MLS NEXT Pro was once just a place for talent to develop – and now it aims to be so much moreMichael Bradley was absolutely sure that MLS Next Pro was the right place for him to learn. The New York Red Bulls organization gave him pretty much everything he could have possibly wanted. The facilities were good. The players were even better. And perhaps more importantly, Bradley had free rein to shape a team in his own image. Want to learn? How about one of the best academies in MLS and a team full of players chomping at the bit to make it into the first team? That was July 2025, and Bradley used his stint with RBNY 2 – who won MLS Next Pro – to propel himself into first-team management. It was the perfect example of how this league can function in American soccer’s landscape. But now, they are thinking bigger. When MLS Next Pro announced two weeks ago that they had received a “strategic investment” from KKR, a global investment firm, a few eyebrows were raised. The press release came with plenty of complex-sounding jargon, with clips of what might be something quite substantial – even though specific numbers weren’t disclosed. These things are, of course, hard to define. MLS Next Pro has received quite a bit of money to do something. The question is: what? Well, the answer still isn’t quite clear. But there is one central, key promise in this whole thing. The league, which has been very cautious in its growth for nearly five years, is taking the handbrake off a little bit. Suddenly, a reserve set up seems to be pushing itself into the mainstream. “It has always been our goal since we launched the league to grow the game of soccer, and the partnership will allow us to do that exponentially. And we think it’s the perfect time for this next phase of growth in MLS Next Pro,” MLS NEXT Pro President Ali Curtis told GOAL.
