The Key For Pro/Rel to MLS? TV Revenue

One or more of these cities might also serve as a destination for current teams rumored to move like the Vancouver Whitecaps as well. The reality is that MLS has significant room to grow, but growth without television value is meaningless. Soccer has found a niche audience in many markets, and there may be room for 10 more teams, but only if those teams contribute to a stronger national broadcast product.

Which finally brings us to the long-debated topic: promotion and relegation. And once again, the question is not just sporting — it is financial, and more specifically, media-driven.

Step One: Dividing the Lines

If MLS were to implement a pro/rel system, the league would first need to reach around 40 teams. From a sporting perspective, this is achievable. From a television perspective, it is essential.

A 40-team MLS is not unrealistic within the next 10 to 15 years. With that number, dividing the league into two tiers becomes structurally possible. But structure alone is not enough; the league must ensure that both tiers hold value for broadcasters.

To get owners on board, the argument cannot just be about competition, it must be about maintaining and growing television revenue.

How Television Can Springboard Pro/Rel in MLS

Everything about promotion and relegation in MLS depends on television. League executives must convince broadcast partners across linear TV, streaming, and digital platforms that even with pro/rel, MLS remains one unified product.

This means that a “relegated” team would still receive equal television revenue. By protecting clubs financially through shared broadcast income, relegation becomes a sporting consequence rather than a financial disaster.

This is the only realistic way to gain owner support. Without guaranteed media revenue, no ownership group would accept the risk of relegation. With it, the conversation changes entirely.

MLS’s single-entity structure becomes an advantage here. A single, unified broadcast deal covering both MLS 1 and MLS 2, packaged together and sold as one product, would allow the league to distribute revenue evenly while using pro/rel as a storytelling tool.

In this sense, MLS would go further than leagues in England, Germany, or France. While those leagues share some revenue across divisions, MLS could fully integrate both tiers into one media ecosystem.

So How Do We Get There?

If fans, owners, and, most importantly, broadcasters support pro/rel, MLS could move forward once it reaches 40 teams.

The league could announce a transition period, after which it splits into MLS 1 and MLS 2, with each league containing 20 teams. From a television standpoint, this creates a compelling, high-stakes product across both divisions.

MLS could initially adopt a system inspired by leagues in Mexico and Argentina, using multi-year performance averages to determine placement between divisions. This would create long-term narratives, giving broadcasters consistent storylines to promote.

If MLS announces a three-year pathway to get to promotion and relegation, then the league would have a compelling story for its regular season with 40 teams for the next three years, where every point matters, and every game matters.

Once that period is over then the league can adopt a system where teams ranked 1–18 over a three-year period could remain in the top division, teams ranked 23–40 could drop, and teams ranked 19–22 could compete in a playoff for the final spots. Every match over those seasons would carry weight, increasing viewership value.

Once the system is established and the league is fully aligned with the international calendar, MLS could transition to a more traditional format. A 20-team top division, a full round-robin schedule, and playoffs for MLS Cup would provide both familiarity and entertainment value.

Relegation and promotion could then follow a standard model: three teams down, three teams up, with a playoff for the final spot. Crucially, television revenue would remain shared across all 40 teams, ensuring stability.

Final Vision

Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images

In the end, everything comes back to television. If MLS can guarantee shared broadcast revenue across both divisions, it can minimize the financial risks of relegation and maintain stability across the league.

The league would continue its core model: shared national revenue, locally retained income, and centralized player control, while evolving into a structure more aligned with global soccer.

MLS has the ambition to dominate the soccer landscape in the United States, potentially absorbing or outcompeting leagues like the USL. But ambition alone is not enough; the financial model must work.

This pathway offers a realistic vision, but only if broadcasters are willing to support it.

Is it impossible? Maybe. But if promotion and relegation ever comes to MLS, it will not be because of tradition or pressure from fans.

It will be because television and its money made it possible.