It’s in the title, folks. Every week during the MLS season, Backheeled is here to dive into the biggest Winners and Losers from around the league. Let’s get right to it.
Loser: MLS’s hype-building ability
You’ve just been teleported inside a meeting at MLS headquarters, where someone is leading a marketing meeting about how to kickstart the 2026 season. Can’t you just smell the sweet, sweet mid-six-figure salaries?
First on the meeting’s agenda: pick the two teams that will open the 2026 MLS season. Simple enough. They choose St. Louis City, who finished 13th in the West last year and added zero star players this winter, and Charlotte FC, who scored all of one goal in their 2025 playoff series exit. Odd choices? Sure. But with St. Louis’ sporting regime setting out to Columbus Crewify the club and Pep Biel’s return to fitness for Charlotte FC, there’s enough juice to justify the pick, according to the marketing executives.
