A Really Stupid Requirement

If you have been following FC Cincinnati’s attempt to attain a Major League Soccer expansion bid, then you know all about the argument dealing with where to build FCC’s proposed soccer specific stadium and who should pay for it. It is arguably the biggest sports story of the year as FCC’s fate as a potential MLS expansion team could live and die on whether or not the franchise can cement a stadium plan. In my opinion, the fact that MLS prefers soccer specific stadiums is really stupid.

As far as I know, they are the only American professional sports league that has a stadium requirement. Major League Baseball and the National Football League have shared stadiums and the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League share arenas. I know for a fact that some MLS teams have played in NFL stadiums. For example, Atlanta United FC shares Mercedes-Benz Stadium with the Atlanta Falcons of the NFL and had over 70,000 fans in attendance for a match.

I realize that during the early days of MLS, teams often played in very empty football stadiums which probably prompted MLS to prefer soccer specific stadiums as they are smaller. What I do not think MLS has realized is that the sport of soccer in America has grown. Kids all over the country grow up playing it and both domestic and international matches are shown on television pretty frequently. The world’s game has become a bonafide American sport. So why would MLS want to hamper its rise by containing teams in smaller stadiums?

As a diehard FC Cincinnati fan, I want the team to finalize a soccer specific stadium plan and get an MLS bid. I don’t care how its funded or where it’s built, just as long as a plan is in place and MLS commissioner Don Garber names FC Cincinnati as an MLS expansion club. From a logical standpoint though, I cannot help but think that the requirement of a soccer specific stadium is outdated, does more harm than good, and is really stupid.