As Major League Soccer’s 24th season gets underway, sports investors are fueling a soccer growth spurt. Cincinnati has a new team this year, and Nashville, Miami and Austin will launch MLS franchises by 2021. According to a 2018 Gallup poll, soccer is now a more popular sport to watch among 18 to 54-year-olds than baseball. That’s a long way from 2001, when MLS was considering bankruptcy.