Although it is a mere infant compared to some of the famous leagues around the world, Major League Soccer has just celebrated its 30th birthday. The elite tier of the sport in the US, MLS, was founded in December 1993, and the first games were played three years later. It has now grown to the point that it can attract arguably the greatest player on the planet well before he is looking for a final big payday.
Soccer, of course, had been around in the US for decades before that, and there are some clubs that pre-date the MLS era. Lower-league soccer clubs play an incredibly important role in the sport’s ecosystem. They have become particularly popular in places where traditional fans have become tired of the commercialism of the game and have searched for a “more authentic” experience. That is all very well when the league is over a hundred years old, but what would be the attraction for an American supporter? Why would they need an alternative to the modern-day game?
The simplest way to answer that question is by using the same reasons that any lower-league soccer fan in Europe would offer. Some American fans are no different from this sub-section of world soccer fans. The allure of the professional game’s top tier in the US is not something that consumes them. With the absence of promotion and relegation in the US, there is no chance for a smaller team to climb the tiers anyway, so lower-league soccer can be viewed as, essentially, a completely different sport.
MLS teams have done well over the last few years in forging a relationship – a bond – between the team and the fans. There are plenty of examples of community-directed initiatives that understand that a soccer club should be a central hub for the area and locale it represents. However, with commercial needs and a desire for greater global recognition, MLS teams (and they are teams) are never going to be as successful in this way as a smaller, lower-league soccer club that knows what it is doing.
Detroit City is one of the best examples of a club in the US that fully understands its position in its community. One of the main reasons for this is that the fans have always taken a prominent role in the way the club is portrayed. There will be some soccer fans in Detroit who would love to see the Motor City awarded an expansion team to compete in MLS. But the vast majority – and the entire DCFC fanbase – are quite happy with the club that is already there and serving its community. Detroit fans may sometimes be considered to be too much by newcomers and fans of MLS outfits, but the likes of the Northern Guard have always looked to clubs in Europe and South America for inspiration, rather than the more traditional US sports organizations.
This heightened sense of community also allows for a more personal connection between a soccer club and its fans. Watching a top-level game in a gleaming new stadium will be a huge attraction for many fans, but a lower league club offers the chance for the supporters to become more involved with the way the place is run, the people ensuring that there is a team to watch, and even the players themselves. Lower-league fans will find it more difficult to understand how someone can claim to be a fan of one of the famous European teams if they have no real connection. A club like Detroit City may only be relatively new, but there is already a distinct history of which to become a part. This leads to a greater sense of loyalty – and that is what the lower-league soccer fan wants.
Fans of MLS teams may argue that supporters preferring to watch lower-league soccer are taking the whole soccer hipster thing too far. This is the idea that soccer has only attracted people who are not real sports fans at all but want to be seen as cool and trendy. They have latched onto the idea that watching a small soccer team play is some kind of ironic action. But this way of thinking comes from a place of not understanding what being a fan is all about. There will be some, in all levels of the game, that are attracted by something new and different – and something that is an alternative to the traditional big US leagues, such as the NFL and NBA. There is also the arguably stereotypical American notion of only wanting to support successful teams. Lower-league soccer fans reject the idea that you should only support a team that wins championships. They understand that fandom is much more than that.
Accessibility is another important element of supporting a lower-league soccer club. When tickets for major league games are priced in the hundreds of dollars – if they are available at all – it soon becomes clear why it might be attractive to an open-minded fan to be able to actually watch a live game and enjoy the atmosphere created by passionate support for a much more affordable price. There are countless stories of now-dedicated fans who went along to their first game only curious about their local soccer club. When a game ticket is affordable, there is the opportunity to try something out, rather than having to make a game a special occasion because of the scarcity of tickets or the cost of attending.
There will be some who will never understand the attraction of not watching the very best players competing for national and continental championships. But there is a substantial majority of soccer fans who are all in for lower league soccer and the experience it provides. Community, accessibility, and a feeling of watching the world’s favorite game how it was meant to be watched.