News: Mexico's proposed alternative for scoring ties, does it work?

Read the article, but pay attention to the points format.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/mexican-clubs-break-away-fmf-164500870--sow.html

A BS blog from John Jagou post goes more into detail here about the dynamics of the change and what will come of it.

But the tie scoring system. What do you make of it?

My take:

0-0 = 0 points to both teams
Offers a great incentive for teams late in the game to not bunker down, give up, capitulate, but attack. At best they ramp up the intensity. At worst they become agonizing works of futility.

1-1 = 1 point to both teams
Presents some changes from the past. Teams can be confident in the results of a tie, and at 1-1 will be assured some relief from getting 0 points. For the most part the game at 1-1 is the same as we've always witnessed.

2-2, 3-3 ... n-n = 2 points to both teams
The most wildest change and could potentially be the most problematic. Why not fix the result so both teams get two points. In aggregate there are 4 points available here. Not 3 to the victor or 2 split between those in a stalemate. But 4, at 1 more than 3. Kind of reminds me of a prisoner's dilemma. You could go for the win at 3-2, but both will benefit from the 2-2. It's almost a win! It may provide for more excitement because goals are now a prized premium. Defenses may suffer while the attack may be emphasized.

That point system for ties is dumb. A 0-0 draw gets you as many points as a loss, aka zero? Dumb. I appreciate they want attacking soccer, but this is a dumb way to do it. Did I say this is dumb yet?

If they want to eliminate ties they can go to shoot outs, Oh wait.....
Now they are trying to re-invent the wheel.

At 2-2, both teams will play for the draw. Pass it around for remainder of game. Too much at risk for both.

But give up a goal and suddenly the down team is fighting like mad to get the two points.

I have an open mind. This could be cool.

The current Mexican season has 1.21 goals per team per game compared to 1.39 for the current EPL season.

I think there's too much room for exploitation of the rule. Teams could collude to get the score to 2-2 in the first few minutes of a game and then begin playing for real. Not that I think this would be common, but it's like the goalkeeper substitution rule MLS used to use. Good idea in theory and probably for the better most of the time, but too easy to exploit.

This is how I feel about it. This could cause some trouble, but it will be interesting for the neutrals no doubt.

I think the biggest thing out of this story is that this new league will probably get even richer and even more ahead in quality versus MLS in the coming years. It's going to take a very long time before MLS would be able to match the financial clout of this new league.

Two things are going to change more Parity and Profit Sharing. I listened to the conversation Vergara had with espn deportes. They are taking the financial aspects of MLS and are going to use them in Mexico. He Mentioned MLS by name when they asked what leagues and ideas they pulled from.

Im curious to see if they are going to implement a salary cap?

It doesn't necessarily mean the League will get richer. they Pretty Much have Maxed out on the demographic the league markets itself to. I really think they are trying to control their costs and have ownership make more money. teams tend to overpay for south americans players all the time.

In order for MLS to Compete we need to secure good tv contracts for teams locally and hereis a big one. Win Univision over and get them to pump some money into production and give MLS better time slots. and promote it just as hard as they do the Mexican League.

We win Univision over we start pulling in the money to Compete with the mexican league.

I will stop watching mexican footy if this becomes reality , all I want is a 18-team league, H/A, 8 top teams playoffs and 3 relegation spots by points grrrrrrr I hate how the NFL influences Mexican soccer so much. The owners instead of modeling the league after the best Soccer leagues in the world they try to copy other sports. Whats next 2 points for a 20 metre goal ? grrrrrrr

And you are basing this on what in that story? If anything, they will probably look more toward MLS as a model with profit sharing.

at least they are going to start a cup competition which is actually a nice change but i agree all these crazy rules sound like gimmicks. MLS was full of them in the 90's and look how all that turned out.

The points thing sounds like a really bad idea. It just seems too susceptible to match fixing.

Breaking off and forming a new league sounds formidable though.

Well their biggest obstacle is the duopoly in TV coverage, if they can break that and get ESPN Mexico, Fox Deportes Mexico to bid for TV coverage they could help increase the money they get.

If they want to copy the NFL maybe go with exclusive TV deals and get the 4 to up the bids on each other.

Edit: as some commented on the blog

http://www.bigsoccer.com/soccer/john-jagou/2012/04/27/liga-premier-de-mexico/

The FMF webpage is shit, maybe the new league can invest some more money on web design and maybe even archive or stream games on their new webpage.

plus they will get to sell the naming rights for the new league.

Agreed (fan of Veracruz here) at least 2 spots, one for the best season record in D2 and another for the Liguilla champion.

I'd bet a lot of money it never happens. It does sound like something Americans would have come up with in the 1970s (no wait, it sounds like something Americans actually did come up with in the 70s).

Jossed-"And you are basing this on what in that story? If anything, they will probably look more toward MLS as a model with profit sharing"


Vergara is a joke his pulling shit out of his ass the model they are striving for is EPL. MLS has nothing to do with the new league.

Salary caps are not going to happen specially with all the money each teams make.

The new league is going for a world wide appeal it seems thanks to youtube and the internet EPL and La Liga are exploding in new fans and that's the reason the new league might get new fans specially in the US.

MLS has a big problem attracting TV audiences and that's why they get shitty TV contracts in turn Primera has the TV contracts locked down in the US and Mexico with big fat sponsorships in the US and Mexico.Every time my dad sees something about MLS in "Republica Deportiva" he rolls his eyes so MLS targeting Mexicans might be a wrong direction.

Team owners in Mexico will never agree to any sort of profit sharing.

And everytime something about Mexican soccer comes on Republica Deportiva my dad rolls his eyes, so maybe targeting Hispanics in the US isn't a good idea for the new Mexican league either.

I don't think Primera will ever target the other Hispanics since Mexican Americans make up 70% of all Hispanics in the US and that's not counting the Ex pats living in the US. Univision is 99.9 percent Mexican content and Telemundo is starting to buy a shit load of content from Televisa so not too worried maybe MLS needs to concentrated on the Hispanics that envy the Mexicans

Initially, I wrote a rant about how vehemently opposed I was to this proposal. By the time my four paragraph outburst was done, I came to the sudden conclusion that this wasn't such a bad idea.

I tend to think of my views on soccer as very traditionalist. But really, this doesn't change the way the game is played. All it does is encourage more endeavor in a team style of play. At the end of the day, you would still have to put the ball in the back of the net. And its not as if they are forcing teams to play 2 at the back with 6 forwards each. I'd certainly like to see this idea trialed anywhere, whether it be Mexico or elsewhere.

I dont like how other sports change fundamental rules to encourage attacking play, but this doesn't really alter the way the game is played; it only alters the mindset. That can't be a bad thing either, because while I love the balance of defense vs offense in soccer, you also want to see both teams show both sides of the game in their own play. And of course, it doesn't affect the defense, because they still have the same job to do that they did before. Nothings changed. Bring it on, a refreshing idea. The only thing I would consider amending is that any non-scoreless draw should be 1 point. 2 points for 2-2 is slightly odd. Does 3-3 then equal 3 points each, as much as a win? Lol. Score draws at 1 point, scoreless draws 0 points, and a win 3 points. I like it!

I think we're focused on the wrong thing frankly. The importance of this announcement is the break away itself and what that might mean for restructuring CONCACAF's strongest league and the most watched league in the United States.

I'd be surprised if the proposal happens, but whether it does or doesn't get implemented, how ties are counted isn't nearly as important in the grand scheme of things IMO.

Its pretty important as it could be a full fledged trial for the rest of the world. 2 points for 2-2 is ridonkulous, but 1 point for 1-1/2-2/3-3/etc has merit, and I'm sure every league around the world would keep a keen eye on proceedings.

The breakaway is a given, and was always bound to happen. Brazil should follow suit in the next few years as well. I personally don't see what the issue is. We want both the Mexican and US/Canadian leagues to be maximizing their potential, and any short term loss will be offset by strides MLS is making in its own territories.