The question with pro/rel is always what problem does it solve? The owners have the league they want so barring some massive change in how soccer works globally there isn't anything that's solved for the owners by having pro/rel. We're used to leagues in NA where there isn't a balanced schedule. Ther chance that Crew SC is in the Great Lakes division with 5 other teams in a 30 team league is much more likely than pro/rel ever is.
Ted, is that you? It is crazy to think people who buy a major league team and pay a whopping expansion fee will agree to let their team be dropped into a minor league.
This x1000000. Pro/rel isn't realistic in MLS because current owners aren't going to want to have the value of their investment decreased dramatically just because their team plays poorly for 1 season.
Or, say, it's also a lot more likely that we end up with two distinct conferences with very little inter-conference play. In essence, an MLS with 28-30 teams starts to look a lot like two Div. 1 leagues. Why MLS owners would have any interest whatsoever in pro-rel is beyond me. Oh, that's right, they don't. It's only nutjobs like the guy who just bought the NY Cosmos who continue blather on about it.
I'm a Buckeye fan first and foremost and I despise all things Meatchicken. I don't like the Wolverines,Lions,Redwings,Tigers etc... MSU I can tolerate MLS expands to 28 teams you just play 13 other teams in your Confrence home & home and that's 26 games leaving 8 western Confrence opponents you play 4 home , 4 away which would be very similar to the current scheduling
Argentina has 30 teams in their top division. And I do think they look at what the market can handle for NFL, NBA, etc and that is in the 30's. Seem reasonable that a country this large and rich they should be able to handle 32 or 36 teams. Before Pro/Rel in the MLS, I see like a East and West Division and they only meet during the playoffs or something like that. Honestly no one has ever made a good case for Pro/Rel for me so I a biased.
Promotion/relegation with USL is what the masses seem to want. What the masses want is what the masses will never get. 14 teams in MLS 1 14 teams in MLS 2 Conferences in each division. MLS 1: Top eight teams in MLS 1 make MLS Playoffs headed towards MLS Cup. Bottom three get relegated. MLS 1 has marquee games on Sundays. MLS 2: Top two teams get promoted. Teams in positions 3-10 get a promotion playoff. MLS 2 has marquee games on Fridays. Or: I could also see them go to divisions within the conferences real soon while keeping it all one league. Try something like this: Pacific Division: Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Jose, LA, LA2, RSL Northeast Division: Montreal, NE, NYRB, NYC, DC, Philadelphia Central Division: Chicago, Columbus, KC, Minnesota, Toronto South Division: Dallas, Houston, Orlando, Atlanta With a little strategic expansion, something close to those divisions might be crazy enough to work. And no, I don't see Miami happening.
Are you could see the league go back to 3 conferences, West, Central, and East. As far as pro/rel goes, yeah, I'd love to have it. Not BS MLS1 and MLS2 version, I'd want MLS and USL movement. Of course, it won't happen, so I'm over it.
No investment group that ponied up over $100 million in franchise fees will put up with relegation. No tin foil hat required.
I don't for a moment believe that a majority of MLS fans really care if we ever have pro/rel, either.
Going about it the wrong way...you paid 100 Million to get into Major League Soccer but you have to win to get into SUPER MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER!!!!one. The bottom 4 teams in SMLS!one get relegated to Major League Soccer. *please note I am not in favor or Pro/Rel ever in MLS or SMLS!one
**Existing MLS teams can pay a one-time fee of $200m to join the SMLS!1 in year one. Missing MLS slots to be filled by deserving expansion teams. I like it. I think Pro/Rel would be really cool, but I also don't believe it is necessary, nor do I believe that it will ever actually happen. The thing that I love most about Pro/Rel is the FA Pyramid system that goes all the way down to the beer leagues so that your weekend beer leagues that join the FA could theoretically advance to the EPL. That's just a cool-as-f#<% concept that I'd love to see here, but it would take longer than my lifetime for us to create enough viable levels to make it to the Sat. Rec leagues in the US.
I want to see Pro/Rel with college football and the NFL. The colleges would probably fight it because they would lose money and actually have to care about their athletes. . .
It's happened--but usually by a big name sponsor picking up such a team and giving it lots of money. RB Leipzig is one such example, and Hoffenheim is another. Correspondingly, there's some former first division teams I knew about when I was younger that are down in the 6th division now or lower. Tennis Borussia Berlin is one (always loved that name). I'm sure my English friends here could come up with a few from the English leagues. One of the Regional Leagues in Germany (4th division and essentially amateur to semi pro) has no fewer than six former Bundesliga teams.
OK. I'll bite. Sudwest? But I can only think of five - Wynalda's Saarbrucken, Dooley's Homburg, Ulm, Stuttgarter Kickers, Offenbach? Who is number six?
Just got done watching Toronto v Atlanta (no, I don't have a life). What a game. First 75 mins or so were spectacular. Game tailed off a bit at the end, but with the end to end action and pace being set by both teams, there was no way they could keep it going for all 90. If you have MLS Live, watch this shit tomorrow. Exact opposite of the shitshow of a game in Chicago today.