[MLS1FAN]

This year the MLS Cup playoffs were the most exciting of MLS playoffs history in my opinion, it captivated MLS fans from coast to coast and in fact the rating were the highest of any MLS playoffs on ESPN this year. But could the league please do something about this part of the playoff system that's most flawed, last year the Red Bulls won the west although they are clearly from the eastern region of the United States.

Mr. Garber likes the idea of the east/west conferences and he said this past weekend in an interview, the moment he is fired the conferences will go away, for the many fans who can not wait that long and do not mind the idea of conferences. For those fans, maybe a good solution would be to have the conferences idea restructured and renamed, maybe the league could put the playoff top 8 clubs in divisions and move these clubs only in divisions at the end of the regular MLS season when the league switch to it's MLS playoff season, where the top 8 playoff clubs could be placed in divisions for the second season (the playoff season) and give each division names not tied to any geographical region.

This could be a better solution to something other than the current east and west conferences. To eliminate conferences in the regular season, could reduce the confusion when a team from the west still can win the eastern conference due to the way the playoffs are structured in this league. Maybe it would be better to do away with the two east and west conferences and replace it with divisions and instead of giving the club winners geographical locations, give them names like how it's done in hockey (NHL)!

For example you could have the clubs in the playoffs grouped into two divisions, first group would be the Rothenberg Division and the Clubs from the other group would be represented by the Hunt Division, that way if the lower seed team has to switch geographical regions in the playoff, it doesn't seem so ridiculous saying a team from the west are the east conference champions. The league could move to a single table format for the regular season with the top eight sides at the end of the regular season grouped in playoff divisions for the winners of both divisions advance to the MLS Cup title game.

This structure shouldn't hurt the development of regional rivalries because every region have developed already some kind of rivalry competition cup like the California Cup, Super Classico, Rockey Mountain Cup etc!

Your thoughts, should we keep things as they are with the two conferences or should we revap the system to something different that could work better than what we currently have now?

[RapidStorm]

Here we go again...

I'm not going to respond to every one of your points, because it's a waste of time, but here's what I will say:

1) Does the concept of travel distances ever enter your mind, when thinking about restructuring conferences? If the league is going to a balanced schedule permanently, this might not make a difference. But I have a hard time believing they'll keep adding extra weeks to the schedule because of the problems they already have with the FIFA calendar. Thus, if teams are playing different schedules, and you've got the league aligned into arbitrary conferences, someone like DC may have to make 2 cross-country trips to Seattle, whereas NY may make only 1 of those trips to Seattle and have its 2 trips to NE instead. Add up the costs, the fatigue for the players, etc. and it's just creating a larger clusterfuck than there needs to be.

2) What's the point of realigning teams into top 8 and bottom 8 if the schedule is/should be balanced?

3) The NHL does not call their leagues by historical figures' names any longer. And if the minutia of the name "east" and "west" bothers you, take a deep breath, then research the NCAA basketball tournament.

4) What is broken with the current conference system that actually requires things to be fixed? Anything besides the name?

and, preemptively, 5) WE DO NOT LIVE IN EUROPE.

[El Naranja]

How is it confusing that NY won the West last year, and RSL the East this year?

We're hardly the only league in this country where that has happened.

[MLS1FAN]

Originally Posted by RapidStorm

Here we go again...

I'm not going to respond to every one of your points, because it's a waste of time, but here's what I will say:

1) Does the concept of travel distances ever enter your mind, when thinking about restructuring conferences? If the league is going to a balanced schedule permanently, this might not make a difference. But I have a hard time believing they'll keep adding extra weeks to the schedule because of the problems they already have with the FIFA calendar. Thus, if teams are playing different schedules, and you've got the league aligned into arbitrary conferences, someone like DC may have to make 2 cross-country trips to Seattle, whereas NY may make only 1 of those trips to Seattle and have its 2 trips to NE instead. Add up the costs, the fatigue for the players, etc. and it's just creating a larger clusterfuck than there needs to be.

2) What's the point of realigning teams into top 8 and bottom 8 if the schedule is/should be balanced?

3) The NHL does not call their leagues by historical figures' names any longer. And if the minutia of the name "east" and "west" bothers you, take a deep breath, then research the NCAA basketball tournament.

4) What is broken with the current conference system that actually requires things to be fixed? Anything besides the name?

and, preemptively, 5) WE DO NOT LIVE IN EUROPE.

No one is saying anything about realigning clubs here, I am saying have one table format for the regular season for the entire league and in the playoff season we take the top 8 playoff clubs and split them in two divisions with the winners of the two playoff division clubs advancing to the MLS Cup final! That's what I am saying here, nothing about realigning or anything else like that...

THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH LIVING IN EUROPE OR HERE IN NORTH AMERICA!

[Calexico77]

Originally Posted by MLS1FAN

For example you could have the clubs in the playoffs grouped into two divisions, first group would be the Rothenberg Division and the Clubs from the other group would be represented by the Hunt Division, that way if the lower seed team has to switch geographical regions in the playoff, it doesn't seem so ridiculous saying a team from the west are the east conference champions.

This.

Sorta.

I'm a fan of the old NHL, so the whole "Campbell Cup" and "Wales Conference" appeals to me.

I think you touch on a good point, though. There's nothing structurally wrong with MLS playoffs - if they just went from "Western Conference Finals" to "Semi-finals" a lot of the hand-wringing would go away.

[RapidStorm]

Originally Posted by MLS1FAN

No one is saying anything about realigning clubs here, I am saying have one table format for the regular season for the entire league and in the playoff season we take the top 8 playoff clubs and split them in two divisions with the winners of the two playoff division clubs advancing to the MLS Cup final! That's what I am saying here, nothing about realigning or anything else like that...

If that is what you're saying, than your thread title and constant use of words like "restructuring" and "say something completely different.

And for the record, the NHL changed its conferences from people's names to geographic reasons because they found the names confused people more than the regions did. Additionally, name me one time when people were confused by Dallas winning the NFC East, or Indy winning the AFC South, or the Detroit Red Wings winning the Western Conference, etc...

[RadioGonzo]

Originally Posted by Calexico77

This.
There's nothing structurally wrong with MLS playoffs - if they just went from "Western Conference Finals" to "Semi-finals" a lot of the hand-wringing would go away.

Don Garber himself mentioned at the Supporters Summit that he likes to give away an additional trophy, and that Beckham didn't get up on the stage at the semifinals because they hadn't won anything yet. If "Conference Champions" needs to mean anything, then let it be the regular season Conference winner. If he needs to give away more trophies, just call the semifinal winner the Volkswagon or Honda cup or something like that. I mean we already have 3 major cups (USOC, MLSCup and SS) is that not enough?

[MLS1FAN]

Originally Posted by RapidStorm

If that is what you're saying, than your thread title and constant use of words like "restructuring" and "say something completely different.

And for the record, the NHL changed its conferences from people's names to geographic reasons because they found the names confused people more than the regions did. Additionally, name me one time when people were confused by Dallas winning the NFC East, or Indy winning the AFC South, or the Detroit Red Wings winning the Western Conference, etc...

I hear you, you were confused!

You came on to shine like a star, but you did not understand my main point. I just put the idea out there to get the thoughts of people like yourself, no one is saying it's the best or worst of ideas. Now just because Dallas is in the NFC east, does that mean it's correct? There was to much history there already when the NFL was last considering realignment! So the NFL did not correct that problem when they had a chance to fix it. But the last time there were realignment in the NFL, a lot of other teams were correctly realigned as well!

[NHFootyFan]

Regional conferences are not going away, and will, over time, get stronger, not weaker. The carrying capacity if you will, of North America for teams in a major sport is about 30. But there is absolutely no way soccer teams can play a full home and away schedule against 30 teams.

Yes, I know, there are no plans to grow the league past 20 teams. On the other hand, eventually the league will want to get there.

The only way to manage this is a strong conference structure, perhaps even a divisional one like the NFL...

[monster]

Originally Posted by MLS1FAN

Mr. Garber likes the idea of the east/west conferences and he said this past weekend in an interview, the moment he is fired the conferences will go away, for the many fans who can not wait that long and do not mind the idea of conferences.

I find it funny that you miss the humor in Garber's comment. I also admire how you snuck a pro/rel argument in here. Well done.