I haven't read anything about MLS and its plans for 2012 after Montreal comes into the league. Do you think the league will go with 9 teams in the West and 10 in the East next season, or will we see a three-division alignment with 6 teams in the West, 6 or 7 in the Central, and 6 or 7 in the East? Is the season going to expand to 36 games, or will MLS stand pat with 34? One of the problems with growing the league could be the shifting of clubs from one division to another. If clubs play everyone twice, it's not such a big deal which division they are in, but it can be frustrating for some fans if clubs get bounced around too frequently. If I had to guess on a 3-division format, I would say Columbus would be in the East, with Chicago, Kansas City, Houston, Dallas, Colorado, and Salt Lake City in the newly created Central Division. If 3 divisions are used, would it be better to have the top 2 teams and 4 wild cards qualify for MLS Cup playoffs, or the top 3 teams and 1 wild card? I can live with either a 2 division or 3 division set up. For some, this may seem problematic. For others, it's a good problem to have in a growing, yet stable league.
Garber has made it clear that there will continue to be two conferences. The only reason to keep them during the last few years of a balanced schedule was because they would be necessary once the schedule became unbalanced again, which everyone knew was coming. He has also indicated previously that the owners do not want to extend the season beyond 34 games anytime soon. The only alignment question for 2012, then, is which conference has 10 teams and which has 9. My guess is that Houston will move back to the Western Conference to maintain a rivalry with Dallas, especially since New York is widely expected to get the 20th team in 2013.
Yeah, I think Houston moves back to the West. But I think the season will go 36 instead of 34 and will still be balanced. I think you have the will (fans, owners, national team coach, broadcasters), you have the capabilities (SSSs) and you have the need (weird uneven 19 teams).
so then there would be one conference with 9 teams and the other with ten, and apperently with 34 games. Assuming the east is the 9 team confrence and the west has 10 there can be various set ups. Using the Red bulls as my east example, and LA as my west example they could play NY- 10 games against all out of confrence (OOC) teams and 24 against all teams in confrence (IC) with a 3 games against each other team IC. LA- 9 games against all OOC teams and 25 games against IC teams facing all but two teams three times. This system leads to a pretty good situaton for the east, (not to mention the fact that a majority of IC play justifies confrences more) but the west needs something to balance things out. But still this is a pretty good situation. Though I question how the playoffs are going to work out.
The keep two conferences, move Houston back to the West. When team 20 comes in, they'll re-evaluate. (I'm not sold on the faux-Cosmos, yet). I see a team in the Midwest (Twin Cities, St Louis, Indy, Milwaukee) as being more likely than the Cosmos (or, as their supporters probably pronounce it, the Cothmoth) Book it
Supposedly there was a big meeting on Friday to discuss the 2012 alignment. I've not seen any leaks from that yet.
I have a strong feeling that the next time you post about the league here or anything related to it, that that post will absolutely suck.
Bumped, and I'm sorry if this comes across as egotistic, or as a "cool story bro" moment but- WHO CALLED IT!? Okay so I got the amount of teams in the east and west backwards, (I honestly thought they'd want to put Houston back in the west) but still it was otherwise completely accurate to my suprise. I guess great minds think alike.
Christ on the cross, what a load of bullshit. MLS really needs to get their act together and get rid of this overly-crowded playoff format, nonsensical conference alignment and now, moronic schedule. Just go to a God damned single table league and continue to have everybody play each other twice, home-and-away. Top 8 should go to the playoffs. Sounds easy enough. Also, I laughed at the 2011 East finals as it was heavily expected that Houston would be sent back to the west for 2012 in order to make room for Montreal, and that KC, the other finalist, would be sent back to the west again in 2013 to accommodate the reborn Cosmos. If there was ever a time for a single table MLS, this is it.
The Eastern Conference will remain the same with the addition of Montreal; as will the Western Conference.