How does the size of the league factor into schedule congestion at all? Edit: Oh right, you're the idiot that keeps insisting that if we expand the number of teams in MLS, it means teams will have to play more games.
And your the idiot that doesn't realize we can't just keep adding teams and yes you need to play each team at least once per year. But I guess you can't fathom the simple fact that any league can only play a certain number of games per year.
Yeah, I do fathom it. MLS plays 34 games per year. Because of weather, playoffs and international conflicts, it probably shouldn't play more than that. As a result, MLS abandoned the balanced schedule a few years ago (which it only had briefly anyway.) If you want to argue that we shouldn't expand too far because it would necessitate abandoning playing everyone every year, or would mean teams would have very few or no rivals that they play home and away, I get that. For that and other reasons, I personally would like to see MLS stop at 28. But instead every time you make this argument you focus on the number of games played, for some reason hung up on the disproven notion that if MLS adds teams, it will add games.
Thats because you can't keep adding teams without at least adding one game to the total amount of games a team will play. Of course I am assuming that MLS will want every team to play each other at least once a year. I myself think 26 is the best number but I can see 28 too. But we can't keep just adding teams, because MLS will not cut league games to accommodate the international games.
I tend to agree with you, I think the number will be 26. Originally I thought it would be 24, because of how nicely it work a 34 game schedule. But hearing the "Dons" quotes about Texas, and Sacramento; makes me assume we are getting close to the end for expansion.
As long as someone is willing to pay hundreds of millions of dollars for expansion...It will be on the table at least until 32.
Unfortunately, your reasoning for why MLS will stop at whatever number floats your boat, has absolutely no relation to why MLS is expanding. MLS expansion is not going to stop at number ##Z because of scheduling
And MLS won't keep on expanding because "people are willing to pay for it". Whether people want to acknowledge it or not, soccer is different from any other major sport because of the FIFA and regional competitions.
I easily see 28-32. Soccer is not leveling off at it's max popularity. It's only getting more and more popular. And with the home grown dynamic over the superdraft, I don't see there a player shortage any time soon. But I do see the NASL having to step up their game and become a legitimate second tier... I believe that's accomplishable, That could also field 28-32 teams... With their own stadiums, strong fan base, and flourishing academies. What I disagree with is people arguing over an arbitrary number... The league is not going to turn down a chance to make more money by making the game more popular around the country just because it isn't a typical league format. Hell, we may get to a point where we have four competitive 20 team leagues: Atlantic, Pacific, West, East, and have promotion/relegation within each. that is probably a long ways away, but I know a lot of people who barked at the idea of a 24 team and still looking at growing league in 2020 when it was 2002.... Or even 2006 for that matter.
Nope, I see 24 teams max, after that start a second division, a league with too many teams is absurd the possibility of a team never winning a championship would be high. I think you will lose fans
Not like it's hurting other major US sports leagues. As long as we have playoffs, everyone can hope. Even without playoffs, the chance of never winning a league doesn't seem to hurt the top-flight football leagues in Europe, either.
You mean like in the NFL, NBA, and MLB? Or do you mean like in every soccer league in Europe where the disparity is so huge that literally the vast majority of teams will never win a championship?
I dont Understand whst is the obsession of making a soccer leagje like the nfl nba mlb, its soccer fifa regulates all stop trying to be bigger than that. 24 is the max therewill be no more than that
First, "we" are not making the league bigger. Second, the people that are making the league bigger are following the financial model of the NBA, NFL and MLB in maximizing market presence and translating that into a large media contract. They are following the money. MLS will expand until expansion doesn't make them any money. Never forget that pro sports is a business Third, FIFA does not regulate the number of teams. Allegedly, twenty used to be the "FIFA number". Now its twenty four. I've never heard FIFA say shit about either number, or any number. Fourth, "24" is not the max, primarily because of my second point.
Dude. Has nothing to do with that. You said you wouldn't want the league to get larger than 24 teams because it would mean teams would have lesser chance of winning championships. I pointed out that the other major American sports leagues have more teams than that (~30-32) and they survive just fine. Likewise, I pointed to Europe where there are smaller leagues but most of the teams never even sniff a championship because the level of disparity is so great. So, your point is not a good one. I was pointing out those examples so you would see that, but it looks like you interpreted it in an entirely different way. Reread it in context.
I don't see why people are getting so best out of shape with the number of teams. I am not going to get all worked up about it until 2020
http://www.citypopulation.de/world/Agglomerations.html 54 metros in China larger than Columbus, which is the 34th largest metro in the US. http://data.worldbank.org/indicator...pi_data_value+wbapi_data_value-last&sort=desc Not exactly the country with the best purchasing power, but I think the sheer amount of people could make up a little bit of that. http://www.worldfootball.net/attendance/chn-super-league-2013/1/ Chinese Super League average attendance last year was 18,571. Not bad for a country with not as many major markets and not as much spending money. Are you trying to tell me Liga MX or the Canadian Football League has more revenue than the NHL? I don't think so. What do you mean by that statement?
And ESPN just reported that Atlanta will be awarded an MLS franchise, according to the Atlanta Urinal and Constipation
I can't see it. 24 max, maybe 26. But no more than that. It would hurt the quality of the games too much.