Do Major North American Sports Leagues Have Too Many Teams?
With rumors of expansion, would downsizing actually be better?
It seems that for the major North American sports leagues, expansion is always on the mind. Perhaps this is indicative of a uniquely American mindset — a remnant of Manifest Destiny that requires every city to have its own professional sports teams.
Regardless, the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and MLS have never been shy about growing bigger and bigger, with a steady adding of franchises over time in each league.
The most recent of these new teams is FC Cincinnati, which became the MLS’ 24th team this year. As the youngest of the major leagues, Major League Soccer has been rapidly introducing new expansion teams with no signs of slowing down. In 2020, clubs in Miami and Nashville will begin play. Austin FC starts in 2021 as the MLS’ 27th franchise, and the league has already announced its intention to jump to 30 teams in the coming years.
Elsewhere, the NHL brought hockey to the desert in 2017 with the Las Vegas Golden Knights and will set up shop in Seattle for the 2021–22 season, completing their expansion to 32 teams. The MLB is similarly looking to grow from 30 to 32 franchises, and commissioner Rob Manfred has even named potential destinations.
Expansion isn’t even limited to the United States and Canada. Since 2007, the NFL has hosted at least one game internationally each year, with four in London and one in Mexico City scheduled for 2019. There isn’t a poorer held secret in sports than the NFL’s intentions to put a team in the United Kingdom.
The least likely of the five leagues to add more teams is the NBA. Yet, even NBA commissioner Adam Silver acknowledges that expansion of his league is inevitable. While it’s not a major focus right now, it’s only a matter of time before a team returns to Seattle, and once a 31st team comes to fruition, a 32nd won’t be far behind.
For these leagues, bigger certainly seems to be better — but should that be the case? I want to suggest the idea that these leagues are actually too big, and that getting rid of teams would improve the overall product.
I’m usually against expansion, but until recently, I had never considered downsizing, mostly because it never seemed like a real option. And, to be clear, it isn’t. Having more teams means more games and more money. Unless a league starts to struggle financially, teams aren’t going to disband. Heavy expansion fees mean owners would want more teams, and for players, it leads to more available jobs.
Despite the infeasibility, let’s consider the outcomes of eliminating teams. First, it would directly lead to greater competition. The teams that would be removed wouldn’t be the LAs, New Yorks, or Bostons of the world. It would be the Jacksonvilles, Memphises, and Tampa Bays.
Especially in a sport without a salary cap like baseball, smaller market teams who can’t afford the same payrolls as the Yankees or Dodgers are at a huge disadvantage. Every now and again, someone can break through — we all know the story of Moneyball — but over time, the same teams win again and again.
Even in salary cap sports, bigger markets are more likely to sign big-name free agents. Getting rid of some of the smaller teams would lead to more excitement. There would be more stars on each team, and attendance would be higher. Plus, your favorite team would win more.
Live sports attendance is dropping pretty much across the board and adding teams in medium to small markets won’t help. 30 and 32 aren’t magic numbers calculated to represent a perfect league size. Those are just the numbers we seem to have settled on over the past few decades.
Just because you can stick an MLB team in Portland doesn’t mean you should. We don’t need more franchises like Miami who struggle to average even 10,000 fans in a stadium that seats more than 36,000.
Some recent expansions have made sense — the Houston Texans, for example, have been a great success. But that was an obvious move. There are seven million people in the Houston metro area, and it’s in Texas. Hockey in the desert with the Las Vegas Golden Knights has also worked, although it remains to be seen how the fanbase will hold up when the team isn’t as competitive.
Others, however…not so much. Plenty of cities have teams but don’t need them. This is especially true in MLS, which is already larger than just about every major league in the world. Most leagues have 16–20 teams. 30, like MLS is shooting for, is unheard of. And honestly, we just don’t have the talent to support that many teams.
The MLS is being held back from growing to its full potential and rivaling other leagues around the world by its unending desire to add new clubs. This expansion would make sense if a promotion-relegation system was adopted, and the MLS could find a way to merge with the United Soccer League (USL). However, from both a business perspective and its clashes with the American mentality, that’s unlikely to ever occur.
For my final takes, I would say that the MLB and MLS are too big, and all the other leagues are probably okay where they are if they don’t expand. However, that’s a big “if”. When it comes to doing what’s best and making money, money usually wins.
Connor Groel is a writer who studies sport management at the University of Texas at Austin. He also serves as editor of the Top Level Sportspublication on Medium. During the college basketball season, his bracketology is featured at bracketmatrix.com. You can follow Connor on Medium, Facebook, and Twitter, and view his archives at toplevelsports.net.
