The Current State of Soccer in the United States – A Governance and Competition System In Need of Reform? (Online/ in-person)
When:
—
Venue:
Birkbeck Central
Soccer’s struggle for survival in the United States has often been cited as an example of American sporting exceptionalism. Although the sport has been played in the United States since codification in the 1860s, soccer still lacks the cultural relevance of the three major league sports of gridiron football, basketball, and baseball. The return of the FIFA World Cup to North America in 2026 might serve as an inflection point for the game’s growth, as it was when the World Cup was first staged in the United States in 1994.
With Major League Soccer entering its thirtieth season as the nation hosts the FIFA Club World Cup this summer 2025, and the New York Cosmos (America’s most globally recognized club) on hiatus, in this presentation Professor Kilpatrick will present an assessment of the current state of soccer in the United States, measured against the US Soccer Federation’s pursuit of its stated mission to make soccer the pre-eminent sport in the United States. He will also address calls for reform based on claims that the game’s growth is being stunted by poor governance and is compromised by the North American professional sports league model – with artificial franchise scarcity in monopolistic closed leagues without promotion and relegation. The recent court decision in the NASL v US Soccer and MLS case (funded by Cosmos’ owner, Rocco Commisso, also owner of Serie A’s Fiorentina) and the USL announcement of plans for a sanctioned first-division in 2027-28 will be explored as challenges to MLS’ hegemony.
Introducing Professor David Kilpatrick
David Kilpatrick is Professor of English Literature and Director of the Sport Management Program at Mercy University and the Club Historian of the New York Cosmos. The author of Obrigado: A Futebol Epic and 95 Theses on the Reformation of Football, he serves on the editorial board of Soccer & Society and has commented on soccer for BBC World Service, talkSPORT, One World Sports, India Today, Madison Square Garden Network, The New York Times, and numerous other local and global media outlets.
Contact name:
Sean Hamil