AS THE UNITED States prepare to conclude their Group D campaign against Turkey in Los Angeles on Thursday, Christian Pulisic dominates the news cycle for different reasons.
The country’s poster boy for this World Cup lit up their opening 4-1 win over Paraguay, but a calf injury suffered in the days leading up to that game meant he did not feature when Mauricio Pochettino’s side also proved too good for Australia.
Pulisic told reporters on Wednesday that he was now available to play some part when they face Turkey, although it’s unlikely to be the full 90 minutes.
USA have topped their group and are almost certainly going to face Bosnia and Herzegovina in the round of 32.
Of more interest are the reports emerging from Gazzetta Dello Sport in Italy – verified by The Athletic – that the AC Milan winger is the subject of an audacious bid from New York City FC.
Suggestions elsewhere state that the MLS side are prepared to offer Pulisic a five-year contract worth $50 million (€44.1 million). Milan are now managed by former Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim and are restructuring their overall football operation.
They insist Pulisic is not for sale. New York City FC are not the only MLS club alerted to the possibility of America’s star being tempted by a return home. He has one year left on his contract and the Italians hold an option to extend that further until 2028.
Advertisement
Christian Pulisic is the poster boy for America's national team. Andre Penner / Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo
Andre Penner / Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo / Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo
Crucially, Pulisic does not turn 28 until this summer, but MLS is now in a place where brokering such a deal is the next viable step rather than a farfetched dream. From a point of near financial collapse in 2002, when MLS was saved by Philip Anschutz (owner and founder of AEG in Los Angeles), Lamar Hunt (founder of Kansas City Chiefs in the NFL) and Robert Kraft (owner of the New England Patriots and founder of the New England Revolution), it now has 30 teams across the country.
San Diego FC was the most recent to join the ranks and had to pay a $500 million (€440 million) expansion fee for the privilege. The summer of 2025 also saw just shy of $350m (€308.6 million) spent by clubs on players, close to double the previous year. Last year, MLS was made up of players from 50 countries with Son Heung-min’s $26.5m (€23.4 million) transfer to LAFC from Tottenham Hotspur the highest in the league’s history.
Cathal Conlon has seen this explosion up close. From Ardee in Co Louth, he has risen through the ranks of Kraft’s New England Revolution since joining in 2006. Twenty years on, the vice-president of marketing says David Beckham’s arrival at LA Galaxy in 2007 “helped us light the fire” and that Lionel Messi’s transfer to Miami FC (now part-owned by Beckham) was “the gas on top of the fire”.
Now MLS clubs are ready to break new ground again as owners push to loosen budget rules. “The high tide lifts all boats. The better the league is doing, the better each club is doing,” Conlon says.
Louth man Cathal Conlon is an executive with New England Revolution. David Sneyd / The 42
David Sneyd / The 42 / The 42
“The league are getting better at giving the owners more ways to spend more money on the players. So there’s a very strict salary cap. And I think the next evolution of MLS will be that salary cap increasing dramatically so you can get more good players into the league. But in theory, you have the designated player, you can have three of those on your roster, and you pay whatever you want to. It’s the simplest way to think about it.
“But everything else is fairly strictly controlled. But the league are getting much better at giving more mechanisms for teams to spend more money. It would make you go cross-eyed if you start getting into targeted allocation money and all these terms they have. But it’s all to make sure that the league doesn’t expand too quickly and then collapse.
“We’re at a point now just where the league is and where the sport is that it’s there’s a lot of pressure to just take the shackles off.
So can you start competing and convincing players that you’re better off coming to MLS as you’re stepping stone to Europe for young emerging talent and then can you start hitting that player coming the other way who’s either younger trying to break through or is not 37 but is 29, 30, 31 that MLS is a viable landing spot.
“I think that’s sort of where we sit today. Once that’s achieved, and I think we’re almost there, then it becomes literally taking your seat at the top table. They’re not shy about the fact that MLS looks at itself in every metric from attendance to revenue to infrastructure and now to the player pool and says, outside of the top half of the Premier League and La Liga, maybe Serie A, they feel pretty good about themselves in terms of competing.
A delegation from the Bundesliga visited recently and left with a view that they would implement the same level of cost-control back home in Germany that is across the board in MLS back in Germany.
David Beckham was one of the central characters in MLS 2.0. ZUMA Press / Alamy
ZUMA Press / Alamy / Alamy
It’s 21 years since the Glazer family bought Manchester United in a highly-leveraged deal that saddled the Old Trafford club with £600m (€696 million) of debt that has since risen to over £1bn (€1.16 billion). They were the first American owners of a Premier League club. That number now stands at 11, with nine at the helm in the Championship.
“I think there’d be much more American investment in the Premier League if it was more controlled,” Conlon says. “I think there are people that look at the Premier League and are like, ‘Wait, I could spend £200 million a year on my squad and not be able to compete with someone who can come in and spend £1bn’. So I think there’s a lot of people in America still that would look at it and go, ‘I don’t really love that’. But the Premier League will never get to a salary cap. But I don’t know where it settles. Because that gets out of control now.
I think if you asked people that run other leagues in the world, they might say the MLS model is a pretty good one because there’s a lot of cost control and cost certainty. But I think the next level is the investment to keep increasing, to keep giving the owners more ability to spend money.
“But they’ll be weary of making sure it’s competitive because if you take the shackles off altogether, you’ll end up with a super team in Miami, a super team in Los Angeles, and a super team in New York. And everyone else will be scrapping among themselves. So they’re very weary of that happening.”
Conlon meets The 42 in east Boston on a busy day. New England Revolution are aiming to move away from being lodgers in the 64,000-capacity Gillette Stadium (Boston Stadium during this World Cup) where they average around 27,000 fans and want a home of their own in Everett, six miles north of Boston.
“I hate this terminology, but they have the MLS 1.0, which was 1996. You’re playing in [American] football stadiums, you’re playing on [American] football lines. MLS 2.0 is sort of the Beckham era, and you’re starting to get a little more sophisticated and soccer stadiums start to pop up, and then MLS 3.0 is this 30-team business that’s skyrocketing with global superstars and soccer stadiums everywhere.
“So I think that’s part of the pressure for us to, get our own stadium too, right, is to get away from the MLS 1.0 sort of playing in a big football stadium. There’s 35,000 empty seats in the building. So, A, it’s hard to generate demand from a business standpoint, but, B, just the atmosphere at the game. But if you take that and put it in a 25,000 seat stadium, now you’re rampant every night.”
Related Reads
All eyes on Neymar after long, strange road to his fourth World Cup
England's reality check with hesitant display that won't be tolerated deeper into World Cup
Ronaldo becomes first man to score at six World Cups as Portugal crush Uzbekistan
In January, a survey from The Economist found that 10% of American said soccer was their favourite sport, placing it ahead of baseball and below American football and basketball. Along with the NBA, MLS is a growing market, according to Conlon, who cites the NFL’s aggressive overseas expansion as an example of how the domestic market has hit saturation.
A league-wide kit deal signed in 2023 with Adidas worth $830m (€732 million) is due to come to an end in 2030 while a 10-year streaming agreement with Apple TV will end three and a half years early when the 2028/29 campaign finishes.
It was a statement $2.5 billion (€2.2 billion) figure, although Apple will still end up paying MLS $50m (€44 million) more during the shortened period as it will also switch to a winter calendar for 2026/27 in another indication of how it wants to compete with rivals in Mexico and Europe.
MLS was founded in 1995 ahead of its launch the following year on the back of the 1994 World Cup in the United States. The country has seemed captivated by this tournament and with a thriving club scene already established, not to mention ambitious owners, the potential for what comes next is fascinating.
I don’t think anyone can do more than what Beckham has done. Obviously Messi coming in, but what we found is there’s a very small group of those people that can drive that level of [excitement], it’s a very small list.
“[Steven] Gerrard didn’t do it, [Robbie] Keane didn’t do it, [Frank] Lampard, [Andrea] Pirlo, [Thierry] Henry, none of those guys. Zlatan [Ibrahimović], none of those guys drove.
“The more MLS can start telling the story that some of the best players in the world are playing in MLS. It’s not just old guys that are finishing their career. It’s really good players. And the standards are getting better and better and better. And now you’re just positioning yourself among top leagues in the world.”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Close
Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic.
Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy
here
before taking part.
MLS 3.0 can change game forever in United States - 'There's a lot of pressure to just take the shackles off'
AS THE UNITED States prepare to conclude their Group D campaign against Turkey in Los Angeles on Thursday, Christian Pulisic dominates the news cycle for different reasons.
The country’s poster boy for this World Cup lit up their opening 4-1 win over Paraguay, but a calf injury suffered in the days leading up to that game meant he did not feature when Mauricio Pochettino’s side also proved too good for Australia.
Pulisic told reporters on Wednesday that he was now available to play some part when they face Turkey, although it’s unlikely to be the full 90 minutes.
USA have topped their group and are almost certainly going to face Bosnia and Herzegovina in the round of 32.
Of more interest are the reports emerging from Gazzetta Dello Sport in Italy – verified by The Athletic – that the AC Milan winger is the subject of an audacious bid from New York City FC.
Suggestions elsewhere state that the MLS side are prepared to offer Pulisic a five-year contract worth $50 million (€44.1 million). Milan are now managed by former Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim and are restructuring their overall football operation.
They insist Pulisic is not for sale. New York City FC are not the only MLS club alerted to the possibility of America’s star being tempted by a return home. He has one year left on his contract and the Italians hold an option to extend that further until 2028.
Crucially, Pulisic does not turn 28 until this summer, but MLS is now in a place where brokering such a deal is the next viable step rather than a farfetched dream. From a point of near financial collapse in 2002, when MLS was saved by Philip Anschutz (owner and founder of AEG in Los Angeles), Lamar Hunt (founder of Kansas City Chiefs in the NFL) and Robert Kraft (owner of the New England Patriots and founder of the New England Revolution), it now has 30 teams across the country.
San Diego FC was the most recent to join the ranks and had to pay a $500 million (€440 million) expansion fee for the privilege. The summer of 2025 also saw just shy of $350m (€308.6 million) spent by clubs on players, close to double the previous year. Last year, MLS was made up of players from 50 countries with Son Heung-min’s $26.5m (€23.4 million) transfer to LAFC from Tottenham Hotspur the highest in the league’s history.
Cathal Conlon has seen this explosion up close. From Ardee in Co Louth, he has risen through the ranks of Kraft’s New England Revolution since joining in 2006. Twenty years on, the vice-president of marketing says David Beckham’s arrival at LA Galaxy in 2007 “helped us light the fire” and that Lionel Messi’s transfer to Miami FC (now part-owned by Beckham) was “the gas on top of the fire”.
Now MLS clubs are ready to break new ground again as owners push to loosen budget rules. “The high tide lifts all boats. The better the league is doing, the better each club is doing,” Conlon says.
“The league are getting better at giving the owners more ways to spend more money on the players. So there’s a very strict salary cap. And I think the next evolution of MLS will be that salary cap increasing dramatically so you can get more good players into the league. But in theory, you have the designated player, you can have three of those on your roster, and you pay whatever you want to. It’s the simplest way to think about it.
“But everything else is fairly strictly controlled. But the league are getting much better at giving more mechanisms for teams to spend more money. It would make you go cross-eyed if you start getting into targeted allocation money and all these terms they have. But it’s all to make sure that the league doesn’t expand too quickly and then collapse.
“We’re at a point now just where the league is and where the sport is that it’s there’s a lot of pressure to just take the shackles off.
“I think that’s sort of where we sit today. Once that’s achieved, and I think we’re almost there, then it becomes literally taking your seat at the top table. They’re not shy about the fact that MLS looks at itself in every metric from attendance to revenue to infrastructure and now to the player pool and says, outside of the top half of the Premier League and La Liga, maybe Serie A, they feel pretty good about themselves in terms of competing.
A delegation from the Bundesliga visited recently and left with a view that they would implement the same level of cost-control back home in Germany that is across the board in MLS back in Germany.
It’s 21 years since the Glazer family bought Manchester United in a highly-leveraged deal that saddled the Old Trafford club with £600m (€696 million) of debt that has since risen to over £1bn (€1.16 billion). They were the first American owners of a Premier League club. That number now stands at 11, with nine at the helm in the Championship.
“I think there’d be much more American investment in the Premier League if it was more controlled,” Conlon says. “I think there are people that look at the Premier League and are like, ‘Wait, I could spend £200 million a year on my squad and not be able to compete with someone who can come in and spend £1bn’. So I think there’s a lot of people in America still that would look at it and go, ‘I don’t really love that’. But the Premier League will never get to a salary cap. But I don’t know where it settles. Because that gets out of control now.
“But they’ll be weary of making sure it’s competitive because if you take the shackles off altogether, you’ll end up with a super team in Miami, a super team in Los Angeles, and a super team in New York. And everyone else will be scrapping among themselves. So they’re very weary of that happening.”
Conlon meets The 42 in east Boston on a busy day. New England Revolution are aiming to move away from being lodgers in the 64,000-capacity Gillette Stadium (Boston Stadium during this World Cup) where they average around 27,000 fans and want a home of their own in Everett, six miles north of Boston.
“I hate this terminology, but they have the MLS 1.0, which was 1996. You’re playing in [American] football stadiums, you’re playing on [American] football lines. MLS 2.0 is sort of the Beckham era, and you’re starting to get a little more sophisticated and soccer stadiums start to pop up, and then MLS 3.0 is this 30-team business that’s skyrocketing with global superstars and soccer stadiums everywhere.
“So I think that’s part of the pressure for us to, get our own stadium too, right, is to get away from the MLS 1.0 sort of playing in a big football stadium. There’s 35,000 empty seats in the building. So, A, it’s hard to generate demand from a business standpoint, but, B, just the atmosphere at the game. But if you take that and put it in a 25,000 seat stadium, now you’re rampant every night.”
In January, a survey from The Economist found that 10% of American said soccer was their favourite sport, placing it ahead of baseball and below American football and basketball. Along with the NBA, MLS is a growing market, according to Conlon, who cites the NFL’s aggressive overseas expansion as an example of how the domestic market has hit saturation.
A league-wide kit deal signed in 2023 with Adidas worth $830m (€732 million) is due to come to an end in 2030 while a 10-year streaming agreement with Apple TV will end three and a half years early when the 2028/29 campaign finishes.
It was a statement $2.5 billion (€2.2 billion) figure, although Apple will still end up paying MLS $50m (€44 million) more during the shortened period as it will also switch to a winter calendar for 2026/27 in another indication of how it wants to compete with rivals in Mexico and Europe.
MLS was founded in 1995 ahead of its launch the following year on the back of the 1994 World Cup in the United States. The country has seemed captivated by this tournament and with a thriving club scene already established, not to mention ambitious owners, the potential for what comes next is fascinating.
“[Steven] Gerrard didn’t do it, [Robbie] Keane didn’t do it, [Frank] Lampard, [Andrea] Pirlo, [Thierry] Henry, none of those guys. Zlatan [Ibrahimović], none of those guys drove.
“The more MLS can start telling the story that some of the best players in the world are playing in MLS. It’s not just old guys that are finishing their career. It’s really good players. And the standards are getting better and better and better. And now you’re just positioning yourself among top leagues in the world.”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
2026 world cup Soccer