Opinion: MLS Has an Opportunity to get Charlotte’s All Star Game Right
Under immense pressure, MLS Commissioner Don Garber enforced the rules punishing Lionel Messi for skipping this year’s MLS All Star Game. But the game should be about more than one star.
At Soccer Sheet, we’ve written before about ways MLS could improve the yearly All Star Game. Though we can’t solve the main problem it faces — trying to graft a mostly American concept onto the world’s sport — the league and Tepper Sports & Entertainment have a year to make this event something worth watching.
Last year, we came up with five key principles for MLS ASG reform, and they all hold up after this week’s contest:
Only Large Venues
Represent Every Club
Raise the Stakes
Make it Fun
Respect the Fans
There are some more suggestions after this most recent ASG in Austin, of course: namely, making sure there’s not an immediate turnaround for players. While Inter Miami CF players Lionel Messi and Jordi Alba were rightly punished for breaking the rules and skipping the ASG, why encourage players miss the match due to schedule congestion?
Additionally, after two years of Messi finding reasons not to play in the All Star Game, it’s a clear message to the league that while the GOAT is an important piece of the puzzle, betting the farm on a player who has at most one full season left in MLS is short-sighted.
Next year, MLS has an opportunity they haven’t had since the birth of the league: a domestic Men’s World Cup. Multiple MLS players will feature for the United States Men’s National Team, as well as teams from across the world. With the eyes of the soccer-watching world on the United States, Charlotte’s All-Star Game is uniquely positioned to take advantage of the moment.
Already, MLS is in agreement with the first key principle we came up with last year: holding the All Star Game in a large venue. Bank of America Stadium can hold 75,000 people, and it’s one of the few large soccer venues in the U.S. that isn’t hosting a World Cup match next year. Charlotte historically generates large crowds for soccer, even smaller international friendlies. More butts in seats is always a good thing, especially at the Bank.
However, a full stadium doesn’t mean the match will be entertaining, or even matter. So how can Charlotte’s All Star Game make its mark?
Represent Every Club
Our second key suggestion for ASG reform means even more in a World Cup year. With the tournament scheduled to end July 19, hundreds of millions of people will have just watched MLS players play for their national badge. It’s more important than ever for the league to be able to showcase all of its players, and that means an East vs. West or Canada/US/Mexico vs. The World MLS All Star Game, with both teams comprised of MLS players. It’s an important opportunity to show fans there is a bright future after Messi.
Getting the timing right will be important, and based on this year’s ASG the league should listen to players who need some rest by creating a dedicated weekend for the match — but that’s an easy fix.
On top of what we suggested last year, there’s a way to make sure as many of the MLS All Stars as possible are showcased during the World Cup — a change that will make representing every team even more important. Can you guess?
More Designated Player Slots
MLS owners should tell the league that now is the time to expand the number of Designated Player (DP) slots on team rosters. Right now, the maximum is three — and that restricts the level of play in MLS. Stronger teams will attract stronger prospects, and the quickest way to do that is open the floodgates to international talent.
For the sake of parity, the league could even relax the rules on the new DP slot. Right now, teams can sell international roster slots, but can’t sell DP slots. Allow teams to have up to five DPs, and give squads with smaller budgets the chance to sell off their extra DP slot to afford a stronger roster.
No matter how you structure the rules, the end goal is to have as many World Cup stars as possible in MLS, and as an added bonus at the All Star Game that just happens to take place right after the biggest sporting event in the world.
Raise the Stakes
Raising the stakes of the MLS All Star Game is doubly important if it is taking place right after the highest-stakes event in the sport.
While some possible solutions here are obvious (home field advantage in the MLS Cup Final to the winning conference, if East vs. West), this is one place where the host matters. The David & Nicole Tepper Foundation could pledge $500,000 per goal and $500,000 per assist to a charity of the player’s choice, or use the event to double down on their commitment to helping Western North Carolina recover. On the philanthropic side, there’s limitless potential, and it’s not out of place in world soccer for exhibitions and testimonial matches to be about charity.
Admittedly, raising the stakes of the competition itself is harder, especially in the shadow of the World Cup. If handled incorrectly, next year’s marquee event could threaten to make the ASG even more irrelevant. For the Club World Cup this year, FIFA added a lot of money to the prize pool to legitimize the event, an approach that also worked well for the smaller TST tournament.
Another potential road block here is FIFA. Soccer’s governing body may be hesitant to allow an exhibition match to have any impact on a regular season or the playoffs. That makes incentivizing goals and winning — with cash for charities, bonuses to players, or both — an attractive prospect.
Editor’s Note: Click here to support Soccer Sheet and our coverage of local soccer stories.
Make it Fun and Respect the Fans
One of the coolest parts of TST in Cary is seeing all the different types of supporters and cultures represented. Sure, you have the cultures divided by country, language, and region, but you also have completely different fandoms represented as well - casual fans, streamers, Ted Lasso fans, women’s and men’s soccer fans, an entire domestic army of Wrexham supporters, USL diehards, and more.
If the MLS All Star Game doesn’t invite and celebrate all of the diverse parts of soccer culture, it’s a missed opportunity.
This year, the league got pushback for platforming streaming personality IShowSpeed, but in our opinion the league needs more new and different ways to approach soccer fandom. Keep Speed, add the likes of Hashtag United and other hip clubs, and add John Green streaming FC 26 against esports stars. Platform the fans and supporters groups with a 7v7 tournament, a tailgate cooking contest, and a tifo competition. Let Wrexham, USWNT players, or clubs from across the world compete in the skills competition against the MLS stars.
Sure, these aren’t the answers football purists are looking for - but football purists would probably say no to the All Star concept anyway. However, if the league wants to open a door to new fans, invest in the supporters you have and empower them to have fun and get creative. At worst, you get some fun organic, viral MLS content.
Finally, respect the local fans: honor the Carolina Lightnin’ and all of the Charlotte teams that came before. Honor Anton Walkes, whose memory is at the core of Charlotte FC’s identity. Gift ASG tickets and perks to season-ticket holders.
Making Charlotte’s All-Star Game a Success
Major League Soccer will exist long after Lionel Messi has retired. Building an audience that didn’t grow up with the GOAT starts now.
Charlotte is a great place to do that, by the way. If the 2026 All-Star Game keeps Liga MX as an opponent, Charlotte has a long history of hosting successful Mexican national team friendlies as well as Liga MX matches; last year, Charlotte hosted 33,329 supporters for their Leagues Cup match against Cruz Azul.
Additionally, when Charlotte FC’s marketing team pulls out all the stops, they’ve had no problem getting over 50,000 fans inside the Bank for big events, including the club’s 2022 friendly against Chelsea.
While football purists might argue for a soccer-specific stadium, it’s important to remember that European football cathedrals like Real Madrid’s Bernabéu and Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena have more in common with Bank of America Stadium than they do with the 20,000-30,000 seater soccer-specific stadiums in MLS. 2018’s All-Star Game in Atlanta made great use of a larger venue, with a record-setting 72,317 attendees. Charlotte is currently the only MLS market with both the venue and the fan interest to match or surpass that number.
Even if Messi skips the exhibition, or has left the league at that point, all the pieces are there for the most successful edition of the MLS All-Star Game with Charlotte as the host. Hopefully, all sides will take advantage of the opportunity.