Seattle's home MLS Cup win cements Sounders in the city's rich sporting legacy https://www.espn.co.uk/football/maj...ts-sounders-in-the-citys-rich-sporting-legacy Each time Seattle scored in the MLS Cup final, the fans' reaction registered on earthquake measuring devices https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/11/us/seattle-soccer-goals-seismograph-trnd/index.html Garber's state of the league and the arrival of MLS https://ussoccerplayers.com/2019/11/garbers-state-of-the-league-and-the-arrival-of-mls.html MLS Expansion: The increasingly unbalanaced schedule problem https://mlsmultiplex.com/2019/11/11/mls-expansion-increasingly-unbalanaced-schedule-problem/ Rapids set to premiere documentary on Tim Howard’s final season https://www.denverpost.com/2019/11/11/rapids-tim-howard-documentary/ Earthquakes sign 14-year-old to Major League Soccer contract https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/11/11/earthquakes-sign-14-year-old-to-major-league-soccer-contract/ Minnesota United denies declining Darwin Quintero contract option https://www.prosoccerusa.com/mls/minnesota-united-fc/darwin-quintero-contract-option-trade-rumors/ Inter Miami add Victor Ulloa to growing roster from FC Cincinnati https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2019/11/11/inter-miami-add-victor-ulloa-growing-roster-fc-cincinnati Trade, free agent targets for Atlanta United https://www.ajc.com/blog/atlanta-un...-trade-targets-sights/KunjOqGhJzoFf8rlhEqejI/ Canadian Premier League commissioner touts promotion-relegation, groundbreaking draft system https://www.prosoccerusa.com/in-depth/canadian-premier-league-commissioner-david-clanachan-touts-promotion-relegation-groundbreaking-draft-system/
I dunno, it seems like they could go with 4 divisions, like the NHL If they did 4 divisions with 7 or 8 teams it could work. I know they want a 34 game schedule, but would 36 be a deal-breaker? Teams in a 7-team division would play 2x6 within the division (12) and everyone else once, which would be 35 games in a 30-team league. One extra game vs a non-division team. The teams with 8 in the division would have 36 (7x2), plus once against everyone else. You woudln't want to have divisions that are too small. There are already 7 teams on the Pacific coast, and it would be 8 if Vegas or Phoenix get in. There are a bunch of other cities that have to be together, so we couldn't do like the NFL with 4-team divisions, or even like the NBA with 6 divisions of 5.
When we reach 32, why not 8 like the NFL? It would yield 6 division games (2x each team) and 7 other divisions of 4 (1x each) to yield 28 or a total of that MLS favorite number... 34. Playoff setup of each division winner and then the top 4 records in each conference, with 16 total playoff teams. Seems to work mathematically and follow somewhat the NFL prototype that Garber likes. What would your reservations be with this? It would also keep the Supporters Shield somewhat relevant. The small divisions would also create more intense rivalries among division opponents.
Yeah, that's all well and good, but how do you group the teams into fours? You can have Vancouver, Seattle, Portland and... who? only one of Sacramento or San Jose? Do you throw RSL into that division, and they'd be without Colorado? In the east, Montreal and Toronto go together, and you can put NE with them, but then who? Only one of the NY teams? Or if you go with NE, NYC, NYRB, and Philly, where do you put DC? There are a lot of other examples like this. Who do you put with the 3 Texas teams? I'd rather see 4 divisions of 8, but that makes for strange numbers of games. There would have to be 4 teams that you skip each year.
I get what you are saying about splitting up the "local" teams, but also keep in mind the NFL & MLB have had the NY/CA/FL teams all split between conferences for years. So it's not unheard of. I would go as far as to say it's even been a benefit to the NFL (not so much MLB), as they can sell two "national footprint" conference TV packages.
So, I realize that there is a thread about this in YBTD, but I gave it some thought after you asked. I still like two conferences, eight divisions of 4, 16 playoff teams (8 division winners and 4 next best teams in each conference. Here is how I would set up the eight divisions (assuming Garber’s front runners round out the 32): East 1: RBNY, NYCFC, PHL, DCU East 2: NER, TOR, MON, CHI East 3: OCSC, ATL, CHAR, MIA East 4: CBS, FCC, MUFC, NAS West 1: FCD, HOU, SKC, STL West 2: RSL, COL, PHO, AUS West 3: LAFC, LAG, SJE, LV West 4: POR, SEA, VAN, SAC
I don't think the grouping is as big a deal as you suggest. Yes, it would be RSL or Vegas with the Cascadia teams. The California clubs would form their own division. The 3 Texan teams would go with Phoenix. Depending on how expansion plays out (and whether we get Vegas or Detroit, you could have Montreal, Toronto, Detroit and Boston, with DCU, NYCFC, NYRB and Philadelphia in one division. Colorado could be with SKC, St Louis and Nashville. What I would say is that maybe the solution to this perceived problem is altogether different. Why do we have to have fixed divisions? What if we had 16 teams in each conference, and every year we had a draw to decide the 4 groups in each conference? Instead of using a completely random draw, we could base it on seeding. So the four division winners from one year couldn't be drawn into the same group the following year. The four runners up couldn't be drawn in the same group together. You could do the same with the 3rd and 4th place teams, or you could allow 3rd and 4th place teams to be drawn at random, which would still achieve balanced groups. Like the Champions League draw, it would become an event in its own right.
I kinda like the idea of random groups, but it would suck if the only away game you could travel to was not on the schedule. Like when MLS scheduled the Revs both games at Metro midweek... The NHL did something like this back in the 70s, with some random alignment--Montreal, LA, Detroit, Pittsburgh, or something like that. But they kept those divisions for several years until they brought in the WHA teams.