training facilities, academies, and supporting infrastructure. While there is still room for improvement, MLS is no longer operating from a position of uncertainty.

That shift changes the conversation. The challenge is no longer proving soccer belongs in the American sports landscape. The challenge is determining how MLS can continue growing its audience, improving its product, and creating greater value from an already established foundation.

While becoming a globally recognized football league may remain a long-term ambition, I believe the first objective should be winning domestically. The United States already represents the largest sports economy in the world, yet soccer still captures only a fraction of the spending directed toward sports and entertainment.

Before MLS can think about winning globally, it must continue winning at home.

Any discussion about MLS eventually becoming a global football property must begin with the reality of today's football landscape. The Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, and the UEFA Champions League possess advantages that have been built over decades. They attract many of the world's best players, generate enormous audiences, and benefit from levels of prestige that compound over time.

Because of this, I do not believe MLS is realistically competing with Europe today, nor do I believe it needs to. While global relevance may remain a long-term ambition, the more immediate opportunity lies much closer to home.

Unlike many football leagues around the world, MLS operates within a structured sports ecosystem designed to create long-term value through franchise ownership, revenue sharing, and long-term investment. The objective is not to immediately surpass Europe's biggest competitions. The objective is to continue improving the product, growing the audience, and strengthening the league's position within its own market.

Most importantly, MLS does not need to win globally for the investment case to work. The league is operating within the largest sports economy in the world, where consumers already spend billions of dollars annually on sports and entertainment. There is still significant room for soccer to capture a larger share of that spending before MLS needs to worry about competing for global market share.

That is why doubling down domestically is so important. The opportunity is not somewhere else. The opportunity is already here. If MLS can continue attracting fans, improving player quality, and building stronger connections with younger audiences, it can create substantial value within its existing market while laying the foundation for future international growth.

Before MLS can think about winning globally, it must continue winning at home.

That naturally leads to the next question: if the opportunity is already here, how large is the American sports market that MLS is trying to capture?

The United States already has the largest sports economy in the world. Americans spend billions of dollars every year on tickets, media subscriptions, merchandise, sponsorships, experiences, and countless other forms of sports entertainment. The challenge is not creating demand for sports. The demand already exists.

In fact, some of the world's highest-revenue sports leagues are American. The NFL generates approximately $13 billion in annual revenue, while Major League Baseball and the NBA generate roughly $9.5 billion and $5.3 billion, respectively. These figures demonstrate the extraordinary purchasing power of the American sports consumer and the ability of successful leagues to create significant enterprise value.

What makes MLS particularly interesting is that soccer is no longer a niche sport in the United States. According to Fox Sports, soccer has surpassed baseball as America's third-favorite sport, with 10% of Americans identifying it as their favorite sport, trailing only football and basketball. For a league that played its first season in 1996, the fact that soccer has already become America's third-favorite sport highlights how much room remains for growth.

This suggests the opportunity is not creating interest in soccer from scratch. Millions of Americans already watch, play, and follow the sport. The challenge is converting more of those existing soccer consumers into MLS supporters.

This is also where Lionel Messi becomes important. While much of the conversation surrounding his arrival focused on ticket sales and media attention, I believe his greatest contribution was serving as a proof of concept. Messi demonstrated that demand exists when the product reaches a certain level. Fans responded, sponsors responded, and media attention followed. The challenge now is determining how MLS can create more of that attention across the broader league rather than concentrating it around a single club or player.

The chart below highlights why this opportunity is so compelling. MLS currently generates only a fraction of the revenue produced by America's largest sports leagues despite operating within the same consumer market. That gap represents opportunity.

For investors, ownership groups, and strategic partners, that is what makes MLS so interesting. The objective is not simply building a better football league. The objective is capturing a larger share of an already existing sports and soccer market while creating long-term value in the process.

More importantly, the opportunity is not creating soccer fans but converting existing soccer fans into MLS supporters.

If MLS wants to capture a larger share of the American sports market, improve the quality of its product, and strengthen its connection with future generations of fans, substantial long-term investment will be required.

More importantly, that investment cannot be evaluated through a traditional short-term lens. This is not a five-year project. It may not even be a ten-year project. The objective is not simply increasing revenue next season. The objective is creating a sports property capable of compounding value over multiple generations of supporters.

That raises an important question regarding capital allocation. If ownership groups, institutional investors, strategic partners, or other stakeholders were willing to deploy significant capital into MLS over the next ten to twenty years, where should those resources be invested?

Some would argue for talent acquisition. Better players generally create a better product, and a better product attracts larger audiences, creates stronger sponsorship opportunities, and increases media value. Others would prioritize academies, coaching development, scouting infrastructure, and player pathways. Some may focus on media distribution, technology, analytics, or fan engagement initiatives.

While reasonable people may disagree on the specifics, the broader principle remains the same: every investment should ultimately be evaluated based on its ability to strengthen the long-term relationship between clubs and future supporters.

The capital allocation question is what makes this topic interesting from an investment perspective. MLS already has wealthy owners and improving infrastructure, but capturing a larger share of the American soccer market requires more than simply owning teams in strong markets. It requires deciding where capital can create the greatest long-term return.

The first priority should be attracting more elite players who are still in their prime years. Historically, MLS has often relied on aging superstars nearing the end of their careers. While those signings have generated attention, the next phase of growth may require players who can still compete at the highest levels of the game.

Players in their prime bring more than on-field quality. They bring relevance, excitement, credibility, and attention. Most importantly, they function as customer acquisition assets that introduce new fans to the league and strengthen its overall appeal.

The second priority should be identifying undervalued players through data, analytics, and modern recruitment strategies. There are talented players throughout South America, Central America, Africa, Asia, and other football markets whose value may not yet be fully recognized.

While these players may not arrive with the profile of a superstar, they can become important contributors and future stars within MLS. Surrounding them with higher-profile talent creates an environment where they can develop, gain visibility, and build their own following over time.

The third priority is continuing to invest in academies, coaching education, scouting infrastructure, and player development pathways. Long-term success requires producing talent internally, not just acquiring it externally.

Viewed individually, each of these strategies has value. Viewed together, however, they create something much more powerful.

Elite players attract fans to the league. Undervalued players develop alongside them and gradually become stars themselves. Homegrown and developed players then emerge as the next wave of talent. As one generation of players moves on, another is already positioned to take its place.

Without that pipeline, attention often leaves with the superstar. A league built around a handful of recognizable names may generate short-term excitement, but it struggles to create lasting engagement once those players move on.

The goal should be to create a larger surface area for fan acquisition by continuously developing multiple layers of talent. Elite players create awareness. Emerging players create new stories. Homegrown players create continuity and local connection. Together, they provide supporters with more reasons to remain engaged with the league over time.

This is particularly important when thinking about the next generation of fans. The objective is not simply attracting an eight-year-old to watch one match because a superstar is in town. The objective is creating enough players, clubs, and stories that twenty years later that same fan is still emotionally invested in the league.

That is what separates this from a normal short-term business decision. MLS is not simply trying to increase revenue over the next few years. It is trying to build a football ecosystem capable of attracting fans today and retaining them for generations.

This is why the strategy must be league-wide rather than club-specific. MLS is not simply trying to acquire players. It is trying to create a system that continuously produces new stars, new stories, and new reasons for supporters to remain engaged over multiple generations.

Attracting talent is only part of the equation. Maximizing the value of that talent is equally important.

Players are customer acquisition assets, which means where those assets are deployed matters. A player's value is not determined solely by their performance on the field, but also by their ability to connect with local communities, attract new audiences, and strengthen a club's commercial position.

Messi's arrival in Miami is a strong example of this. The player, market, culture, and audience naturally aligned, amplifying the impact of the acquisition beyond football alone.

The same logic can be applied across the league. A Colombian star may create more value in a market with a large Colombian population. A Korean star may help unlock Korean-American audiences and international interest from South Korea. The objective is not simply signing better players. The objective is placing the right players in the right markets to maximize the return on each acquisition.

While the opportunity is compelling, execution will not be easy.

The biggest challenge is consistency. It is one thing to sign a superstar, identify an undervalued player, or develop a promising academy prospect. It is another thing to execute that strategy consistently over a ten-to-twenty-year period across an entire league.

The second challenge is talent attraction. MLS is still competing against a European football ecosystem that offers the highest levels of prestige, competition, visibility, and player compensation. Convincing elite players, particularly those in their prime years, to leave Europe and believe in the long-term vision of MLS will remain difficult. This is one reason why long-term capital investment is so important.

Success will ultimately depend on the league's ability to consistently attract talent, identify undervalued talent, develop talent, and strategically place that talent in the markets where it can create the greatest impact. The framework itself is relatively straightforward. Executing it over multiple decades is the challenge.

One reason I find this opportunity particularly interesting is that the investment case does not depend on a single outcome. Even if MLS never becomes a globally dominant football league, there are multiple paths through which the league can continue creating value.

MLS continues strengthening its domestic position by improving the quality of play, increasing fan engagement, and capturing a larger share of existing soccer demand within the United States. Club valuations continue to rise, revenues increase, and the league benefits from operating within one of the world's largest sports economies.

Even without significant international growth, MLS continues creating value by winning at home.

MLS successfully executes its talent acquisition and player development strategy while selectively expanding its reach into targeted international markets. Strategic player acquisitions help attract audiences from specific countries and demographics, allowing the league to grow beyond its domestic footprint while remaining primarily focused on North America.

Rather than competing directly with Europe's largest leagues, MLS strengthens its position as the leading soccer property in North America while selectively growing its international audience.

MLS successfully captures the next generation of American soccer fans while also developing meaningful international relevance. Stronger player quality, larger audiences, and expanding commercial opportunities allow the league to create significant enterprise value and establish itself as one of the most influential football properties outside Europe.

In this scenario, domestic success becomes the foundation for broader international growth rather than the result of it.

At the end of the day, I do not think the most important question facing MLS is whether it can sign another superstar. The more important question is whether it can create a system capable of attracting elite talent, developing future talent, and converting today's young soccer fans into lifelong supporters.

The United States already represents the largest sports economy in the world, and millions of Americans already watch, play, and follow soccer. The opportunity is not creating demand for the sport. The opportunity is capturing a larger share of that demand through MLS.

If the league can continue improving the quality of its product, execute a thoughtful long-term capital allocation strategy, and strengthen its connection with the next generation of fans, the investment case becomes compelling even before meaningful international growth occurs.

Global relevance may come over time, but it should not be the starting point. Dominating domestically should be.

The leagues that become global brands are often built on strong domestic foundations. MLS has already spent decades building that foundation through ownership stability, infrastructure investment, and commercial growth. The next phase is turning that foundation into deeper fan engagement, stronger local support, and long-term value creation.

That is the real opportunity facing MLS. And that is the race it must win first.

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