If MLS and Liga MX match ups continue to be as compelling as in 2018, English language CCL broadcasts will be coming to prime-time.
College basketball tournaments do that because it’s impractical to have more than 4 games in one day at a single site. I think in MLS such a format would lead to too many off days.
For comparison, none of the other major pro leagues in the U.S. has more than 16 playoff teams. While the NHL went to 16 teams when the league only had 21 teams, that's on the extreme side. The Eastern Conference has been at 16/8 since the realignment that moved Detroit back to the East. With Las Vegas and soon Seattle, the NHL will be at 32/16. The NBA is 30/16 The NFL is 32/12 MLB is 30/10 MLS is moving from 23/12 to 24/14 While MLS tracks higher than MLB and the NFL, it's pretty much in line with the historical track of the NHL and NBA which have both locked in at 16 while continuing to steadily grow. The NHL was 17/12 for the 78-79 season, then went to 21/16 after absorbing 4 WHA teams in 79-80. It has not increased the playoff bracket in nearly 30 years while adding ten teams, with an eleventh to come. The NBA was 23/12 for the 82-83 season (the same as MLS in 2018). The following year the league filled out the bracket to 23/16 without adding any teams. Over the last quarter of a century, the NBA has slowly added an additional seven teams. While MLS is its own business and will do what it deems in its own best interest, I think the track of the other league is notable. Another brake on pushing the playoff bracket beyond 16 teams would be the existence of the U.S. Open Cup. I think as the USOC slowly gains traction and visibility, it is a useful outlet for teams struggling in the league to provide playoff-like atmosphere and energy. DC United's run to Cup glory a few years back while trudging through one of the worst seasons in league history is a case in point. Both Chicago and Seattle cemented their local bona fides after expansion by focusing on winning the USOC. More recently other teams, like SKC, have cashed in and kept market momentum going by taking advantage of the Cup, with the odd Cup title breaking up what otherwise would've been a depressing soul-crushing run of late season collapses. Who knows, Maybe one day MLS will push the post-season past 16 teams, but I think that day is a long way off. I think we're more likely to see other Cup-like opportunities, perhaps a "pro cup" featuring Mexican, U.S., and Canadian pro teams (or maybe just LigaMX and MLS teams). I can definitely see the league trying to find an opportunity to create interest and knockout energy in a different part of the calendar. One thing MLS has over the other four established leagues is the international peers and a soccer culture that promotes multiple competitions. I vaguely recall some NBA teams playing some pre-season Manga-Cup like basketball tournaments against foreign clubs in Europe, but I don't think the NHL wants to usurp the Stanley Cup by creating a competition with the KHL, and likewise I don't see MLB having any interest in an international club competition, preferring the irregularly scheduled World Baseball Classic.
And that, if I recall, was part of the interest in both the NHL and NBA to push their playoffs from 12 to 16 teams - because even with a Best of 5 first round, the teams with the byes were worried about building up too much rust while waiting a couple of weeks to start their post-season. And another problem with the College Basketball Tournament style knockout is that it really imbalances the accumulation suspension issue. A team on their third game is probably going to have a player or two out while possibly playing another team in their first game, and even in that game, the former team will likely have several players trying not to pick up a second yellow while every player on the latter will have a clean slate. One could say that's another incentive to do better in the regular season, but I just don't see the format being used by MLS.
I'm curious about MLS in USOC. Because with 21 US teams they can't keep entering all in the round of 32, leaving only 11 berths to other leagues, and fewer berths in the next years... I think they should introduce USOC qualification in MLS, with the top 16 regular season (general ranking) entering Round 16, and the remaning teams entering in the previsous round.
Just want to pint out the WBC has actually been held at four year intervals following a one-year delay of the first tournament leading to a three-year gap. Since then it's been very consistent, and will remain such for the foreseeable future. The World Cup of Hockey, on the other hand, has been as erratic as anything, and the last version had all sorts of weirdness (like the U-23 North America team gimmick). Now that's a tournament that either needs to be taken more seriously or down away with.
National cups across Europe feature all first division teams. In some cases, the top teams enter in later stages, most notably in Italy.
What he's suggesting is that league position determine in which round a team enters the USOC a bit like the EFL Cup in England.
Which I think MLS already does. EDIT: Ah, they came in at the same stage this year, the round of 32 with 12 lower division survivors. They've done the staggered thing in the past, and in the league's early years there were some qualifying games - including two or three that were double-duty MLS league/USOC qualifying games.
What difference does it make if 5 teams enter in one round and 16 a game later or last year when all 20 teams entered in the round of 32?
Eventually MLS will have at least 25 eligible clubs. Introducing them over two or three rounds probably makes things better. It gives more lower level clubs a shot at an MLS team.
Sure, but that's not this year. I just don't think it really makes too much of a difference in the long run. Frankly, I had forgotten they all came in together in 2018, the way it's been done has changed so many times over the 20+ years of MLS tells me nothing is set in stone.
Again, there are currently only 21 teams. The USOC format seems to change every couple of years, so I wouldn't expect the format from 2018 to suddenly be locked in. And the other option would be just to put all pro teams in at a round of 64 with enough amateur survivors to fill things out.
Since 2012 all MLS teams have entered together. a round of 64 with all MLS teams is too much, specially for MLS teams competing in CONCACAF Champions League. Why 16? Because this will imply more competitivity in the mid table for the last berths in MLS Cup and entering in USOC in a later stage.
It's -at most- exactly one more game. A game that will see the majority of teams not playing the best xi. That's it. One game.
The main difference is how many non-MLS rounds they need to play to reduce the field before the MLS teams join. If they have 11 teams join 21 MLS teams, then obviously they have to play enough rounds to eliminate all but 11. If they made the bottom 5 MLS teams enter an earlier round, it could be 5 MLS teams joining 27 non-MLS teams in a 32-team round, with 16 winners facing the remaining 16 MLS teams in the next round. Neither option is really better than the other, as the main factor is how they can figure out to fit all the rounds they need into the schedule.