Ways to Fix MLS ASG Format

If you’ll recall, in the final days leading up to the 2022 MLS All-Star Game, this Website ran an editorial outlining how the MLS All-Star Game is one of the better ones in US-based professional sports. This is still the case, largely due to one single rule:

Everyone selected to the MLS All-Star team who is healthy enough to appear in the match will play. This is a non-negotiable rule. If any player who is able to appear in the game skips it, he is given a one-match ban to be served during his club’s first league match following the All-Star Break.

Former Los Angeles Galaxy attacker/ center-forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who just recently retired from the sport, missed  the ASG in 2018 despite being healthy enough to play in it. This is a great rule. Everybody hates when their favorite player doesn’t participate in an all-star game and it isn’t due to injury.

MLS vs. Liga MX Format Dumped After Two Years

Ahead of the 2020 season, MLS announced that its All-Star Game format would switch from a match against a European side to one versus a team of all-stars from Liga MX. Due to COVID-19, MLS’ season was suspended until July, resulting in the 2020 All-Star Game being scrapped.

MLS and Liga MX’s stars finally squared off in 2021 and again last year. The North American league won both times. Beginning in the 2023 MLS season, both leagues will suspend their respective regular seasons after the ASG for the Leagues Cup, pitting MLS sides against Liga MX clubs.

Earlier this year, it was announced that the MLS vs. Liga MX series for the summer exhibition would end and has been replaced by a return to European opposition. On Wednesday night, Audi Field in Washington DC plays host to the MLS All-Stars taking on Premier League side Arsenal in this year’s contest.

A fit check suited for All-Stars:

The 2023 jersey for the #MLSAllStar Game pres. by @Target. 🌟

— Major League Soccer (@MLS) June 27, 2023

Switch in Formats Expected

Let’s not kid ourselves here: You had to expect that the MLS vs. Liga MX format wouldn’t be long for this world once the Leagues Cup was confirmed to commence as a proper tournament this season. It’s simply too much of a good thing, and you can’t have too much of a good thing.

If the Christmas holiday happened on several other days besides Dec. 25, no child would wait around for Santa Claus to get stuck down his parents’ chimney in the wintertime. You also wouldn’t be caught dead overindulging on your aunt’s fruitcake if Christmas didn’t come once a year.

With the Leagues Cup already being MLS vs. Liga MX, having it be the All-Star Game no longer made any sense. The return to a European opponent wasn’t the right call, however.

What Can Be Done to Improve the Format?

This begs the question of how can the league improve on the format of the exhibition. Luckily, the answers are in plain sight.

MLS just needs to look at what some of the other US-based sports leagues have done for a solution. Let’s outline them one-by-one.

Revert Back to East vs. West Format

By definition, an Eastern Conference vs. Western Conference format in an All-Star Game is the most classic of them all. It’s a tried and true version of an exhibition and has been done by Major League Soccer before.

Intermittently between its 1996 inception and 2004, the MLS All-Star Game was  played using an East/West pairing. All told, the East had a 4-1-1 edge in this format, with the 2004 game ending in a 6-6 draw.

Things have changed. It shouldn’t just be for bragging rights anymore.

Make it Count!

In 2003, following the previous year’s All-Star Game ending in a tie after both the American and National Leagues exhausting all available pitchers, Major League Baseball gave its midsummer classic some meaning. Using the promotional tagline of “This time, it counts!” the first year and “This one counts!” in subsequent years, the winning league would receive home-field advantage in the World Series that October.

Under this revision of the East/West pairing, the winning conference secures home-field advantage in MLS Cup in the fall. You’ve already got the best of the best playing one another. Why not raise the stakes a little?

Shift to a North America vs. The World ASG

After playing the MLS All-Star Game as an East vs. West exhibition during its first two years, the league temporarily abandoned that series for 1998. In its place was a one-time only match pitting MLS’ American-based all-stars versus those from throughout the world.

Since then, the league has expanded to three Canadian markets, most recently in Montreal in 2012. It’s time for MLS to expand on this pairing by contesting a match between North America and the world.

It’s already been done in the NHL from 1998 to 2003, with Team North America besting Team World 3-2 over the five games played in the format. Just like hockey is an international sport, soccer is a global affair in its own right.

It’s a Natural Move

By many accounts, soccer is regarded as The World’s Game. A North America vs. The World format would be an easy decision to make here.

Could a team of footballers from one continent best a similar outfit from the rest of the globe? Would international talent reign supreme?

If MLS goes to this format, those questions would be answered.

Draft the All-Stars!

Finally, if there’s one aspect of pro sports that gets more attention than the play on the field. court, or rink, it’s fantasy leagues and fantasy teams. There are many people who follow along with pro sports leagues just so they can keep apprised of how the players on their fantasy team are doing.

The backbone of any fantasy team, regardless of sport, is the fantasy draft. If you don’t draft marquee players when the time comes, you’ll pay for it later. As someone who missed his fantasy football draft years ago, this is a pain.

A fun way to revamp MLS All-Star would be to have MLS legends being named honorary captains of two all-star teams (think David Beckham vs. Landon Donovan.) After the roster is named, the legends would alternate selections in a draft, much like the NBA does now.

Players Would Have Rivalries Against Each Other

Unlike the current all-star game format, the draft format would permit player vs. player rivalries on the pitch. Just think of how awesome those beefs would be.

Imagine a rivalry between Lionel Messi and Cristian Espinoza next year. Given both men’s ties to the Argentina, something like this would prove to be all the more intriguing.

At the core, an all-star game is about the titans playing the titans. Let’s get some feuds going.

Final Thoughts

The MLS All-Star Game is already amazing, but there are ways for it to become even moreso. What do you think MLS should do? Let us know in the comments.