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Message: [QUOTE="DeGrozz, post: 209713, member: 205"] Edit -- Just saw you added Germany It's laughable to think that the MLS is on the same level as most European leagues. Whether you look at it from a player development perspective or a quality of the product on the field perspective, I don't think any reasonable person would think that it is on the same level as the leagues in Germany (who has a much stronger league than France [Ligue 1] -- France's coach even discussed how the football culture in France lagged behind that of Germany after their victory over Germany this week. The only reason that France was ever highly regarded was due to O. Lyon's performances in Champions League, OL has fallen quite a bit since and their UEFA Coefficient has plummetted), Portugal, Russia, the Netherlands, Turkey, etc. (Maybe if you look down to countries like Finland and Ireland, they may be comparable, but I don't really know much about those leagues) I would say that the MLS is much more comparable to the middle of the table to the lower end of the table of the Coca Cola, Ligue 2, BL2, Series B, etc -- and I'm definitely not saying that this is a bad thing. Even the second tier leagues in large European countries continue to thrive. In all though, the MLS has accomplished quite a bit over the last few years: - They survived the economic downturn - They have been able to maintain prime-time contracts withe ESPN - They have had some success (compared to prior years) in the CONCACAF Champions League - They have plans in place to vastly expand its youth training system - A few good, young coaches have taken the helm at some clubs (Jason Kries, for example) - They've built some really nice soccer specific stadiums It still has a long way to go. I don't think it will ever be as popular as the NFL, NASCAR, MLB, NBA, or College Hoops and Football, but one day a few decades down the line, I think it could be on the level of the NHL where it has a fairly large niche group of fans that are loyal supporters of their teams. [/QUOTE]

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