It once snowed in San Jose, back in 1976. http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...KssAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CRUEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4912,1149826
I just kind of want to chime in again to point out that the only person who bothered to respond with any tangible, non-anecdotal benefits to changing the schedule to more closely mirror the western Euro one was tab5g, and one could still quibble with some of those. (The idea that teams could go on an extended road trip to start the season is nuts-over half the league play above the snowline, so unless you're going full meatball and advocating renting out alternate, indoor/retractable stadia-which isn't really available in markets not named Toronto or Montreal- telling 3/4 of the league to go on field trips until they thaw out is a non starter as well) I think what it comes down to is that this kind of change will only happen when: -The league has matured enough to be able to count on 10k+ hardcore supporters who would come out when it's 15 degrees out in Chicago in February. -The league has the proper infrastructure in place as far as stadia that can mitigate this kind of weather by either being nearby reliable public transit and/or have retractable roofs in place to offset the fact that it's winter in, say, Philadelphia. -There's an obvious, tangible business case to do it (this is probably the most important one). The I/O's aren't going to chance any hit to their bottom line while the league is so dependent on gate receipts and the other ancillary income that's a part of owning your own building.
So basically western European schedule will be possible about the same time pro/rel happens? Works for me.
Yeah, posters on another thread just pointed out that the A-League has 10 teams and a population of 25M people to appeal to (in Aus. & NZ) but makes at least as much (and probably at least 25% more) in TV revenues as MLS, which has 19 teams and a population 355M to appeal to. The A-League's TV deal covers all payments under its salary cap, which is about the same per team as MLS'. All of which means that MLS isn't depending a whole lot on TV revenue but is depending a whole lot on stadium-related revenue. It's not going to make any changes to the schedule that would risk disrupting that.
Either that or climate change. "A projected 11-degree boost at the turn of the next century could be a boon for chillier Rust Belt cities like Cleveland, Milwaukee, Detroit and Buffalo, even knocking them into the 'optimal' holiday range." http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/weather/climate/globalwarming/2007-06-14-warming-winners_N.htm
Yep. I mean, it's like 40 degrees here in Chicago, in January. Unusually mild, although the trend the past couple years (SNOWMAGGEDON 2011 aside) has been to see more days like this lately than in the past. If it becomes more the norm in a decade, then the calculus changes quite a bit.
The only way I can see it being viable is: August 15 - Season Starts - 15 Matchdays December 9 - Finish Pre-Break schedule with only games in warm climates and high attendance - 2 Matchdays December 23 - Begin Winter Break (6 weeks) February 8 - Resume Season with only games in warm climates and high attendance - 2 Matchdays February 22 - Resume Full Schedule - 15 Matchdays June 7 - Season End Even then it would be tough. That or domed, heated stadia.
The only good things that I can think of from a revised calendar would be that RSL could play at Dallas and Houston in the Winter rather than the Summer. We absolutely despise going there in the summer. Conversely it would be fun watching them come play in Utah in the Winter.
It's a fat pitch, but for those that missed it you might find reaction to England's most recent "heavy snowfall" interesting: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/w...-causes-travel-disruption-across-Britain.html
Damn it!. I wanted snow but the snow we got here in Manchester was very VERY mild... it became water upon touching the street I want this kind of snow damnit!!!!
It's worth noting that that schedule (1) has no room for playoffs, and (2) only includes 34 matchdays. Because every team has a bye week every week, playing a 34-game schedule with 19 teams requires more than 34 game dates. Anyone interested in solving this problem...the 2013-14 Schedule Challenge is still available: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0As10j-DGAGHzdGs1ZUJvZ0lnN05XOElubERzZnlaVFE
I do not recommend MLS opt to do anything too drastic with their schedule while they have an odd number of teams in the league.
This time of year, with MLS camps about to open, it's worth remembering one additional problem with this kind of schedule proposal: the total elimination of the offseason. The problem with taking a four-week or six-week break in the middle of the winter is that it eats into what is already a short MLS offseason. This year, MLS Cup was on December 1, and Union training camp starts up later this week. That's a six or seven week turnaround for teams that train through MLS Cup. A shortened offseason isn't just going to piss off players and hurt ticket sales, either; it is going to cut into what in my opinion is one of the best arguments in favor of shifting the schedule at all: transfer window alignment. If MLS teams have to start playing games in July to make room for the winter break, it's going to be tougher for them to take advantage of the August silly season. Winter schedules work well in countries that play 32 or fewer match days a year. MLS played 42 last year accounting for playoffs and byes. That's pretty straightforward math. Take those 42 match days, add in 5 US Open Cup game dates, and 10 CCL game dates; remember that you need at least 4 weeks for preseason; and trying to fit those 57 dates into the 48 weeks left over isn't going to give you enough time for both a winter break and an offseason. Most leagues that play a fall-to-spring schedule either have shorter seasons with no playoffs (Russia, Poland), or don't take a winter break (England). For MLS to keep its 34-game schedule with playoffs and take both a winter break and a summer break is simply not practical. One or the other has to give, and I seriously doubt it's going to be the playoffs.
There's not a "total elimination." But there is (as MLS likely will continue to use more and more weeks within the 52-week year) more and more time when MLS will be "in-season" in the years ahead. The business will likely have to adapt and change, no doubt (if regular season schedule adjustments, large and small, may be on the horizon or distant horizon). MLS's off-season is longer than just about every other top flight off-season for league around the world, is it not? (At least among the leagues that play fall-to-spring.) Again, it would be a huge change for some/many operational realities for MLS. (But the idea of MLS at some point in the future playing pretty much when the German or Russian top leagues play, isn't that far fetched or unworkable of an idea, imo.) I do agree with this. If MLS wants to maintain a month-long post-season, it will likely need to reconsider if a 34-game regular season is workable (if it wants to schedule in more of the currently unused weeks of the calendar or if it wants truly avoid all FIFA dates or if it wants to not play a whole lot of mid-week games). There are a lot of scheduling variables that MLS does have some control over, and different/new decisions might be a part of what the league is doing operationally and with its schedule in 10 or 20 years time, or whenever.
Not to mention at some point the players are going to say, "Hey, you know what, we're allowed a few weeks of every year. Not just a break where we continue to train with the team, actual down time away from the game." I assume, like every other sports CBA I've heard about, the current CBA spells out the minimum amount of down time players get in a year and when that happens in relation to the season. My guess would be that its around 6 weeks. You'll have to include that in any schedule drawn up, and even if you figure the players will bend if they get something out of it they're going to have a minimum they won't bend on, probably in the area of 4 weeks.
That's for the 2 teams that made it to MLS Cup, right? What about the majority of the teams that were done in early Nov or late Oct? (Using those dates and not the Dec 1, 2012 date would move MLS to the other end of that list, right?)
The old CBA (I don't think the new one has ever been made public) required a minimum of 6 weeks of vacation, and 5 of those weeks had to be consecutive.
Many of them (including the Rapids I know) trained through the playoffs and in some cases up to MLS Cup.
If you're talking about MLS Cup to First Kick, this year it's 13 weeks. The Premier League and La Liga had a 14-week offseason this summer; Serie A had 15 weeks. MLS plays significantly more game than any of the above, especially given the current need for bye weeks.
I did the same basic calc, but including a couple more: 2012 offseasons (Last day of 11/12 games, and first day of 12/13 games): (Germany) Bundesliga: May 5 - August 24 (3 months 19 days) (Italy) Serie A: May 13 - August 25 (3 months 12 days) (Portugal) Premeira Liga : May 13 - August 19 (3 months 6 days) (England) EPL: May 13 - August 18 (3 months 5 days) (Netherlands) Eredivisie: May 6 - August 10 (3 months 4 days) (United States/Canada) MLS : December 1 - March 2 (3 months 1 day) (France) Ligue 1: May 20 - August 10 (2 months 22 days) That looks to me like a lot of very similar offseasons. MLS is even shorter (though not significantly so) than most of them there. I only took some of the more major leagues, so there may be a lot of European leagues which aren't considered as major which have shorter offseasons. The only part that possibly could be complained about is that most of the teams in MLS have a significantly longer offseason than that. However, transfer windows don't open until the MLS Cup is done with, so they can't actually do any changing of their team in that time.