Major League Soccer always resisted becoming a selling league. They felt it was a sign of weakness, and given that almost all other major North American sports are entirely insular, it felt weird ceding to a more globalised system.
‘Why lose your best players to other leagues?’ was often the question asked. MLS was meant to be a league of destination, a league that players want to join, play in, and commit to, not leave. However, as has become increasingly, the need to partake in the global market is undeniable.
“We need to be more of a selling league,” MLS Commissioner Don Garber said plainly in his State of the League address on the eve of the 2018 MLS Cup final.