But Speas, Meram, Sanchez, Findlay, etc were getting reserve matches in addition to those first team minutes. Without the reserve matches will they be sharp enough to get many first team minutes? Most teams aspire to a defined first 11 after all. Players 27-30 will be in Dayton. Players 1-11 will start with 12-18 making the gameday roster (and of course those won't be the same guys every game) but where will players 19-26 get any minutes?
The same place *all* of the other teams will be getting the same players those minutes (but a good question). Remember, the rule only says minimum. No reason that players could not go back and forth (same as in Europe between the main team and the "reserve" team playing in a lower division--though they do have age and experience limits for those teams when attached to the big club). Just like the prior season. These won't be transfers. BTW, now that this arrangement has been announced, I know the Crew was holding tryouts recently--which included a second one in conjunction with DDL for those players that made it through the first round. I felt it best not to say anything earlier for a couple reasons of confidentiality (not from the FO but another source). I'll note that my original point was to counter the specific critique of Bob that "he didn't play his bench". Since he's not the coach now, this is an interesting discussion but is not germane to the original point.
It would be cool if you were a season ticket holder of the Crew you got X amount of games free in Dayton.