How Can We Fix the U.S. Soccer System? Experts Weigh In

Problem #1: Money and Development Are Misaligned

Pay-to-Play Is Pricing Kids Out

In most of the world, a talented kid can be scouted into a professional academy for free. In the U.S., getting meaningful development usually means paying for it — and it isn’t cheap. Families routinely spend tens of thousands of dollars over a few years to keep a child on a competitive academy or travel team, once travel, tournament fees, private training, and club dues are added up.

Sports journalist Beau Dure recently dug into why this system persists and why it’s so hard to unwind, writing for Forbes. His reporting notes that even countries with strong, historic soccer cultures still struggle with access, and that “free soccer” is something of a misnomer — the more realistic goal is affordability, not zero cost. Proposed fixes include expanding professional academies, strengthening U.S. Soccer Federation development programs, cutting back on excessive travel, scouting more directly from high schools, and redirecting a larger share of national team World Cup earnings into youth development.

No Promotion or Relegation in MLS

The result of MLS’s current structure: bad teams have no real consequence for repeated poor seasons, good teams have no incentive tied to jeopardy, and there’s no meaningful connection between MLS and the lower professional and semi-pro tiers beneath it — unlike almost every other soccer pyramid in the world.

Problem #2: The U.S. Still Doesn’t Have a Real Soccer Culture

Even after a good World Cup run, national interest in soccer tends to fade fast once the tournament ends. A few forces are usually blamed for that:

Competition from other sports. Football, basketball, and baseball still dominate the American sports calendar and youth imagination.
A weaker domestic league. MLS still isn’t in the same class as the Premier League, Bundesliga, or Serie A. Salary cap rules and limits on Designated Players make it hard for MLS teams to bring in the volume of star talent that fuels fan interest overseas.
Star players arrive too late. Because MLS can’t compete financially or competitively with Europe’s top leagues for players in their prime, most marquee international signings — from David Beckham to Lionel Messi — have historically arrived toward the end of their careers rather than the middle of them.

Analysts covering this year’s tournament pointed to a few paths forward: investing more seriously in youth development and accessibility, continuing to grow the women’s game (which is already outperforming the men’s league in some viewership metrics), and making pickup soccer as common in American neighborhoods as pickup basketball already is.

What Our U.S. Soccer Expert Has to Say

We asked Kerry, TeamGenius’s in-house soccer specialist, to break down the core of the problem:

“When you look at what’s actually holding U.S. soccer back, it comes down to money and development,” Kerry says. “Pay-to-play means a kid’s ceiling is set by their family’s budget, not their talent. And with no promotion or relegation, MLS has zero pressure to get better — bad teams stay bad, good teams stay good, and there’s no real link to everything happening below the top division. Add in the fact that most people in this country just don’t live and breathe soccer the way they do overseas, and you’ve got a system that’s fighting itself on two fronts at once.”

Where TeamGenius Fits In

Fixing pay-to-play and MLS’s structure is a national conversation — but clubs can still control how they run development and evaluations at the local level. Reducing unnecessary costs, running fair and transparent tryouts, and giving every kid a real shot to be seen on merit is something every club can do right now, regardless of what happens at the pro level.

TeamGenius helps clubs run more accessible, more organized evaluations — so talent gets identified based on ability, not just who can afford to be in the room.

See how TeamGenius can help your club build a fairer path to development.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is youth soccer so expensive in the U.S.?

Competitive travel and academy soccer in the U.S. relies heavily on family-funded club dues, travel, and tournament fees, since there’s no widespread free academy system like in many other countries. Experts estimate this pay-to-play model can cost families tens of thousands of dollars over a young athlete’s development.

What is promotion and relegation, and why doesn’t MLS have it?

Promotion and relegation is a system used by most global soccer leagues where the worst-performing teams drop to a lower division and the best-performing lower-division teams move up. MLS doesn’t use this system because team spots are secured through expansion fees, and team owners who’ve made major investments in new stadiums have been resistant to a model that could put their spot in the league at risk.

Is promotion and relegation coming to U.S. soccer?

MLS hasn’t committed to it, though Commissioner Don Garber has said it’s no longer something he’d rule out entirely. The United Soccer League, one tier below MLS, is already planning to introduce promotion and relegation among its own divisions.

Why doesn’t soccer interest in the U.S. last after the World Cup?

Experts point to competition from other major American sports, a domestic league that still trails Europe’s top leagues in quality and star power, and a lack of everyday soccer culture — like pickup games — compared to countries where the sport is part of daily life.

How Can We Fix the U.S. Soccer System?