Most American soccer fans that I have met in my life love the UEFA Champions League and Major League Soccer but when I bring up the CONCACAF Champions League... well most of them don't know what the hell it is or they just don't care.

This is due to the fact that the "Champions League of North America, Central America, and the Carribean" has failed to catch the interest of most Americans to the point where now all of its games are being broadcasted on Facebook Live and Univision Deportes (a Mexican-American sports station) after Fox recently dropped its contract with the league last season. However as with most things in the world of soccer right now, it can be fixed. Here are a few suggested changes on how to improve the continent's league.

1. Fix the logo and patch

Whenever I see the UEFA Champions League or Major League Soccer logo on TV, I think the designs are simple and eye catching. However, whenever I look at the CONCACAF CL logo, I just cringe. The weirdly shaped trophy with the Scotiabank logo is just too much. Also during the games that I watch, the patches are placed inconsistently on the right arms of jerseys, sometimes next to the shoulder, on the arm, or even falling off the jersey because there just isn't enough space. CONCACAF should simply rebrand to something more simple - maybe a golden C with a ball inside it or a map of North and Central America inside a soccer ball. These logo rebranding would make the patch smaller so it could actually fit nicely on those jerseys.

2. Expand the number of teams in the tournament

Most pundits in the pro soccer world cringe at the sight of expanding any club tournament as it would just dilute the quality of the competition. However, for most of these minnow countries, they need all the opportunities they can get if they want to develop the game.

Right now the tournament consists of three groups of eight, meaning there are only 24 clubs in the tournament. Compared to the Asian, African, European, and South American club tournaments this is small. Also, most of the clubs in the tournament are represented by North and Central American countries. The tournament should be expanded to at least 32 include more teams from the countries in the Carribean, these include Puerto Rico, Cuba, Jamaica, etc. These new locations would help grow club soccer in these "soccer-less deserts" as fans of the game would look forward to watching their hometown club against the mighty teams of North and Central America.

The expansion would also voluntarily change the tournament format to something that closely resembles the UEFA Champions League, which has eight groups of four were the two winners advance from each group. This would then make the group stages more exciting because other clubs from lesser developed countries like El Salvador and Guatemala would be battling it out for the last spot in the next round unlike in this current format where most American and Mexican clubs have wrapped up their spot in the quarterfinals before the last matchday. With the expansion, the group stages would not be so boring.

3. Let small clubs from underdeveloped countries play at their home venues

In this year's current Champions League, CD Dragon, a club from San Miguel, El Salvador had to play its games in the capital San Salvador, some 138 kilometers away from their home because their stadium was too small for CONCACAF standards. When I watched a game involving CD Dragon, there was only a handful of fans in the large arena and the atmosphere put me to sleep. This is the case for most small clubs who win their respective leagues but don't come from the most economically developed parts of their respective countries. So, they are forced to play their games in the capital.

To me, as a passionate fan of the beautiful game, this is pretty sad. For some of these clubs, this is their biggest game in their history and it is being moved just because their stadium is too small. This just doesn't seem fair, as it puts money over passion - something the administrations of soccer have been doing a lot of lately. Hopefully, this will change as the fan movements grow all around the world.

4. Change the calendar

The last change I would recommend has to do with the calendar. Right now, the group stages start in August and the knockout rounds end in April. Meaning, the whole tournament is overshadowed by its big brother, the original UEFA Champions League. Something that most American soccer fans never want to miss.

If the league wants to gain more viewership, CONCACAF should start the group stage in March and end the knockout phase in November. This gives Americans more time to watch the games because most of the games will be during the peak months of summer when the only things going on are Major League Soccer and Major Leauge Baseball. With more American viewership, the league will then gain more legitimacy in the global soccer hierarchy.

This league change will also benefit MLS clubs who start their season in March and end in November. This means American clubs will be in sync with the Champions League and Liga MX, unlike the current system where all American clubs are in their preseason form at the time when the CONACAF Champions League begins the knockout phases while the Mexican and Central American clubs are in midseason form.

The last benefit of changing the league format is that it will provide less of a turnover for clubs who win the Champions League. When CONCACAF clubs win the Champions Leauge in April, they have eight months until the FIFA Club World Cup in December. By then, a new season has begun and most of the team that won the continental title are disbanded. This affects performance on the big stage. With the new calendar, teams who won the continental title will be pretty similar to teams that appear in the Club World Cup.

Conclusion

The beautiful game is growing at an exponential pace in the USA as MLS expands and the United State's men's national team continue to get closer to winning a World Cup. However, in order to have a prospering soccer culture, we need a more "legit" continental competition that can provide a competitive and exciting soccer landscape for years to come. Hopefully, with these structural changes the CONCACAF Champions League will improve.