The Final Day in the EPL

The battle for playoff spots has produced some pretty good games over the years filled with quite a bit of drama.

Last year I remember a pretty epic game when Portland traveled to DC United near the end of the season. I believe there were some others as well last season.

Then we get our various playoff series which can be pretty entertaining as well. Seattle vs RSL for instance. Seattle going into their home game down 3-0. They attack basically the whole game and get 2 goals back and keep attacking and attacking and never find the 3rd.

Now, MLS can do more in the final couple of weeks imo to make things more exciting. Try to get every team level on games played going into the 2nd to last week of games for instance. Then have games being played at the same time.

Note this year how MLS scheduled the season. Teams are closing out the season mostly against their conference foes.

European leagues in both basketball and hockey have pro/rel. Nobody here in NA is having a massive shit fit that they not playing it in a certian way the way obnoxious crybabies like you want soccer to be run here.

Since when do you know and speak for soccer fans in NA, n00b? MLS has done quite nicely to build a soccer culture in this corner of the world without doing it "like they do in Europe", and will continue to improve year in and year out.

Quite frankly, it's douchebags like you, DCU1996, and Tinfoil Teddy, that are an embarassment to soccer fans across America for wanting the game here to emulate Europe. Move there if that's what you want and leave the rest of us alone.

Except where it is of course. (Australia for example) Also, when you say "played around the globe", what pro/rel system are you referring to? EPL? Mexico? Argentina? Because they all have different ways of doing it.

Probably the owners who see that American sports have produced 4 of the biggest/richest sports leagues in the world.

MLS seems to have proven otherwise....

Ok. You've sold me. Even though I don't understand it, we should have playoffs like the Mexicans do in their league.

So who is jfalstaff the sock of?

Eh no its "The Premiere League" or if you like the "Barclays Premier League" or "BPL". "EPL" is slang.

Being slang is different from not existing.

I agree with this! Whether the last game of the season is on a Saturday or Sunday, they should be played simultaneously so fans of teams that may be competing for a playoff spot, playoff position, or even the Supporter's Shield can keep track of what's going on. Start at 4 in Montreal and 1 in San Jose and the corresponding times in the other two time zones, and I think you'd have a masterpiece on your hands. It's nothing other pro leagues do here, so it could garner some positive publicity for MLS. I hope the league tries it out for a couple of years to see how it works. If it doesn't boost attendance, TV ratings, or excitement significantly, they can always go back to doing it the way it's done now.

It's a nice idea, but difficult to pull of as a practical matter. Five teams still have to deal with sharing stadiums with NFL/CFL/college football. Some may not have that Saturday available, and others may not have that Sunday available. Then you have national TV. The league would desire to have some of these final games on national TV, but will every national TV partner have the same timeslot available? Those not on national TV would go to local TV--will every local TV partner for all these teams have the same timeslot available? Then no doubt you have the business concerns of each MLS FO. The home teams always prefer to schedule game times at the best time for local attendance, not at some continent-wide fixed time.

I once heard the commentator on one of the EPL broadcasts call it the "EPL." If you type in "EPL" in Google, the first hit is the official site of the Premier League. The second hit is the Wikipedia page for the Premier League.

Fine but that doesnt change the fact that it's not actually the name of the league.

But meh as I said before sorry to be a pedant, I don't really care that much.

It doesn't have to be the name of the league to be correct. There are lots of leagues called "Premier." The word "English" in EPL is a qualifier, not an actual part of the title.

Sorry to be a pedant right back.

The people who've made MLS the most successful American soccer league in, y'know, history, seem to disagree.

Survival Sunday numbers

https://twitter.com/#!/duresport/status/202825806303608834

Real Survival Sunday, French liague 1.

I don't think Dijon "caen" cut the mustard.

It's easy to come up with harebrained schemes when you're talking about other peoples' money.

Pro/rel supporters just need to stop. American soccer fans finally have a financially stable and growing league of their own when, as recently as 2000 or so, it looked like American professional soccer was a way for investors to lose money, and nothing more. Say whatever you want about MLS' owners, but they've spent hundreds of millions of dollars to create a soccer model that actually works in the US (and Canada).

But here comes some douche in a Man U jersey and affected British accent (never mind that the closest he's ever been to Manchester was when he stayed at a youth hostel in London during college) claiming he's going to show us soccer heathens the light. No thanks.

It may be difficult to accomplish. The hardest part is likely getting teams even on games played going into the final couple weeks.

Only half the teams will host in a given weekend. So you don't have to work with every stadium. Plus Houston and Portland have priority in their scheduling. Sounders have a good relationship with the Seahawks. It isn't that difficult. Depending on when the different leagues are scheduling, all MLS needs to do is know when the final two weeks of the season are going to be and you have teams relay that information on.

The biggest issue would be TV. If all the MLS fans are out at games, who will watch on tv? Local tv isn't an issue, but clearly we would want games on ESPN/2 NBCSN etc. And Football season is going at that point and basketball season is getting going again I believe, or close to it.
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But even without doing this, MLS has had very entertaining regular season games with playoff states at play. And then our playoff system has produced some gems as well.

So it isn't like we don't get these drama packed games.

Holy crap. Is that 9 teams in danger of relegation?

Also, Evian and Ajaccio are in Ligue 1? Awesome.

Sometimes pro/rel is pretty cool. It could be great in MLS, you know, if someone could work it out, somehow. Or I could just follow Ligue 1, I guess.

Actually, it's "only" 8 . Auxerre cannot save themselves even with an upset over Montpellier. Ligue 2 has already been sorted out. Bastia, Stade de Reims, and Troyes will be playing in Ligue 1 next season.

I'd rather see eight teams fighting for the final few playoff spots than fighting to survive. To me, celebrations for avoiding the drop basically is saying "we suck, but we don't suck that much!" And then you carry on into next season knowing you're probably gonna be in the same position again unless a sheik gives you some of his oil money. And maybe 2 years and a billion dollars later your army of mercenaries finally win the league, by just barely edging out your archrival who were having a sub-par season by their standards with a goal in the final minute of the season.

Or maybe that oil money never comes and you succumb to the inevitable. But at least you will be able to say "We were there. We didn't do a damn thing. But we were there for a few years."

Or perhaps you improve, little by little, and become a consistent mid-table club, but never rich enough to become elite. Then all your fans will disappear, because they will get bored. "We're neither here nor there. Not contending for a title or fighting for survival. Where's the end-of-season celebration for us?! I hate this pro/rel format!"

Is that really true? Is there any evidence to suggest that middle-EPL teams that can go neither up nor down (Everton, Sunderland, Stoke) have a smaller fanbase than the up-and-down clubs (Wolves, Norwich, WBA, etc)?

Personally I would want to see both. Realistically pro/rel is a pipe dream.

It's not even true that clubs that survive have nothing to look forward to except maybe surviving the next year.

It just looks that way if you focus all your attention on divisions with specific wealth distribution issues. If you assume anyone getting promoted in England, for example, will face almost certain struggle before dropping back down within two or three years, you'd be wrong.

I'm not sure if there are any other leagues called "The Premier League". There are lots of leagues that have premier divisions, and there is the Scottish Premier League, which has always had "Scottish" as part of its official title.

It dooesn't really matter* but it is a but odd people think premier league would be confusing, but have no trouble with The FA Cup, as if there's only one of them.

Bring back calling it League Division 1, I say.

* with the exception of anyone who uses it and moans about English commentators saying "The MLS"