Well, I thought it was only on confederations, but I read this: “Second, as a football nation, we’re not fulfilling the membership requirements of either FIFA or the Asian Football Confederation by not having promotion and relegation in place. A national second division is a pre-requisite of that." That's from the organization that looks to add D2 to Australian pyramid that will be linked with A-League in promotion/relegation way. I was sure only confederations have power regarding pro/rel - UEFA, few years back, warned (corrupted) Croatian FA that pro/rel is key and that they must implement it in every season - it was after no teams were relegated from Croatian league as no teams from D2 wanted to go up. Since then, there's the rule that last team must go down, no matter if there will be any team to replace it. No words from FIFA came to Cro FA.
That’s like when the TOA folks tried to say it was a FIFA rule that leagues had to be owned by their members. It wasn’t and isn’t. What passes for Australia’s D2 is even less D1-worthy than hours. And a lot of things have been said down under lately while there has been a fight going on for representation in their governing body.
In Australia's case the driving force behind pro/rel implementation is AFC. The regional confederation is adamant that every league under its jurisdiction implements pro/rel and there were threats about denying entry of AFC Champions League if leagues do not cooperate. This is why Korea decimated their league a while ago, contracting from 16 to 12 teams in order to create a second division. This is why there are talks in Australia. But there's nothing of this sort in CONCACAF. The Champions League here is nowhere near the prestige and importance of its Asian counterpart, and confederation won't shoot itself in the foot barring entry to one of the biggest and richest leagues in the continent. Not. Gonna Happen. They are perfectly aware that MLS can survive without CONCACAF CL, but the CL needs MLS clubs to maintain hopes of growing into a meaningful competition.
If you discount the BS people and the other keyboard commandos that make up but a small percentage of MLS viewers/fans, I would wager that the majority of the remaining fans could care less about our CL. Hell, I'd bet that even half the BS and other internet fans could take it or leave it. CONCACAF definitely knows this. And they know excluding MLS for any reason means removing their wealthiest member nation (and by extension Canada) from a major competition. While they may have started for competitive reasons (debatable), these competitions exist to generate money. Without the US and Canada, it's doubtful that the CL would be even remotely financially worthwhile. Mexico may have more success on the field in the CL, but MLS is the tail that wags the dog. CONCACAF won't pass any edicts that risk their bank accounts.
I genuinely enjoyed the CCL, but the switch to three-team groups and the unwillingness to seed teams rationally killed my interest. The full knockout system is even worse. Plus, I'm not even sure where I can watch it.
Last tournament they streamed everything on their Facebook page. Hopefully that stays true this time around. I'm not a fan of the three-club groups either. It leaves behind too many good sides that just barely didn't make the cut. Four-club groups with two qualifying from each would make for a more competitive knockout field, in my opinion.
My issue with three-team groups was two-fold. One, too many dead rubber games. Two, the scheduling was really stupid. Often, teams would have played 3 games while another would have played 1. Didn't make any sense.
The third reason is that the group stage was expanded from 16 to 24 clubs. Adding eight extra UNCAF/CFU clubs to the group stage was....not awesome. The knockout format is bad, but I hated the three-team groups so much I actually think it's a mild improvement.
I wonder if history will repeat itself. The old CCC lead to a two year period with only two games (a pair of DC/UNAM games) between MLS and LigaMX teams. MLS and LigaMX then created SuperLiga to foster competition and rivalries between the two leagues in a competitive environment. CONCACAF then created the CCL with group stages of 4 teams that lead to a bunch of MLS/LigaMX games. SuperLiga ended, and then CONCACAF changed the CCL to 8 groups of 3 teams, separating the 8 LigaMX and U.S. based MLS teams. Consequently the number of MLS/LigaMX games has dropped. MLS and LigaMX both want games between their leagues. They both know that's where the future lies - both financially and competitively. CONCACAF is trying to walk a tightrope of making it's other members happy without MLS and LigaMX going off on their own again. Every time I see a poster talk about including Saprissa or Arabe Unido or W Connection in a new SuperLiga, that just tells me that the poster doesn't actually understand the whole reason for SuperLiga.
Not only that...they are perfectly aware that Mexico will side wit the the US also. That is where the money and future comp is. I've been waiting for the day that Mex and the US can basically tell CCAF to FK off. Just about there now. Now we need to do something about the brutailty that is allowed on the field.
With USL D3 coming online in 2019, that would seem to make some sense. Virginia Beach came back from a hiatus. Montreal took that year off, but it was because Saputo was pissed at Marcos. I would have to check to see if anyone else took a year off and came back.
===================== SO if MLS calls the shots to some extent in Concacaf AND they seem to have a lot of pull at USSF, then is the MLS more powerful than I am giving them credit for?
Financial clout, not "power" in the sense that they run the show. The US and Canada are literally the only CONCACAF nations with massive populations, numerous multinational corporations, high standards of living, and significant discretionary income levels. For all of the bullshit that occurs in CONCACAF, they would not intentionally do something that they know will put their largest and wealthiest market in jeopardy.
And the other of the North American big 3 in Mexico, also isn’t exactly a traditional pro/rel nation either with their, 3 year average relegation and franchise buyout/relocation/rename to avoid it, model. And no one bugs them about it for much the same reason the US and Canada are left alone.
- Mexico and TV are so inter-twinned, but that creates the revenue. Wouldn't it be weird if ESPN and Fox "controlled" soccer in similar way !
Earlier reports of Ottawa Fury leaving USL for CPL seems legit Congratulations to David Clanachan on his appointment as Commissioner and Chairman of the @CPLsoccer that will kick-off in 2019. This is great news for the development of soccer in our country. https://t.co/RTLfFKuhBh— Ottawa Fury FC (@OttawaFuryFC) January 10, 2018
Anybody know whether the Canadian clubs will move over to the CPL in 2019 https://twitter.com/CPLsoccer http://canpl.ca/