In news that is akin to saying the sun is hot and the Chicago Cubs haven't won a World Series in a century, Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber told the press that his league wouldn't be involved in any promotion and relegation anytime soon. This is just another affirmation of a long-standing comment Garber has had over the last several years.

While in Manchester as part of the Soccerex Convention, he spoke to the press about a multitude of topics. One big selling point he repeated was the ever increasing value of each franchise in MLS.

"When I got into the league 16 years ago, we couldn't give a team away. That is a short time to go from zero to the last sale of more than $100 million." It wasn't too long ago that Forbes released an article detailing the value of each franchise in MLS. They estimated that the top valued franchise in MLS is Seattle Sounders at $245 million.

This is all to say that MLS' current model has done wonders in growing the strength of the 20 clubs over the last decade and a half. With four more teams set to join the league over the next five years or so, the value of the league is set to continue its fantastic growth.

So it should be no surprise that MLS would want no part of any promotion or relegation. The fee to get an MLS franchise has risen to over $100 million and that figure isn't likely to fall anytime soon. Letting in teams that haven't paid their due isn't sound business. The opposite side is even worse as the value of second and third division clubs in the US is a fraction of what an MLS team is at the moment. Without the strong TV revenues and other advantages that MLS has built up, franchise values would plummet.

Without a strong second division to pull teams from, or to send teams to, there's no reason to even discuss pro/rel. Without that second division to make sure team values don't crash and cause clubs to vanish, it's a pointless argument.

Which brings us to the current D2 league, the North American Soccer League. The league was set up by Traffic Sports USA after a split with the United Soccer League back in 2010. The same Traffic that plead guilty to a host of charges by the Department of Justice this past summer that lost its contract with CONCACAF to host various tournaments around the region. The same Traffic that has claimed poverty and an inability to find new sponsors and TV partners recently in a letter to US Soccer over complaints about alleged changes to Division 1 standards.

With a league that fails to meet current Division 2 standards, it's not shocking at all that Don Garber and his bosses in MLS would want nothing to do with promotion and relegation to such a league. Even with USL putting in an application to become D2 by 2017, MLS won't want to have such movement with them.

Promotion and relegation works when there are more clubs than can fit into a top division. It especially helps if there is some kind of parachute payment that allows teams to ease the fall. Right now there are 20 teams ready to participate at the D1 level and no more in this country. Once MLS is done expanding (probably at around 30ish teams over the next couple decades), it can start looking at the lower levels to see if any of those leagues are ready. If fans really want to see such a system implemented, they'll need to support those lower leagues in huge enough numbers to match MLS clubs.

That means in terms of infrastructure (stadiums, training facilities, offices), staff (scouts, coaches, etc), payroll (currently around $4 or $5 million give or take and rising) and before a lower league team can compete. Even those teams being run by MLS teams in USL don't fit that requirement yet and likely won't for years, if not decades, to come.

Can pro/rel work with MLS? Sure. Will it anytime soon? No.