The Argentine football calendar is a good go by. They try to avoid the dead of Winter and the dead of Summer.
A Super Bowl that should have gone there ten years ago. Granted I like the fact that it will be exposed to the elements. Who knows when they'll do that again. I'm hoping for snow.
That requires either a midseason break or two seasons per year and I'm not a fan of either one of those.
The thought of all of the media people who get a fully comped trip complaining while watching inside of suites is already giving me a headache.
The Apertura/ Clausura system would be pretty fun personally. I just think it'd be hard to follow, even for die-hards (myself included). Personally, I dig the current MLS system. The bigger issue for me is transfer windows as a concept. While I realize a "trade deadline" is effectively the same thing, limiting movements to twelve weeks at a nation's discretion just seems awkward to me. Personally I'd like a system where a player, say, can't be moved after a club has played X number of games in their season, with certain safeguards for postponed/ canceled games and schedule imbalances. It would protect players from being thrown in the fire with just a few weeks left in the season, but give clubs/ players more leeway in negotiations so amicable agreements can be met.
It's always been played in winter, it's a winter sport. If you want to play in summer there's cricket.
Our MLS took a break for South Africa'10, you are still alive. There are times of the year that nation's avoid playing. Check. In our nation we play right through the heat and humidity yet cease to play in the ice and snow. Perhaps our calendar could be more like what other nation's do and look to avoid both extremes in temperature.
I like the long season as well, however in a split calendar or Opening and Closing set up like Argentina and others is that as Americans and Canucks, we can come up with a way to celebrate what exists in our sports culture, I.e. Conferences, an All-Star game, playoffs and make it all work with what soccer piles on with domestic cup, regional cup requirements and most importantly FIFA Tournaments. Years back on bigsoccer we batted around the concept of if Garber really wants the NBA model of Eastern and Western Conferences, a mid season ASG and the long season that ends with a very quick playoffs well it was suggested by myself and others that perhaps one better way of doing it would be to play part of the MLS season as intra Conference then the All-Star break/game then close out with inter Conference action to conclude the points race and then playoffs to MLS Cup Final. Kinda like what we enjoy from college gridiron and other sports.. You play non conference teams and usually focus the rest of the season on the Conference title run. For me it gives team's several trophies to play for over the course of the traditional long MLS season. There is the Conference championship to be won. Perhaps having a league Cup between the two Conference winners. That is a trophy to be had for us fans early on. Factor in the USOC chase and that trophy along the way mid season. Break for Summer/FIFA Tournaments. Then go inter league play to find the SS trophy winner factoring in the entire season's results. Ending with the MLS Cup trophy up for grabs. Add to that the CCL for a few MLS teams to hunt for. It celebrates our North American way of doing things, avoids the weather extremes and yet keeps the long season for the points race and playoffs. This concept was out there with a balanced schedule to be had I must say.
It's and outdoor sport and in my opinion all outdoor sports should play in summer when its warm. If you want to watch a winter sport go to your local arena and watch an indoor sport like hockey or basketball.
Unless you actually have to, you know, play midfield in the Summer. At the pro level that is. Besides, there is the small matter of FIFA Tournaments in our Summer months that demand fixture understanding. More so if Garber really is shooting for our MLS to be one of the top league's on our planet. Top class players play club n country roles. So if you had a starting XI in Philly where each man went off for a month every two or 4 years, to play Houston where we faced similar roster call ups, this would e tough on MLS managers and league integrity to carry on while lacking so many dudes.
Nobody tell Brazil this. We wouldn't want them to realize they need change to play in our winter(their summer) in order to become a top league with top players. Hell, they may even consider taking breaks and not playing on FIFA dates in our summer (their winter).
In large swathes of Europe, at least, summers are pretty mild. The average high temperature in Barcelona, for example, is 82 Fahrenheit. Summer temperatures aren't really that much of an issue in Europe like they would be in Florida or Texas.
The fact that it has always been a winter sport in some countries isn't an argument for that remaining the case going forward.
Opinion is irrelevant on the matter. NFL is a fall/winter sport and always has been. Are they "wrong" because they play an outdoor sport that is intentionally not played in the summer?
Is Brasil a top 5 league in the world? How many Italian, Irish, English, Scottish, French, Swiss, Polish, Swedish, Mexican, Bulgarian, German current or former captains play(ed) there? None. How many play(ed) in our MLS. Every nation listed above. Their league's plans are different than The Don's. Their club culture is to grow their own crops. Garber wants to eventually be like the EPL and be a buying talent league. Association football is THE dominant sport down there as well.In our nation it is not obviously. They are an Equator nation as well so their seasonal shift is nothing like ours or even Argentina too their South.
Wasn't Forlan the captain for Uruguay? I know DeNigris (the older dead brother) played for Santos for a short while. Regarding top 5, well some would argue the Brazileirato is the same or just below the French league so 5th or 6th at the very least. It is true that Brazil has not that many International players from outside South America (they do restrict their number to 5) but they do have more FIFA club world cups than any other country (and 3rd most Intercontinental cups after Argentina and Italy). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Club_World_Cup#Performances http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intercontinental_Cup_(football)#By_country
Being that our two countries of MLS are so vast, your point hits home. Our league's schedule going with a season that is rather short, 8 months compared to many other leagues going 9 to 10 months outta the year, the time of the year MLS could be played either in the bitter cold or dangerous heat is for other cities in our league at that same time mild cold and or mild heat. That is why I suggested avoiding playing in the peak months in Toronto cold and Texas heat. Which would be getting our league to play year round basically as it isn't when the league starts and ends play, rather where it starts and where it concludes all the while scheduling home games when it is mild cold or mild heat and giving our pros really only one month of an offseason.
When you include the playoffs and MLS Cup (something that is never going away) the MLS offseason length is within the same 10 day window of most other major leagues. Many teams who aren't in or are eliminated from the playoffs still train in that time. It would be difficult to lengthen the season much more because of that as the players need a minimum amount of time off.
No offence but that comment just makes you sound soft. No wonder football has such a bad reputation amongst Americans if people like you are the ones following the game. So if the Victorians could manage to play in the winter, why can't you?