American Soccer Cartel

American Soccer Cartel is a SportsWorks book about the political economy of US soccer. It treats the current system as a structure to be mapped, not a set of isolated controversies.

What the book examines

• How the major entities in US soccer are structured and who actually holds power.
• Why debates about promotion, relegation, and access never resolve.
• How commercial, legal, and political incentives shape decisions that are presented as “purely football”.
• What this structure means for players, clubs, and supporters over time.

How it relates to DASH

• The book uses the same underlying logic as DASH I and DASH II but in narrative form.
• Readers who know the frameworks will recognise the risk surfaces and patterns; readers who do not will still be able to follow the story.
• Leagues, clubs, and supporter groups can use the book as a shared reference point when arguing for structural change.

American Soccer Cartel is not a manifesto and not a quick-fix policy proposal. It is an attempt to show, as clearly as possible, what the structure is and what that implies for any serious attempt at reform.