The successes are easy to point out and impressive - from the achievements of the national side, to the fact that next season 11 teams will be playing in soccer specific stadiums, to the growing revenue streams, and average attendances that would do any English Championship and a few Premier League teams proud.
Henry said that the quality of play in M.L.S. was improving immensely and that the increase in soccer-specific stadiums was a critical development.
It worked: MLS will be up to 24 teams by 2020, its teams play in soccer-specific stadiums, and it is the third-most watched sport in the country.
Seven of the leagues 14 teams play in soccer-specific stadiums, five of which have been built since 2002.
Now 15 of its 20 franchises play in soccer-specific stadiums —13 of which were built since 2005.
Near the end of the 2008 season, Rio Tinto Stadium became the home of Real Salt Lake, which meant that for the first time in MLS history a majority of MLS's teams (8 out of 14) played in soccer-specific stadiums.
Without the Crew's founder, the late Lamar Hunt, there would be no Crew, probably not even an MLS, and he will always be the man that built the first ever soccer specific stadium in America, right here in Columbus.
The New York City FC expansion team will play their games at Yankee Stadium, a Major League Baseball venue, although they intend to move into a soccer specific stadium in the future.
The area also is home to the offices of Kansas City's Major League Soccer franchise, Sporting KC, who recently built the nation's most innovative and high tech soccer specific stadium in the country Livestrong Sporting Park.
If the women want to play a 10-game Victory Tour in the fall when most US football stadiums are busy with American football, they may need to play in smaller soccer-specific stadiums to avoid artificial turf.
