Gary Neville insists MLS is now primed to implement promotion and relegation to its soccer structure.

The United States’ flagship league adopts a similar business model as the NFL and NBA with no franchises at risk of descending to a lower tier.

David Beckham helped launch Inter Miami in 2018 and has steering the club to the top of the MLS standingsGetty

MLS’s single-entity system has ensured the league has been given the opportunity to grow at the required pace over the past two decades.

Just ten teams were involved at the time of the league’s inception in 1996 but a steady broadening and wider interest in the sport combined with a solid marketing operation has seen MLS turn into a 29-team league, with further expansion expected in the future.

Despite the emergence of new franchises, MLS is not expected to implement a promotion and relegation system to the league.

Any such changes would need to be mandated by U.S Soccer however it is unlikely to reach that stage due to MLS’ strong opposition to it due to the huge investments being made by new franchises.

Neville admits being impressed by the growth of MLS since its launch almost 20 years ago and whilst there are benefits to the current system, the former Manchester United captain has made the case for the league to boast a promotion and relegation system.

“From when I first went over there, it has got so much bigger,” Neville told the ‘It’s Called Soccer’ podcast.

“I feel like what they’ve done with the league is quite clever because obviously the first time round the league had a problem with financial sustainability

“But now, I do think that it will promote lots of good young American players.

“I don’t like the franchise element of it, we like promotion and relegation, obviously.

“Life’s about promotion and relegation, whether it’s promotion in your job, we’re used to it in all parts of our lives individually. What’s wrong with it in sport?”

Neville has suggested MLS is finally ready for a promotion/relegation systemYouTube/The Overlap

Messi has broken MLS records made Inter Miami a billion dollar brandGetty

David Beckham joiend LA Galaxy in 2007 becoming MLS’ first global superstar signing

The system would have ramifications for Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham and his team of the ‘Miami Beckham United group’ consisting of his manager Simon Fuller among other investors, who have invested heavily in launching what was then, the MLS’s 25th franchise.

The club currently have Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets, and Jordi Alba in their ranks.

Upon Messi’s arrival in 2023 the club were struggles in the overall league and finished third from bottom.

Meanwhile, in the Eastern Conference they finished 14th out of 15 – which would likely have resulted in a relegation had the system been implemented.

MLS commissioner Don Garber appeared keen to keep the current structure in place when speaking about the issue in 2019 and praised the United States Soccer League (USL), a 24-team competition placed below MLS in the soccer hierarchy.

“Just because there is promotion/relegation in other leagues that were founded on different principles doesn’t mean that it would make sense in Major League Soccer,” Garber said. “We have a vibrant No.2 league in the USL.

“If all of a sudden [expansion teams are] playing in a different division that doesn’t have national revenues because the USL doesn’t have that, how does that make any sense?

“There’s no economic rationality to promotion/relegation whatsoever in the era that we’re in today.”