In a relationship it's often the smallest things that can prove to be a breaking point. You might feel ignored, taken for granted and unfulfilled for years but, for whatever reason, you won't take action.
Then one day your partner walks into the door with a DQ Blizzard, and you love DQ Blizzards, and the bastard didn't think to ask you if you wanted one.
Breaking point. If the resentment wasn't so strong and been going on for so long it would have been nothing. But, damn it you wanted a DQ Blizzard.
So it was with the CSA and MLS about a year ago. The CSA had long felt they were invited to Thanksgiving diner by MLS only to be seated at the child's table. So, when the relatively minor announcement was made about MLS and USL-Pro partnering to upgrade the MLS reserve league the CSA lost it.
You see, they hadn't been consulted. MLS must have assumed that if the three Canadian teams were OK with the plan then the CSA would simply rubber stamp it.
This proved to be the DQ Blizzard of the MLS/CSA relationship.
If there were worries about what MLS thought about CSA policy and direction prior to that snub they went away completely. The CSA stopped thinking of itself as being in a monogamist relationship with MLS and started to look for other willing partners.
It wasn't long until they had started to seriously flirt with Traffic Sports. In fact, things got serious and Traffic promised to help them start their own league.
Soon the CFL was involved as well and plans were well underway to create a Canadian league, which would fly under the NASL banner.
But, it didn't stop there. Together both dreamed of the biggest prize -- the 2026 World Cup. Traffic would help the CSA win the bid and, assumedly, Traffic would then have a favourable path to securing valuable rights associated with that bid.
Flash forward to yesterday with Don Garber stressing the importance of doing more in the Canadian market. You can draw a straight line to the dissolved relationship with the CSA and the CSA's involvement with Traffic to that new found hoser appreciation.
The 2026 bid and the battle between SUM and Traffic for the CONCACAF market is for exceptionally high stakes. Canada is now smack dab in the middle of that battle.
With the US looking to bid for 2026 as well, it's in the USSF's best interest to pull Canada away from Traffic. The CSA and Traffic would be a powerful team in that 2026 bid and they absolutely could beat the US and SUM in a 1-on-1 bid. Forget the noise around bids -- stadium plans, infrastructure, etc -- it's the politics that matter in the end. Right now, Canada's bid is, at the least, equal to the US bid there.
In fact, a strong argument can be made that Canada would win the bid as it stands today.
So, MLS' outreach is absolutely cynical and absolutely tied into 2026.
Good for Canada. It isn't 2006 anymore. It's no longer clear whether Canada benefits from involvement in MLS. With some tweaks it might though. At last Canada is in the position to force the changes it needs from MLS and to become something closer to an equal partner in the league.
It's already almost certain that Canadians will be counted as domestic players on US teams starting in 2015, according to several people in the know.
That's the DQ Blizzard Canada had been wanting for years.
The thing is Canada now needs more than tasty ice cream treats to be appeased. MLS blew it. MLS needs to do some serious repair work to make Canada come back now.
They need to give Canada a league. That's what Traffic is promising, after all.
An 8-10 team Canadian league that would operate alongside the three MLS teams. No one is suggesting TFC, IMFC or VWFC leave MLS, just that a division 1a be set-up beside them. In 20 years, who knows. But, for now they can coexist.
If MLS wants to help build the Canadian 1a league then the CSA will likely listen. The MLS brand would give the Canadian league an instant credibility amongst casual Canadian sports fans that the NASL would not.
So, if MLS-Canada is offered then the CSA should grab it. The establishment of a Canadian league is more important than the World Cup bid. It would need to be a serious plan though because walking away from Traffic would mean likely walking away from 2026.
If MLS doesn't want to go that far, Canadians will take their chances with NASL-Canada and make a serious run at 2026. No one should be shocked if Canada wins the bid.
The divorce papers haven't been signed yet. What's it going to be MLS?
Just how badly do you want 2026?