That’s what you have to do and have the cold weather cities on the road for at least a month later in the season.
Yeah, that doesn't work on any level. You lose the PR momentum from the start of the season, you lose attendance in all markets (its hard to get casual fans to commit to coming out in back-to-back weeks, much less 4 or 5 in a row), you put teams at a competitive disadvantage, and all for what? An unnatural break in the middle of the season? No.
Look, it is not going to be easy getting people to come out for games in the colder climates when it’s cold and/or snowy or wet. If the solutions involve getting a sweater or putting teams on the road for an extended period, then those suggesting this are not from areas where you’d have to trek out in the cold or you don’t follow a team that would either end up starting a season with as series of road games or end a season with a series of road games messing with momentum. Look at road records in this league. If you’re playing 4-5 games to start or end the season, it is really going to screw with your season.
A number of critics have commented on the offseason being too long. But also the fact that when we look at the top leagues in Europe, they play 10 months, whereas a MLS season is 8 months. 4 months off is no longer a “break”, it’s bad for player development. The ideal is to have no more than 2 months off. Perhaps the colder climate teams might play more away games at the beginning and end of the season, although I would not recommend all of the games being played away. And, considering MLS teams are not under the pressure of competing with football like in the early days; it’s time we focused on recognizing international breaks as well as trying to get MLS teams in top level international competition. That’s the way forward. And, playing in the cold isn’t going to kill anyone.
The top European leagues play for no more than 9.5 months. Clubs in the Champions League Final or promotion playoffs could play longer. Over the last five complete seasons, the average time from the first Premier League game to the last one was 9 months 4 days. Furthermore, MLS has seven weeks of playoffs. The 2016-2017 Premier League ended 162 days after MLS Cup 2016, and the 2017-2018 Premier League started 161 days after the 2017 MLS regular season, so the offseason is about the same if you don't count playoffs as being the offseason.
We can all agree German teams and players are some of the best in the world, right? They play for 4 months, take a break (because, you know, winter), and play for 4 months. A total of 8 months. MLS teams play for 8 months not counting the playoffs. So don't give me this crap that what's holding us back is that MLS has too much down time.
Not only do I completely agree with this, but I'm going to take it a step further: Even if you could somehow prove to me that playing a nine month season was somehow better than eight, I'm STILL not interested in it, and I'm REALLY not interested in switching the calendar. Because it's more than just "bring a sweater," Mr. My Team Plays In An Indoor Dome Stadium In The South. I love being lectured by a fan of a team in a warm-weather market whose team just joined the league. Jason and I, however, live in markets with much brrrrrrrrrrr weather, including snow, ice, and snowy icy travel. It's more than "bring a sweater." It's bring a sweater, a top coat, a scarf, a ski mask, gloves, hand warmers, thermal long underwear, wool socks, and a shovel to dig your car out from underneath the snow. Then, it's dress up 10-year-old Jennifer and 8-year-old Jason in full-on snowman gear as well. Then it's pay $30 to $60 a ticket for a family of four to drive through snow, park in a parking lot that could be a nightmare to negotiate after the match if it snows during the game (and pay $15 to do it), and get the kids home in time to get to bed because it's Wednesday night. All for the pleasure of sitting outside for two-and-a-half hours in 20 degree temperatures or worse. At some point, would you like to try something that might actually encourage people to attend the matches? Part of the excuse as to why my team is about to be ripped away from my city is because of attendance. Because MLS is an attendance driven league. It's not as simple as "play the games whenever we want; people will still show up." And as Jason has stated many times in the past, having a month-long road trip to start the season doesn't wash, either. That leaves teams with month-long homestands later on. Which sounds great in theory, but when fans look at the schedule, they don't feel any urgency to buy tickets for any one particular game when the next one is four or seven days away for a month straight.
It sounds like a memorable adventure, as long as you aren't dealing with kids. Or you're older, or have anemia or certain other health problems that get in the way of being in the cold for extended periods or driving in poor conditions. But since all the fans are men in good health, ranging from 15-35 years old, who don't bring families, we should be set. More seriously, some teams get enough bad weather games as it is from just freakish weather. Giving them more would hurt both single game and season tickets.
Witty responses to our posts. Now how about you try addressing the actual concerns pointed out with your plan?
I’m teasing with the comment about Atlanta but there’s a serious note behind it. The fact of the manner is that cold weather teams play year round in every sport and in every country. The EPL doesn’t stop playing in the winter because of cold. Nor does the NFL stop playing because of the cold. All of these teams manage to work through the cold. Ultimately, it just sounds like whining and pandering to say that the cold weather teams cannot drum up enough support when it gets cold outside. Moreover, adding a few weeks at the beginning and adding a few weeks at the end, I don’t know of some radically climate change that happens in such a short period of time that makes the games unplayable to playable in a matter of weeks. In essence, It just sounds like a lame excuse. If fans won’t show up, then maybe that says something else about that team. The benefits far outweighs the cons. We can have more respect for the FIFA calendar, we have less layoff in playing time between seasons (sometimes as great as 4 months!), and we might have the opportunity, to schedule some real money maker international tournaments in the summer, where we can see the best of MLS eventually take on the best clubs in the world...something that would grow the interest of the league and help us become a top league in the world. Maybe you disagree... that’s fine. I’m just of the mind that this would improve the league overall.
The EPL is really the only major European league that doesn't take a winter break because of weather. Its called seasons. For example Denver's average temps on Feb 15th are a high of 46 and a low of 19. On March 15th its 54 and 26. By the end of March its 57 and 30. Columbus goes from an average high of 40 in Feb. to 52 in March. Chicago goes from 36/21 to 46/30. Something teams are apparently not worried about given that they get the option now of choosing to play through international weekends or not. Again, the same 4 month length of time that German teams are idle. The way we become a top league in the world is time and creating a league that people want to watch and attend, not with barnstorming European teams playing their scrubs against us every summer.
You know, I can quote every single sentence you have as well. For instance, I didn’t realize Germany didn’t play from November to March, learn something new! More, I don’t see how we can be a top league when we never compete against the best. But you have your point... I just don’t agree with it, as you don’t with mine.
I'll keep quoting things that are factually incorrect. Such as the fact that Germany doesn't play from mid-May to mid-August (3 months) or in January (1 month) which means they play for 8 months, the same length of time MLS plays without playoffs. Since when are friendlies "competition"? I mean, hasn't that been the point of the self-flagellation that US Soccer has been going through in the last month? There isn't enough pressure on the players, not enough consequences? How are a few friendlies against teams making a money run to the New World going to change that? I don't mind disagreements. I mind inaccurate facts and conclusions built on sloppy foundations.
”I’ll keep quoting things that are factually incorrect. Such as the fact that Germany doesn't play from mid-May to mid-August (3 months) or in January (1 month) which means they play for 8 months, the same length of time MLS plays without playoffs.” Not all at once. More, I didn’t realize I had said that Germany doesn’t play from the end of May to August. That’s news to me. But it could just be inaccurate information. Mind you, you also agreed about the EPL and ignored entirely about NFL teams playing in the same weather conditions in the middle of winter. “Since when are friendlies "competition"? I mean, hasn't that been the point of the self-flagellation that US Soccer has been going through in the last month? There isn't enough pressure on the players, not enough consequences? How are a few friendlies against teams making a money run to the New World going to change that?” I proposed an actual tournament to take place, with perhaps a cash prize at the end. Perhaps that won’t happen, perhaps it will. It’s been flirted with, but because it hasn’t happened yet doesn’t mean it won’t ever happen. The point is that the threshold to take MLS to elite status is to create meaningful competition between us and the best teams in the world. If you have an alternative to achieve that, I’d love to hear it. “I don't mind disagreements. I mind inaccurate facts and conclusions built on sloppy foundations.” No, you seem to over-personalize something pretty simple and in no way should create so much animosity. Nothing I presented was based on an inaccurate facts. You just don’t like what I proposed and took it to heart that maybe extending the season’s beginning and ending to fit in the things we should fit in, isn’t the worst idea. The epitome of not being able to tolerate a disagreement.
Oh really? I've already shown how this is factually incorrect. With that, I'll take my leave. If we can't even agree on basic facts there's no point in a discussion.
Garber's dream for 32 teams has to be 8 divisions of 4. Play everyone once, then 3 more games against your division mates. Playoff format can vaguely rip off the NFL. Only good thing would be rivalries like Cascadia being turned into a division (add Sacramento to the three PNW teams). Like the Brazilian state leagues but part of the regular season
^ I'm pretty sure 32-teams will be the end-game, but I think Garber is fairly serious that they're going to wait a couple of years to digest the current expansion teams and finish moving teams around from under-performing markets before embarking on a last round of expansion. As for a season calendar, I don't see them changing start-end dates anytime soon. They *might* add an additional 4 games to the regular season to offset going to a one-game-per-round playoff format to make up for lost revenue. The games can fit in the space extending the season to the November international break and add two mid-week games to every team schedule. More of a chance to use the lower roster spots and youth in the player rotation during the high tempo periods. I think it will be okay for Northern-based teams to go on the road for the first couple of games per season. TFC does it every year and there never is an issue with people losing interest in the home opener. End of March is usually tolerable to start playing home games. Montreal uses Stade Olympique in the early spring and if Detroit can use Ford Field, then it only leaves TFC, RSL, Colorado, SKC, Chicago, and Columbus (assuming they stay) as cities with winter weather issues at the start of the season.
Couple of games being 2 yes. 3 would be pushing it if you did it in every market every year but occasionally you could manage that. 3, 4, 5 in a row to start every year though is not sustainable.
If you are using the weather in England during the winter as a reason as to why MLS should play in places like Columbus, Chicago, Toronto etc in the Winter - Then you are a sandwich short of a full picnic.