I have this Quixotesque impulse to organize sport leagues and tournaments. I never actually write to someone that actually works with it, but I can't help myself. It just comes naturally to me. I see a league, and soon I am looking its history, how it has developed, its current context. Then, ideas on how to improve it simply keep popping on my mind. This week, for instance, it has happened with the World Baseball Classic and the Concacaf Champions' League. Concacaf has changed its Champions' League, and I think they could have made it better – especially with the transition, since teams from USA and Canada that had their spot secured can be left out of the competition. Concachampions has now two different tournaments: one, preliminary, from August to October; and, other, the Champions' League proper, from February to May. Both tournaments have 16 teams each and are played in series of knockout rounds. The champion of the preliminary tournament qualifies to the main competition, joining 15 others who qualify directly (4 MEX, 4 USA, 1 CAN, 1 CFU, 1 CRC, 1 HON, 1 PAN, 1 ELS, 1 GUA). Instead of making a new one from scratch, I decided to try improve upon the new system as Concacaf has established. Hence, there would be a qualifying stage with 4 home-and-away knockout rounds followed by a final stage also with 4 home-and-away knockout rounds. Differently from Concacaf's actual competition, however, no team would qualify directly to the final stage. This is how I envision the Concachampions: I. Qualifiers (August to October) a. First Qualifiers (2 rounds) - 48 teams divided in three zones Central Zone: 16 MEX; North Zone: 13 USA, 3 CAN; South Zone: 3 CFU, 3 CRC, 2 HON, 2 PAN, 2 GUA, 2 ELS, 1 NCA, 1 BLZ. Teams would be divided in pools of 4 teams each within their zones. Pools would have a semifinal round and a final round. The 12 pool champions would qualify to the main tournament. The 12 runners-up would compete in the Second Qualifiers. b. Second Qualifiers (2 rounds) - 12 teams Teams would be divided in 4 pools of 3 teams (from different zones) each. Once again, pools would have a semifinal round and a final round. The best ranked team from each zone, plus the best ranked team among the remaining competitors would be seeded, and would have a bye in the semifinal. The 4 pool champions would qualify to the main tournament. II. Champions' League (February to May) Finals (4 rounds) - 16 teams The Finals would be exactly how Concacaf has proposed. -- In adition to those changes, Concacaf's announced preliminary tournament could become its counterpart of Copa Sudamericana or of Europa League. Such a tournament would run like this: III. Qualifiers (August to October) a. First Qualifiers (1 round) - 40 teams divided in three zones Participating teams: 3 CFU, 2 CRC, 2 HON, 2 PAN, 2 GUA, 2 ELS, 1 NCA, 1 BLZ, 1 CAN, 24 eliminated in Concachampions' first round of Qualifiers; Central Zone: 8 teams (MEX); North Zone: 10 teams (9 USA/CAN, 1 UNCAF or CFU); South Zone: 22 teams (UNCAF/CFU). Home-and-away series, within the zones (except one North v South series); winners advancing to the Second Qualifiers. b. Second Qualifiers (2 rounds) - 32 teams divided in three zones Participating teams: 20 First Round winners; 12 eliminated in Concachampions' second round of Qualifiers. Teams divided in 8 pools of 4 teams each: Central Zone: 2 pools, 8 teams (MEX); North Zone: 2 pools, 8 teams (USA/CAN); South Zone: 4 pools, 16 teams (UNCAF/CFU; eventually, 1 USA or CAN). First round (semifinals) and second round (finals) in home-and-away series. The 8 pool champions advance to the Final Stage (or "Liga Concacaf"). IV. "Liga Concacaf" (February to May) Finals (4 rounds) - 16 teams Participating teams: 8 Liga's Qualifiers winners; 8 eliminated in Concachampions' Second Qualifiers. The Finals would be exactly like Concachampions.
For those curious about the WBC, here it goes: WBC should be inspired by ITF’s Davis Cup: made only of knockout series (best-of-three), with one team being the series’ host; and played during what today is the All-Star break. Year 1 – Round of 16 Year 2 – Quarterfinals Year 3 – Semifinals Year 4 – Finals The 16 teams would be: 8 winners in Round of 16; 8 qualifiers winners. Qualifiers would also be played in best-of-three series, and would happen parallel to the main tournament. The main issue, for me, though, would be the necessity of a week-long break. Teams would need time to travel across the world and back. Imagine the US playing a series against Japan in Tokyo, for instance. Even though games 2 and 3 could be played in the same day, two days for traveling before and after the series would be required.
This is, of course, assuming that MLB sticks with the tournament beyond this year. The IBF could always take up the mantle for organizing the event but, unlike FIFA, they lack the finances to organize it at this scale and the power to force MLB to release players. I simply hope that it continues...
Either way, neither of these really belong in this particular forum, despite being interesting to talk about. CCL considerations should been in the CONCACAF forum and WBC could go under international sports. I still would like to continue this.
My mistake. Here is the thread for the WBC: http://forums.bigsoccer.com/threads/fixing-the-world-baseball-classic.2039618 And the thread for the CCL is here: http://forums.bigsoccer.com/threads/fixing-champions-league-and-more.2039608/