I took a stab at cutting the teams up into four-team divisions and this is what I came up with (I got stuck on one). California Division LAG LAFC SJ SAC (Future) Desert (or Intermountain Division) COL RSL LV (Future) PHX (Future) I like Desert division better than Intermountain since three of the teams are in the desert. Cascadia Division SEA POR VAN Unknown (I'm stumped unless Spokane or Boise gets a team). Texas Division FCD HOU AUS (Probably by 2020) San Antonio (Future) Northern Atlantic Division NER NYRB NYCFC PHI Southern Atlantic Division DCU ATL ORL MIA Midwest Division CHI CIN CLB NSH Snowbelt Division MIN DET (Future) TFC MON I couldn't figure out where to stick St. Louis, so too bad, they are out.
Shift RSL to the Cascadia Division and move Kansas City to the Desert Division. Done. St. Louis misses out on the expansion again.
I forgot about Austin, my bad Three divisions seems like a nightmare not only for scheduling but for playoff setups. I also don't think there is any setup that would make sense for an NFC/AFC type setup. Original teams vs newer teams? Seems odd. Those other two leagues had precedent to stand on in making those distinctions, our league has none. Just go straight conference like the NBA.
Yeah, the more I do this, the more it might make sense to do 4 divisions of 8 teams, instead. Top 2 teams qualify, top team gets a bye, next best 4 get the remaining spots. WEST NW - VAN, SEA, POR, SJ, RSL, COL, MIN, SAC SW - LAG, LAFC, FCD, HOU, AUS, PHX, STL, SKC EAST NE - TFC, MTL, NYRB, NYCFC, DCU, NER, DET, PHI SE - ATL, ORL, CHI, CLB, NSH, CIN, MIA, StL Scheduling (not anywhere near as "clear"): - Everyone in your division 2 times (14 games) - Everyone else in your conference once (8 games) - Everyone in one of the other divisions once (8 games) 2 year cycle of rotating who is home and away - Half of the other division once (4 games) 2 year cycle of which half it is before you switch divisions on the third year
I agree that it will probably be like the NBA/NHL. However, I could see an AFC/NFC type situation if MLS wanted to make it so you could have an all-NY or all-LA final. Now with a 40-team league, you'd definitely have an AFC/NFC situation since MLS isn't going to have pro/rel and shouldn't.
I think the league would rather they have those teams play in the same division/conference and guarantee they can get a few TV slots each year rather than roll the dice hoping they make a run to the finals in order to get the game.
Didn't the idea get floated around during the whole pro/rel debate late last year that MLS could go to a MLS 1 and MLS 2 system? 40 teams, 2 leagues, pro/rel within the 2 leagues but owner/operators wouldn't lose money because even if you were relegated you were still in MLS. Don't shoot me, just asking.
It's only ever been floated by soccer pundits who try to cram the square peg of pro/rel into the round hole of the modern sports environment. It's very very unlikely to happen. With MLS1 and MLS2, you're still going to run in to all the issues that you'd run in to if MLS teams were relegating to USL or some other D2. Besides, with 40 teams you can have two separate D1 "leagues" that only meet in the finals and Open Cup.
Seattle Sounders part owner Paul Allen died today. He also owned the NFL Seshawks, NBA Portland Trailblazers, and founded a small software firm called Microsoft
Not to quibble, but you have STL twice. 4 divisions, 8 teams per division will work out as well as anything. But, I would rather that the playoff format changed to one that the NHL had for a few years, the top eight teams in each conference qualified for the playoffs, but instead of playing within the conference, 1-8, 2-7, 3-6, 4-5, they played across conferences, i.e. the top team in one conference plays the bottom team in the other conference, etc. I think that would make the playoffs much more interesting since teams would be playing teams that they don't normally play during the regular season and it would give the MLS the possibility of a all NY or LA MLS Cup.
MLS tried something similar before, which is how NYRB ended up with a Western Conference Champions trophy, and how RSL and Colorado ended up with the EC Champions trophy. But I like the idea of going full inter-conference and having W1 v E8, E1 v W8, etc.
Instead of playing teams across conference in the playoffs what about all playoff teams ranked by points record. 1st plays worse and so on. So you might have cross conference match up or same conference match up but the top 2 teams would only meet in a finals and not a semi final.
this makes sense if you play a balanced schedule. Or even a somewhat close to balanced schedule Doing this with a 32 team schedule design, though, just isn't realistic or fair
Without doing an analysis, it appears that one good thing about this set up is that it would lessen the impact of travel on player and team performance.
I really don't see why MLS would stop expanding. I could see them getting to a point where they have enough teams in a top level. As has been discussed here with about 40 teams. But why stop there? England is barely larger than the State of Utah and has thousands and thousands of teams in their pyramid, like around 7,000. Unlike the other sports in the US soccer is just really starting to scratch the surface in its professional soccer team capacity. If Pro/Rel is the future, which it very well could be, wouldn't that increase the need for MORE teams? More solid professional leagues? Trying to implement Pro/Rel today would be an absolute disaster. Where would they go? The USL? Not a chance. Pro/Rel at the moment is nothing more than a fetish for soccer fans in the US that will have their hearts broken when the EPL gets a few more owners that vote to end it at their level. I could See MLS maybe ending expansion at around 80 teams in about 20 years from now and a couple leagues. MLS 1, 2, & 3 with them then trying to go to Pro/Rel when the infrastructure is there at each and every team and level. Just a thought.
TV markets drive everything in league expansion whether it's MLS, Big Ten, or NHL. While a country like England can support hundreds of pro clubs at various levels, it's important to remember that soccer is more ingrained in the culture than baseball is here and England's pro system was kind of janky until the modern era. In contrast, US pro leagues were pretty settled into their current forms in the 1920s for the most part. At one point in time, every mid-sized town along the Great Lakes had a pro football team. Ever wonder why the Hall of Fame is in Canton? Mill towns like Portsmouth and Ironton Ohio both had NFL teams at one point, but like most businesses, they moved to bigger cities. In England, a lot of these little teams were able to hold on due to the population density of the country. Pro/rel is a solution (I'd argue a bad one) to a problem that the US (and Mexico) doesn't have. MLS will probably settle out at around 30-32 but will never close the door on expansion. Once you hit that number, basically all the major and mid-sized markets are taken. There are good reasons why Portsmouth, Ohio is never getting a pro football team despite it being a hugely popular sport.
After thinking some more about the whole 32-team, 2 conference, 4 divisions set up, I have come up with this change for less travel. I wanted all teams in a division to be within a 2 hour flight from each other. Western Conference Cascadia Division SEA POR VAN Boise or Spokane. I prefer Boise but I would think Spokane would have more rivalry with Seattle. California Division LAG LAFC SJ SAC (Future) Desert DIvision RSL COL LV (Future) PHX (Future) Texas Division FCD HOU AUS (probably by 2020 if Precourt can get his head out) San Antonio (Future). If the Austin move falls thru, I think MLS should tell Precourt that he can move to San Antonio and if he doesn't like it, to go pound sand. Eastern Conference North Atlantic Division NER NYRB NYCFC PHI South Atlantic Divison ATL ORL MIA (Future) NSH (Future) I originally had DCU here, but after looking at the map, I decided that NSH was closer to ATL than DCU. Midwest Division FCC CLB CHI DCU I moved DCU here since it's closer to CLB and FCC than ATL. However, it really should be in the North Atlantic Division, but the addition of two NY teams kicks them to the curb. Snowbelt Division MIN DET (Future) TOR MON The Snowbelt division seems to have the most travel of all divisions, but given that MIN, DET, TOR and MON are all airline hubs (Delta and Air Canada), this shouldn't be that much of a problem getting decent flights. Unfortunately, SKC looks like the odd man out. It's kind of far from everyone else and it's no longer an airline hub (RIP Eastern). I guess you could put it with the Texas division or the Midwest division, but that doesn't feel optimal. So, let's just get rid of them. And there was much rejoicing!! There was also an idea of moving RSL to the Cascadia division. I guess that could happen, but the RSL would always win the Cascadia Cup and POR, SEA and VAN would cry.
no way in hell the league kicks out SKC. Not with the money they've put into facilities not only for themselves but the national team. They're a lock on the levels of the LA and NY teams, just not for the obvious big market reasons.
Boise and Spokane are never getting a major league team. There not even on the MLS expansion radar. I like your divisions overall but in the west it gets tricky because of the distances involved. Another spitball from me. 30 teams. Two Conferences with three regions each: WESTERN CONFERENCE Pacific Division Sacramento Republic* San Jose Earthquakes Los Angeles FC Los Angeles Galaxy Phoenix* Northwest Division Vancouver Whitecaps Seattle Sounders Portland Timbers Real Salt Lake Colorado Rapids Plains Division Sporting Kansas City St. Louis FC* FC Dallas Houston Dynamo Austin FC* EASTERN CONFERENCE Great Lakes Division Minnesota United Chicago Fire FC Cincinnati* Columbus Crew Detroit* Atlantic Division Montreal Impact New England Revolution New York City FC New York Red Bulls Toronto Southeast Division DC United Philadelphia Union Atlanta United Orlando City Miami FC* *Expansion team I basically updated this reddit post https://www.reddit.com/r/MLS/comments/3wyy6d/possible_30_team_league_structure_by_2024/