This week Sports Illustrated released the magazine and their theme was top 50 lists. Going with this theme Grant Wahl posted his ranking of the top 50 most powerful people in US Soccer. Making the list at 23rd is the Portland Timbers owner Merritt Paulson in a tie with Sporting Kansas City owner Robb Heineman.

Here is what Wahl had to say about the two:

Young owners who live and die with their MLS teams, Heineman and Paulson are the faces of MLS 2.0 and the league's answers to Mark Cuban. If only every league owner cared as much.

Merritt isn't the first person from MLS on the list, Don Garber is at number 3, and neither is he the first MLS owner, AEG owners are at number 6. However he and Robb Heineman have shown that interacting with the fans and caring as much as they do can be a good thing.

What do you think of the rankings and Merritt being ranked in the top half of the rankings?