The league has many things in it's favor. Soccer as a whole has surpassed hockey in terms of popularly but the MLS hasn't past the NHL in ratings yet. However, leagues like EPL and Bundesliga are beating the NHL proving there's a demand. The latest Forbes rankings aren't out yet but in terms of revenue the MLS is 14th all team sports and in 7th in association football. Given the rise in popularity and demand for soccer, I could see a justification for the MLS to get a deal that's on par with the NHL. More money to spend = better players = more merch spent = higher revenue. We can make an argument that despite the demand for high soccer, the demand for MLS is low; therefore, the MLS doesn't deserve an massive payday.

Should be interesting as teams are losing massive amounts of money, and this is considering precovid.

MLS already gets more TV money than its ratings warrant because its TV rights are packaged with USMNT and USWNT TV rights.

There's room to grow the ratings if the quality of play increases, but that would require spending a lot more money on player salaries throughout the league, not just for 2 or 3 star players per team.