For those of you who want a Euro calendar

[Matrim55]

It was 9 degrees fahrenheit this morning in New York City. It's not going to break freezing til the middle of the month. February sucks for outdoor sports.

Two seasons: The first weekend of March (have the cold weather cities play the first couple of weeks on the road) til the end of June, then the first weekend of August til the end of November. Two weeks of playoffs (Wednesday-Saturday/Sunday, Wednesday-Saturday/Sunday), then the MLS Cup game at some place that's not going to freeze your jiblets off in the middle of December, a la the College Cup.

Though I guess they had a bit of trouble with that this year.

Anyway, that's an 8 month regular season and 2 1/2 weeks of playoffs. All of December and January off, February training camp (and if MLS is smart they'll start doing some of that in the Caribbean), and a nice fat break in July for R&R, national team committments, etc etc.

And frankly, I don't give a damn about how it plays in the national press, the international press, or the blogsphere. MLS has to come up with a longer season - has to - but has to work around the realities of the US's hugely diverse climate, not whether or not some intern put enough splenda in Jim Rome's coffee.

[BigKris]

No argument here about avoiding January/February play. I think it would absolutely kill attendance. I'm not opposed to your proposal, but I'm not sure I understand the urgency to change the status quo. In particular, this...

MLS has to come up with a longer season - has to

...caught me unawares. What's the rationale that says the season is too short? Or is my sarcasm detector not working?

[Matrim55]

...caught me unawares. What's the rationale that says the season is too short? Or is my sarcasm detector not working?
I'm not a great believe in conventional wisdom, but I'm pretty sure the CW is that the MLS offseason is way too long, and in this case I agree. Soccer is a 9 months out of the year sport, and the league should take advantage of that.

[chelsea new yorker]

Agreed -
one thing about the season - Ireland, Russia, and Scandinavia play in summer. I don't read much about their being "outcast"... Germany has an extensive winter break, when they play ice hockey.
Having a season in early summer makes it bearable in many US and Canadian cities. North America is too big a place otherwise.

[Nyghtewynd]

It's six freaking degrees right now in St. Louis. I don't go outside for much longer than it takes for the dog to fertilize the lawn. You couldn't pay me enough to go outside for two hours and watch a match. That schedule will never work here unless you locate every team in California, Arizona, and Florida.

[onefineesq]

It's six freaking degrees right now in St. Louis. I don't go outside for much longer than it takes for the dog to fertilize the lawn. You couldn't pay me enough to go outside for two hours and watch a match. That schedule will never work here unless you locate every team in California, Arizona, and Florida. Tell that to the nutcases calling for a schedule playing thru the winter. Say what you want about playing in 90 degree heat, but it's better than playing thru the 20 degree temps ............ hands down. Period. I LOVE soccer, but you ain't catching me at games in this weather. January and February are non-starters for playing an MLS schedule.

[Relay]

Tell that to the nutcases calling for a schedule playing thru the winter. Say what you want about playing in 90 degree heat, but it's better than playing thru the 20 degree temps ............ hands down. Period. I LOVE soccer, but you ain't catching me at games in this weather. January and February are non-starters for playing an MLS schedule.
Nutcases here lol
WellI dont know when MLS will play or if the games will be able to see for non americans on the net?
And i see no problem to have the games in Januari in the US yiou have big domes right well they could play there if it is too cold outside.

[denver_mugwamp]

Denver has been in the worst deep freeze I've ever seen. I think it's either 5 or 6 weekends in a row with snow. I keep shoveling a path for the mailman to get to my box and there's now about 4' drifts on either side of the path.

I just want our Euro-centric friends to realize that global warming isn't uniform around the world. When the Gulf Stream shuts down, there will be polar bears in Scotland and the climate of London will resemble Minnesota. But the good news will be that MLS will finally be on the "world's schedule".

[Matrim55]

Denver has been in the worst deep freeze I've ever seen. I think it's either 5 or 6 weekends in a row with snow. I keep shoveling a path for the mailman to get to my box and there's now about 4' drifts on either side of the path.

I just want our Euro-centric friends to realize that global warming isn't uniform around the world. When the Gulf Stream shuts down, there will be polar bears in Scotland and the climate of London will resemble Minnesota. But the good news will be that MLS will finally be on the "world's schedule".
I want to find a way to hack BigSoccer so I can rep this post more than once.

[Relay]

Denver has been in the worst deep freeze I've ever seen. I think it's either 5 or 6 weekends in a row with snow. I keep shoveling a path for the mailman to get to my box and there's now about 4' drifts on either side of the path.

I just want our Euro-centric friends to realize that global warming isn't uniform around the world. When the Gulf Stream shuts down, there will be polar bears in Scotland and the climate of London will resemble Minnesota. But the good news will be that MLS will finally be on the "world's schedule".
Here we got the mildest winter i ever seen in my life. I live in Sweden 9 plus celsius in januari and the snow only stayed for 48 hours before it all melted away.
And you talking about polar bears in Scotland??????

[Jasonma]

I hate the idea of forcing every cold weather team to open every season on the road. Other than that, no problem.

[Clint Eastwood]

Today here in upstate New York it's ~4 degrees, snowing like a banshee, and thw wind is out of control. It's a frozen death trap on the roads.

Forget about soccer, people won't leave the house to buy toilet paper.
Goodbye to Rochester as a potential expansion city if we go to the international schedule.

Maybe Garber wants a league full of teams in California and Texas.

[Capt. Chaos]

I think you can only consider the Euro calendar when Global warming takes full effect. I mean in December it was in the 50's here in Chicago. On Sat, Sun and today it is brutal. I think it was ZERO at one point on Sunday and today it was -9 at O'Hare Airport with windchills at -25.

Like I told my buddy, i'd rather watch Soccer in 100 degree weather than 0 degree weather (and he said there likely would be no game because it would be too dangerous to play at 0 degrees)

[TxFan]

Denver has been in the worst deep freeze I've ever seen. I think it's either 5 or 6 weekends in a row with snow. I keep shoveling a path for the mailman to get to my box and there's now about 4' drifts on either side of the path.

I just want our Euro-centric friends to realize that global warming isn't uniform around the world. When the Gulf Stream shuts down, there will be polar bears in Scotland and the climate of London will resemble Minnesota. But the good news will be that MLS will finally be on the "world's schedule".

Rep!

[BigKris]

It's six freaking degrees right now in St. Louis.

Today here in upstate New York it's ~4 degrees, ...

You guys know the rest of us were talking about MLS, right? You piddling, second-division cities can play on whatever calendar you like. :D

[Matrim55]

You guys know the rest of us were talking about MLS, right? You piddling, second-division cities can play on whatever calendar you like. :D
I just repped a DC fan.

It burns...

[LeftBackYank]

A lot of good points, but the fact is, most of the country's weather is tolerable up to Christmas. And given the odd postponement due to a frozen field, must games would come off without a hitch.

Then take a six-week break.

Play the All-Star game (if we must continue to endure this farce of a game) in a warm-weather city or in a dome on the same weekend as the NHL all-star game, the week before the Super Bowl.

Start up again around Valentine's Day. Yes, this means all the northern teams play a couple of road games when the league kicks again, but big deal. Back to the normal routine the first week of March.

Let's not kid ourselves, MLS has a lot more problems to solve before they tackle this one.

[Jabinho]

I think going to the "international schedule" is long long away..
Certain things must happen before it can be successful..
At least most of them..
The teams must control their own schedule.. IE: All the teams must play in their own stadiums not shared with pointy ball teams.

In cold weather areas, heated fields and stands like many Euro stadiums have such as PSV's stadium. They even have an advanced system to keep the grass growing. Not likely for a long long time.. Not sure how feasible to "retrofit" existing stadiums like Chicago's would be and if the expense would be considered too much and for how long it would be too much. Heated stands may not even be effective with the types of roofs we use and in Columbus??
May be a no-go idea..

Passion level for their teams in cold weather cities such that they could care less what the temp' is... See Green Bay Packers...;)

Interest level so secure competition with college football not "deadly" during fall play...
Likely the smallest of the problems in a good percentage of the cities. Not really sure on that one..

[LeftBackYank]

Compete with tackle football in the fall? Why even try? Go to a Tuesday and Wednesday night primetime game schedule whenever possible, and stick with night games on Saturdays. Most college teams are done by 5pm, so in most markets, there's no conflict. Most soccer fans I know would skip a game on TV that doesn't involve their team to go to a hometeam MLS game.

Avoid Sundays like the plague. MLS can't win. Which is why it is so FREAKING UNBELIEVEABLE that they keep putting the MLS Cup Final up against NFL games on a Sunday afternoon. This continues to be detrimental for the league.

[DoctorD]

Never forget that the biggest effect of the US's climate is on youth training. I don't care if a kid has the touch of Pele, if he passes out after 15 minutes at 32F or 95F, he ain't going to learn soccer here.