I'm wasting time until I hook up with the guys from Winning Ugly Radio to do their show, so I thought I would share with you a few thoughts on expansion.

In a phrase, I believe expansion is good.

I have a few friends among soccer bloggers who don't necessarily share my enthusiasm; chief among them, Mr. O'Connell over there at House of Soccer.

Now, I don't mention Brian to pick on him; quite the contrary. I think Brian has solid, well thought out reasons for being against rapid expansion. He believes that the league should consolidate their base and work on marketing teams that are having trouble doing it themselves. I agree with that to a point, though I think that expansion helps that effort: essentially, by increasing the national footprint and exposing more of the country to MLS, the league is raising awareness in cities where teams already exist.

Americans, though often locally focused (home, work, quality of life, cost of living, etc.), are generally interested in the bigger picture. Despite the fact that someone in Kansas City and someone New York may have little in common on the face of things, their are both thoroughly American. We choose to pay attention to those things that have a broad appeal. The NFL would be much less popular, and much less appealing, if it was a regional brand or if several major cities were without teams. The MLS approach is sound, if only because it ensures that the league is relevant in as much of the country as is possible.

MLS will need that national profile going forward, if it ever hopes to gain traction on TV or in the national sports media.