What will it take to make the MLS All-Star Game more interesting? The annual midseason showcase of the league's top players has changed a lot since MLS was born, but it remains a very American sports-coded concept applied awkwardly to the world's game.
On this latest episode of The Blueprint, your hosts John Baney and Trey Fillmore go through the long and winding history of the MLS All-Star Game, from its early days as an all-MLS affair, to the foreign super-club era of the MLS All-Stars playing the likes of Bayern Munich or Arsenal, through to the current version pitting MLS against a collection of top players from Mexico's Liga MX.
Having the MLS All-Stars play some Liga MX All-Stars hasn't been enough to move the needle and make this annual exhibition more relevant or enticing, so John and Trey also discuss possible ways to overhaul the format of the MLS All-Star experience. They draw some inspiration from other major American sports' versions, and propose creative fixes, like small-sided matches or gamified brackets, with the aim of giving the exhibition some much-needed juice.
Then it's time to get into who deserves an All-Star vote based on their work in MLS this season. John and Trey walk through each position of the mandated 4-3-3 All-Star voting formation and make the case for who belongs in the MLS All-Star XI. Trey gets a media vote for this year's All-Star squad, so unlike the All-Star Game itself, this conversation actually means something.
Listen to this full all All-Star episode at the top of this post, or get it by subscribing to The Soccer Journal Podcast feed on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever else you listen to podcasts.
