[cowtown]

Okay, here's one newbie's plan. I know it won't happen, but hey, that's why we have our ghetto thread, to indulge our flights of fancy. I fully expect to have holes poked into this scheme, but it was fun to think about. Then again, I thought creating pen-and-paper fixture lists for fictional gridiron leagues was a fun hobby when I was 11, so maybe I'm just nuts.

---

Pseudo-Relegation Scheme (Assume a 14-team MLS):

Initial assignment: Teams with the top 7 point totals from the season before form Conference One; the rest form Conference Two.

Regular season: Home and Away twice to each team in own Conference. Home & Away once to teams in other Conference. 38 games total. If you're in the tougher Conference you have harder games, but you will be rewarded, and a high level of success will be rewarded handsomely.

Conference Two Playoffs: Top 3 teams make Conference Two Playoffs, which are played in one week like they were two legs of an aggregate match. Single match between the #2 and #3, with the winner playing the #1. Winner of single match is "champion" of Conference Two and becomes #8 in MLS Cup playoffs.

MLS Cup playoffs: All 7 Conference One teams plus the winner of COnference Two. Round 1 is #6 vs #7 and #5 vs #8 (format is aggregates). Round 2 is #3 vs lower-seeded winner and #4 vs higher-seeded winner (aggregates). Semifinal Round is #1 vs lowest remaining seed and #2 vs the other survivor from Round 2 (single match). MLS Cup Final is the last two teams in a single match.

Promotion/Relegation: The winner of Conference Two goes up and the loser of the #6 vs #7 playoff game goes down. The next team out of the playoffs between #5, #6, and #7 will play a "play-out" game against the Conference Two runner-up in a single match, with the winner spending the next season in Conference One.

Benefits: Could be implemented as soon as San Jose comes back. Vastly increased importance for the regular season and Supporters Shield. #1 and #2 in effect get three rounds worth of byes. Teams finding themselves at #6 and #7 towards the end of the season will bust their humps to get those byes for the 3-4-5 slots, and all teams will want to stay out of the 5-6-7 slots to avoid the possibilty of relegation. The Conference Two teams will desperately want those top three slots in their conference, especially the #1 slot with a bye. There will also be something a bit more like a traditional Euro-league balanced schedule. Finally, the MLS Cup would become something unique in American pro sports, a bit of a hybrid between standard playoff tournament and the Carling Cup or the UEFA Cup.

How it maintains the status quo and/or why the powers-that-be might like it: (I thought about putting this into "Benefits," but it seems like it could cut both ways, so I'll put it in its own section.) Including the "play-out" game, it has one more (12) playoff matches/legs, so no money will be lost on that front. Even "relegated" teams still get at least one set of home and away matches with Beckham and/or that team's traditional rivals. "Relegated" teams get their chance at the same playoff tournament as the top teams; it's a lot harder, but it still features an American style tournament for the overall championship. By having ostensibly "worse" teams playing each other more often, you get an NFL-like variation in strength of schedule allowing more teams to finish with "nice" records and keep fans showing up. Finally, even while beefing up the importance of the regular season, 10 of 14 teams make the playoffs in some form or another.

Disadvantages: Everything people already say about why pro-rel won't work is still here, although it's mitigated somewhat. It's not TRUE pro-rel and it's not American, so maybe it will satisfy no one. Travel would be up in the air and would be more expensive than with static geographic conferences. This plan, exactly as it is, is not very scalable, so changes (mostly to the regular season) would need to be made as expansion occurs. There are probably strategic implications I am not thinking of with as to why someone might NOT shoot for promotion, but I think every league and tournament structure has some aspects which might potentially reward those who hold back in some games. The unbalanced nature of the schedule could create legitimacy issues for any team winning the MLS Cup by way of Conference Two. Finally, regular season of 38 games plus what comes out to about a 5-6 week playoff tournament might be a scheduling nightmare, but that's why we're building SSS's, right?

---

As I look through this, I think it basically creates a single table with very unbalanced schedules, and expands the ability of mediocre teams to get INTO the playoffs while trying to skew those playoffs to the benefit of better ones. The extra meaning provided to the regular season and the fun of a more fluid league structure might be worth it however.