A lot of the rest of us care about the SPORT, or rather, our ability to compete in the sport internationally.

You aren't wrong about the historical roots of pro/rel. And obviously owners want to protect their investment.

But MLS being closed limits our opportunity to *actually* grow the sport and develop the best players. MLS will never be a destination league the way it is operating currently. Never. Not in another 20 years. If you open it up and incentivize start-ups, you may be looking at a vastly different picture, in much shorter order. It's about pressure to innovate and push boundaries - pressure that doesn't exist currently in the supposed "top flight" of US Soccer.

Also I can't take an argument about MLS and "USMNT success" seriously, because in my mind they haven't been markedly successful. I was not impressed by what we saw out of Brazil - certainly no more than I had been in 2002, quality of opposition aside. US Soccer has stagnated. JK is trying to do something about that.