The league will have 30 teams by 2022, and that figure may rise even higher. But there are fears that expansion has come at the cost of quality
The number ’25’ has formed a central pillar of Major League Soccer’s promotional push ahead of the new season as the competition celebrates a quarter century of existence. Twenty-six also holds some significance, with the introduction of Inter Miami and Nashville further expanding MLS to 26 teams. By next year the league will count 28 franchises among its ranks. There will be 30 by 2022.
This represents a 300% growth since 1996, when the league’s 10 founding teams contested the inaugural MLS season. Of course, there are many yardsticks with which to measure the maturation of the league over the past 25 years, but this rapid expansion must be considered a sign of MLS’s overall success.