Have you considered that maybe, just maybe, it's maybe just a little harder to go from Boston to Vancouver to Chicago to LA in 1 month than to go from London to London to Manchester to Manchester in the course of a month?
I don't know. I think I'd rather fly across the USA than drive up the M6. If hell does exist then I think much of it will be spent in a contraflow between Cannock and Knutsford Services. Other than the obvious travel issues - I know in Australia where the AFL is national there's a big deal about the difficulties for clubs who have a lot of inter-state fixtures - you'd also have the problem that a 38 game fixture list would mean a rather long season if there were play-offs too.
Not that I'm arguing for a 38-game season, which is too many to fit into a March-November schedule, but I really don't see that there is such a travel problem. For fans, yes, but pro sports teams fly all over the country all the time. I really don't see the big deal.
Try to imagine the other leagues, in this wee nation of ours, without conferences or divisions. The Red Soxs get to play the Mariners an equal amount of games as against New York. The players union would likely threaten to strike, the schedule makers would blow up their computers trying to sort things out, and ESPN declares a coup d'etat against MLB because there are fewer Bos-NY games.
I am not defending the idea that a balanced schedule makes travel meaningless, just compare the mileage of a team in the Northwest vs. a team in the Northeast. I am certainly not defending the idea that a 38 game cross country odyssey is really a good way to run a soccer league. But between 1977 and 2003 (or thereabouts), the American League did play a balanced schedule and the Yankees would have played the Red Sox about as often as the Sox and Mariners played. It was a bad idea and a bad idea made worse when they went to three divisions, but they did have it.
I stand corrected, which serves me right for being too flippant in my comments. It goes without saying that each league has it's own issues with regards to how it is structured.
True. But consider that none of those leagues have anything close to a balanced schedule. It's tough. Playing nearby teams more often is just the reality of pro sports in North America. That said, the reality of pro sports in America can be pretty freaking boring at times.
Unless you are a die hard of the sport in question, wouldn't that be true of most leagues in any sport except for down to the wire playoff/championship races and during the actual playoffs? How exciting is a random match between two random midtable teams in the middle of February unless it happens by chance to become a great game?
If travel is the only issue then how come the two New York teams are not in the same division? Cultural weirdness also plays a big part.
I know my opinion may be in the minority, but I firmly equate the Champions League to be the playoffs of Europe and directly see the race to be in the top whatever of your country for European places to be the same as trying to be in the top 8 of a conference in the NBA or NHL.I also believe that from an entertainment standpoint first past the post in inherently less interesting for me unless there is a close race. In most years I spend far more interest and effort towards watching FA Cup and Champions League matches than I do to watching run of the mill Premiership matches. Relegation is a different beast entirely, and I wouldn't mind some form of relegation in MLS. But unless you have two teams with a chance for the title on the final day, I see no difference between any given day in a European league and any given day in an American league.
I agree, but winning the league still means a lot. College sports conferences is a better comparison than our pro sports divisions.
Your whole riff on players union reactions was about travel. I agree that we have geographic realities in North America and, for now, need regional scheduling; but we don't have to have divisions. And I was just pointing that it is a cultural thing; the National and American leagues are not regional.
Well, a great game is a great game. I was just mentioning how geographical divisions can make a match-up a little less interesting at times, especially towards the end of a bad season. If my team sucks, I'd rather have some variety than see the same teams over and over again.
The "top whatever" means only one club for 37 of the 52 countries with access to the UEFA Champions League. He meant that the NL and AL are not an Eastern Conference and a Western Conference.
That's probably true of the clubs chasing that 4th spot, but not at all for the clubs going for the title. You never see title-chasing teams celebrating clinching 4th. In contrast, in the divisions below, clinching the promotion place is a bigger deal than the title. On the whole, the last three games of a play-off are probably more engaging than the last three of a title race. The previous 30+ are probably more entertaining in a straight league though.
Manchester United wouldn't celebrate clinching a top four spot, but 2004-2005 Everton and 2009-2010 Tottenham both finished ahead of Liverpool who was a regular participant in the Champions League and I could see those two times being exceptions.
I understand the benefit and desire to have a balanced schedule. I'm, y'know, a soccer fan. Every single team I follow, from my D4 NPSL local side to my National Team, plays a balanced tournament, from time to time (except my MLS club). But, y'know, if you want to use this rhetorical practice, be my guest. Just know that it makes you a bad person. Essentially what you're saying is "Someone disagrees with me? Clearly they must be either stupid or ignorant". And y'know what, that (and very wholly that) is the reason you're a waste of good air the productive people should be using. I offered you a contention. I made it very clear that the travel distances in North America are inherently different from the travel distances in England, or Wales, or Spain, or practically any country that uses the Double-Round Robin format. And you responded with "Hey, are you retarded?" Seriously kid, go die. This is a place where adults talk about the issues facing the sport we love. We post ideas and then accept (even invite) critiques to that idea. Those critiques, then, are critiqued. We use facts and statistics to demonstrate that our ideas are strong. If you can't handle that, 4chan is just around the corner.