HARRY GORDON ON THE RISE OF THE MLS AND US SOCCER...

Trend-setter: David Beckham brought great publicity to MLS

MLS, or Major League Soccer, was founded off the back of the US bid for the 1994 World Cup.
The inaugural season took place in 1996 with ten teams, but the league struggled to make headway in competition with the likes of the NFL and NBA in its early years.
Gradually, though, the MLS started to make more of an impression.
The league invested heavily in things such as soccer-only stadiums and designated players, which allowed teams to sign star players and boost the MLS’s ...