What MLS can learn from the J League’s growth in Japan

Major League Soccer has plenty to celebrate in its 30th season as the top domestic competition of the United States and Canada. Average attendance is as high as ever, and sponsors are flocking in record amounts to capitalize on the presence of global stars such as Lionel Messi, and the general growth of soccer in the US.

Yet not all is well. Fan frustration continues to mount on a variety of issues. Media exposure is declining in the wake of a 10-year, $2.5bn media rights deal with Apple. Competition is mounting in the form of the USL, which plans to start a Division I league and institute promotion and relegation for the first time in the modern era of US soccer. And the possibility of a switch to the international fall-to-spring calendar has left supporters of northern clubs bewildered.

Many of the challenges MLS faces are born of its successes and rooted in the environment of the North American sports market, in which business interests more often than not reign supreme.

But as MLS prepares to shape its future, commissioner Don Garber and his fellow executives would do well to look to Japan, where their J League counterparts have charted a different path to relevance in a country similarly reluctant to accept soccer.

Development first

The 1994 World Cup was in some ways the genesis of both leagues: MLS was established as a condition for the US hosting the tournament, while the J League’s 1992 founding came as Japan sought to improve its playing level and qualify for the World Cup for the first time (they eventually did so for the 1998 edition).

But while MLS started with 10 brand-new franchises under a single entity system, the J League’s Original 10 were almost entirely established company teams that professionalized and adapted home town identities, representing the league’s desire for each club to establish strong local relationships.

“I think what we’ve done better than the US is developing players,” J League chairman Yoshikazu Nonomura told the Guardian on 15 May – coincidentally, the anniversary of the league’s inaugural kickoff in 1993. “We’ve looked at how to get kids to play and create a professional pathway, and that’s something that local clubs, schools and the Japanese soccer community have worked very hard to accomplish.”

Those efforts have borne fruit: Japan have appeared in every men’s World Cup since 1998 and were the first non-host to qualify for the 2026 edition in North America. The J League has expanded from 10 teams to 60 across three divisions since its formation, but lags far behind its European and pan-American peers when it comes to broadcast and sponsorship revenues as well as transfer-related income.

“Our challenge now is figuring out how to expand our business side,” Nonomura said. “MLS has done really well as a business, but now they’re figuring out how to build the base [of its developmental pyramid]. I think we both have an opportunity to succeed.”

Andrés Iniesta brought an influx of attention to Vissel Kobe and the J League. Photograph: Jiji Press/EPAPost-Messi roadmap

If the attention surrounding Messi’s journey with Inter Miami feels familiar to Japanese soccer insiders, it’s because the J League has been down this path before with another Barcelona legend, after the arrival of Andrés Iniesta at Vissel Kobe in 2018.

The former Spain captain’s arrival sparked a wave of global interest in Japanese soccer and higher attendances across the country, even as Vissel – who had also signed German star Lukas Podolski and would later bring on David Villa – struggled to achieve consistent results on the pitch.

While the Covic-19 pandemic meant the J League was unable to capitalize on 2019’s record attendance it has successfully rebuilt its crowds despite the lack of a replacement superstar – something Nonomura chalks up to increased media investments that have seen domestic exposure quadruple in the post-Iniesta era, particularly in areas with second and third-division clubs that lack the top flight’s resources.

A core of that strategy has been to increase the number of games shown on television. That required negotiations with streaming service Dazn, the J League’s official broadcaster since 2017, and like Apple a company that primarily deals in digital streaming. Today, J League games appear on Dazn as well as regional public broadcasters.

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“I told Dazn that if they want to grow [their subscribers] they need to raise the level of interest, and to do that they have to raise the number of games on TV,” Nonomura said. “Now there are more rural clubs that are seeing audience ratings of 5-10% and becoming major content pillars for local media.”

Pandemic-era rules requiring clubs to collect attendees’ contact information spurred the development of another key tool: A unified ticketing system backed by an app that allows the J League to centralize its marketing data. Free ticket giveaways geared to first-time viewers have paid dividends, with 30% of such recipients for games at Tokyo’s National Stadium going on to attend additional matches during the 2023 season, according to the league.

“I think National Stadium games allow for a balance between European and American atmospheres,” Nonomura said. “Behind the goals there’s a lot of excitement, but elsewhere in the stadium it’s more relaxed and fans are enjoying themselves.”

Yoshikazu Nonomura thinks the J League can learn a thing or two from MLS’s business practices. Photograph: Dan Orlowitz/The GuardianFans as stakeholders

Next year the J League, which has always played through the summer, will undergo a dramatic transformation as it transitions to a fall-spring format. Like those who support MLS making a similar move, the hope is that the switch will benefit clubs by aligning their transfer windows with Europe and protecting players from the country’s sweltering summer weather.

After two decades of resisting pressure from the Japan Football Association to make the switch, league officials began deliberating anew in 2023, kicking off a transparent, year-long process, complete with monthly media briefings and a listening tour that saw Nonomura visit clubs in snowy northern regions that would be most affected. In the end, just one team voted against the move.

“It was because we’d been debating this for 20 years – the idea that the calendar had to change in order for the league to grow – that we felt it was necessary to share this information with as many people as possible,” Nonomura said. “And I think that because we made that effort, the number of people against the move decreased.”

If MLS does go forward with the switch, Nonomura believes, they’ll have an advantage in terms of the amount of funding they can invest toward the transition. But he insists that fans should be a part of the conversation.

“I like that in the US you can take on new challenges quickly, but when it comes to very weighty matters [the discussion] shouldn’t remain within the league,” he said. “If you believe that fans and supporters are important stakeholders, I think you need to tell them what’s being discussed and what you’re aiming to achieve.”

Establishing that trust is something Nonomura focused on in his nine years as president of Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo, the J League’s northernmost club and among its best-known abroad thanks to the signings of Southeast Asian stars such as Le Cong Vinh and Chanathip Songkrasin.

“In order to win you need enthusiasm from your fans, and in that sense they’re like club staff. When we were in the J2, we’d go to Sapporo Dome and present our financial situation and say, ‘This is what our revenue looks like now, but to raise it over the next five years we need your support to help win games,’ and that’s how we built our base. In that sense, to grow the J League it’s very important that our fans be aligned with the direction we want to take.”

Inter Miami played a friendly against Vissel Kobe in the 2024 preseason. Photograph: Naoki Nishimura/USA Today SportsTogether in the top five

Though he admits that he is “envious” of MLS’s financial power, Nonomura sees a future in which both the North American circuit and the J League can stand together among the best leagues in the world.

“[MLS] is refreshing because it’s a different approach to traditional soccer culture like promotion/relegation and a focus on building up grassroots,” he said. “It’s motivating, in a way. But I’m sure they look at what we’re doing in Japan and see things they’re envious about.

“I think if we maintain a good relationship and continue to grow, right now the top five leagues are in Europe, but one day maybe it will be three from Europe, plus [MLS] and the J League.”

One gap that the J League hopes to narrow with MLS in the next few years is in the boardroom: The league established Sports Human Capital, its own business school, in 2016 under then-chair Mitsuru Murai.

Nonomura himself – a former player, TV commentator, club president and now chair – is emblematic of how Japanese soccer has raised its initial crop of sporting executives nearly from scratch, in contrast to MLS’s ability to draw from deep ranks of talent across the American sports business landscape, including Garber, who was once the senior VP of NFL International.

“The league’s reached adulthood, but there’s lots of ways we can still grow,” Nonomura said. “After all, I’m 53, and there were so many things I didn’t understand at 32 that I do now.”