Editor’s Note: This article is the second in a series exploring the effect of money in Major League Soccer.
Key information related to this piece can be found in the first article. Links to the other articles can be found at that bottom as they are released.
If American soccer were like English soccer, MLS would look drastically different.
There are certainly aspects of the game — we’re talking about soccer as a system, not as the literal sport here — that have transferred across the pond, some that are only present in name (like the USL’s re-brand to create three leagues with the same confusing names as England’s second-fourth divisions), and other uniquely American details that are baffling to foreign fans.