2025 Sept 14
By Josh
MLS, the American League of soccer, can be rather be argued to be more competitive than the EPL. This is because of the High vs Low parity. Parity shows which league is more balanced, meaning whether the teams in the league perform similarly. For example, if the difference between the Champions and the last place of the league’s point difference is significantly large, then the parity of that league is low, and opposite for the contrasting case. So then, is MLS more competitive than the EPL?
The short answer is it depends. The above shows a graph between EPL and MLS in parity over the last ten years. In the graph, EPL tends to show a larger difference in points between the Champions and the last place. As shown above, the last place of EPL tends to average 20-ish points, whereas the champions average nearly 90-ish points. This shows that the average difference is more than 70 points. However, in MLS, the graph is much shorter, with champions averaging 70-ish points while the last place averaging about 30-ish points. This shows that MLS has teams that are more of a similar level than the EPL.
However, there might be a counterargument. People might argue about the number of games MLS plays, 34 games, compared to the EPL, 38 games. This can lead to the winning team playing fewer games, gaining fewer points than they could, making the graph look unfair towards the EPL. Granted, that although MLS plays four fewer games, it would not create much difference, as adding 12 points to 70-ish points still does not change the fact that champions of the EPL have more points. Also, it is not guaranteed that the 1st place in MLS would win all four games, not changing the fact.
Then what could have been the reason? The reason may have been due to the amount of pressure EPL teams receive. The teams in the relegation battle receive an immense amount of pressure as they are willing to do anything to stay in the top-level league. While the pressure may motivate the teams, it has the possibility of doing more harm. such as stressing the players, leading them to have poorer performance on the pitch. Whereas in the MLS, without relegation, the players of the last place may become demotivated, known as the ’last place’, but do not need to stress from relegation, thus allowing better performance compared to being under pressure.
Overall, MLS demonstrates higher parity than the EPL, with smaller point gaps between champions and last place, suggesting a more balanced competition. While EPL’s relegation system drives intensity, it also widens disparities between top and bottom teams. MLS’s structure reduces such extremes, making it arguably more competitive overall, though different league contexts influence how parity is interpreted.
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