Major League Soccer is now one of the major players in American sports, at least according to one important industry: the banks. According to SportsBusiness Journal, the newest wave of stadiums being built, including those for Orlando City, LAFC, and D.C. United, are being financed in a way that was previously only available to those sports considered eminently profitable, such as the NFL, NBA, and MLB. While this is going to get a little in the weeds, stay with me; it is a big deal.
Traditionally, soccer-specific stadiums in the United States have been built in a fashion more akin to a personal loan: the lending institution would get a cut of the revenue, but the ownership group would pledge to step in if the revenue wasn’t sufficient to cover the loan payments.