That is not how sports grow. It is alarming that anyone who is leading the cause can be so naive.
We will launch day one at the top. Grand Prix is not about grass roots. We're about cash roots! continues Tatham.
facepalm
The only way to grow sports is through grassroots. There is no shortcut. People need to be exposed to the sport, but the initial exposure needs be from the elite competitions. League lacks grassroots, financial, and media support in the US. How does this bloke think TV networks will lap it up?
Instead of focusing on what should be done, hes talking about things that will almost surely end in utter failure.
Also, being a soccer fan, my favourite parts were the jibes directed at soccer and at the MLS. If there is any league you want to emulate in the US, its the MLS.
Americans don't dislike soccer. We simply don't like minor league anything, which is where the MLS is today.
So the new comp would Major League from the outset? How does he figure that exactly? If Americans love Major Leagues, then they should be ushered toward the NRL, not some upstart US league.
But of course Americans are not as they are made out to be, because they will absolutely follow "minor league" sports. The MLS has grown to 19 teams, built 15 of its own facilities, and currently averages more than any domestic rugby competition, of either code, on earth (or for that matter, those other minor leagues like the NBA and NHL). Americans are clearly showing their disgust at minor leagues.
This bloke is a deadset plonker, and his rhetoric, judging from that article, is a sure sign of future disappointments.