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Is MLS commissioner's dream unrealistic?

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10:27 AM ET 03.03 | At the moment, MLS commissioner Don Garber's words are little more than a pipe dream, an unfathomable goal that leaves the league's most hardcore supporters shaking their heads. Ahead of Saturday's MLS opener between Toronto FC and the Vancouver Whitecaps, Garber reiterated Major League Soccer's intention to be a top league by 2023. The problem, as L.A. Galaxy Designated Player Robbie Keane put it last week, the league's salary cap will undoubtedly hold the league back in its present form. "In England, you've got 20 designated players (per team)," Keane told Sporting News. "If we move on and keep talking about extending (the Designated Player rule), I think we'll 100% help the league. In 10 year's time, this league would be massive if you extend it to five players. If you don't extend it to five players, it's going to be the same." At present, the league permits teams to add up to three DPs, players club's are allowed to sign to big contracts while counting for only $350,000 against the cap.

Toronto Sun

Don Garber, Mike Stobe/Getty Images

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March 3, 2013 11:14 AM ET

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With ears that huge, the commish must have been a heck of a goalkeeper in his day.

Hatrunner

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March 3, 2013 01:34 PM ET

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Open the wallet and they will come.

Spec

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March 4, 2013 08:22 AM ET

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QUOTE(#2):

Originally posted 01:34 PM ET 03.03 by Spec

Open the wallet and they will come.

Are we ready for the league to go the way of the NASL ca. 1980, where spending for big-named players did in the league?

Spaceman Spiff

Richmond , VA

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March 4, 2013 11:22 PM ET

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NY & LA would spend their way to the playoffs, and bankruptcy, while the rest of the league flounders trying to keep up. Go order yourself a copy of "Once in a Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos" off Amazon. Sure it was a heck of a ride, but it was destined to fail. And it did, gloriously. And in the end it took the whole league with it.