Maybe a solution for Supporter's Shield and Playoffs

Discussion in 'MLS: General' started by Udosean, Nov 8, 2007.

  1. Udosean

    Udosean Member

    Sep 30, 2006
    Well Im sure you guys are sick of hearing about ideas, but I was thinking of this earlier and need to write it down.

    Supporter's Shield

    I think to make the regular season more important, first off we shouldnt call it a regular season anymore. There should be more emphasis on calling it the league championship. Using this year as an example I think that D.C. United should have had more of a celebration after winning the league. There should have been a stage in the middle of the field with shooting confetti and the whole package. There should also be larger bonuses for winning the league.


    Playoffs

    Instead of calling it the playoffs it should be called the MLS Cup championship. Here's my idea....You have two groups lets call them the east and west group. Using this season as a example, this is how it would work. The top team in the east was D.C. they would play three home games. One against the Revs, New York, and Chi-Town. The revs would play two home games, at home against chitown and new york. New york gets one against chitown and chicago gets none. This would work the same way in the west. The first tie-breaker would be total goals scored in group play and the second would be league position. Only the best team would come out of each group. Those two would play for the MLS Cup Championship.

    This is just an idea guys. Im sure you could poke holes all through it, but we all know the playoffs arent going anywhere. Also if the league eventually gets to 20-22 teams then eight teams wont be so bad. I was just trying to think of a way to have your record during the season have a greater effect on the playoffs. This doesnt make it impossible for a team like chicago to win but makes it a little challenging. Anyway there are a bunch of things I failed to add, like the seeding, but I gotta head to class. Would appreciate some more ideas. PEACE.
     
  2. jfranz

    jfranz New Member

    Jun 16, 2004
    Portland, OR
    1. A rose by any other name...

    2. A Group Stage in the playoffs has been discussed over and over and over again. The search function is your friend.
     
  3. wolfp10

    wolfp10 Member

    Sep 25, 2005
    There are literally 3 other threads about this topic on the front page of MLS General.
     
  4. The Devil's Architect

    Feb 10, 2000
    The American Steppe
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Actually, what it does is make it nearly impossible for DC, or any other #1 seed to not advance. It reduces competition. Why can't DC just "beat Chicago", if they want to advance? Why do they need the league's help? It's not llike they didn't spend half of the first decade of MLS dictating to the league what players they would get and/or the league catering to the whims of players to play for DC while other teams actually had to follow the rules.

    Hopefully, it's a class on how to use the search function on websites.


    Here's one: 'Win or go home"
     
  5. MasterShake29

    MasterShake29 Member+

    Oct 28, 2001
    Jersey City, NJ
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Note to everyone: As long as there exists an MLS Cup which MLS treats as the league title, the Supporters' Shield will be meaningless, and the regular season will be not as important as it is in other soccer leagues that don't use playoffs, or ones that don't let over half the teams in the playoffs.

    No system you come up with that's at all realistic will change that.
     
  6. jfranz

    jfranz New Member

    Jun 16, 2004
    Portland, OR
    Note to MattBurlew: when February rolls around and DC United is playing in the Champions Cup, come on back to these boards and explain to us how "meaningless" their Supporters' Shield was. And then, when SuperLiga rolls around, explain further how "meaningless" the regular season was for the four MLS teams competing.

    And, while you're at it, you can explain to us all how leagues without playoffs aren't the most mind numbing and meaningless endeavors in all of world sports, if you take away the non-league competitions/incentives that those teams qualify for based on their finish in the league. If the only thing that mattered in those leagues was the league Championship (even if they still had relegation), they would as thrilling senior citizens having slow-motion sex, and as meaningful as the word "democracy" when used by President Bush.
     
  7. MasterShake29

    MasterShake29 Member+

    Oct 28, 2001
    Jersey City, NJ
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Note to jfranz: You're right, D.C. gets to go to the Champions Cup, which is nice. It's also a tournament most fans of MLS probably haven't even heard of. Did Liverpool get a trophy last year? They made the Champions League after all for finishing 4th (or 3rd, whatever).

    The point is that Americans will not get excited about winning the regular season when said regular season is primarily the qualifying stage for the playoffs. I'm a NHL fan, I could care less if the Devils win the President's Trophy, especially if they then lose in the first round of the playoffs.

    I'm not arguing which system is better. I'm saying you can't have playoffs, and an all important regular season. You get one or the other, not both.

    And yeah, La Liga was mega boring last year. I mean, it only came down to the last day.

    As opposed to the NFL, where the Patriots and Colts played for home field advantage in the AFC Championship game in January.
     
  8. jfranz

    jfranz New Member

    Jun 16, 2004
    Portland, OR
    But Americans would get more excited about winning the regular season if it meant qualification for some other important event/tournament/etc. The problem with your analogy is that all other American sports exist in a competitive vacuum, detached from other leagues/competitions/etc around the world (if those other leagues/competitions/etc even exist at all). American soccer fans live in a different competitive universe, and American soccer fans, understand that. Look, I like Hockey, but I don't really follow it. However, I assume that there is another league or leagues elsewhere in the world that might be of a high quality (maybe not as high as NHL, but high enough to be well respected by knowledgeable hockey fans). If there was some kind of international tournament between that league or leagues and the winner of the regular season of the NHL, you bet your ass that most (maybe not you, but most) hockey fans would start to care more about who won the Presidents Trophy. You're making an apples and organges comparision, and failing to recognize key distinctions between the generic "American fan" and the "American soccer fan."

    I'm not going to argue which system is better, either. But I will argue that you are completely wrong about the playoff=devalued season equation. It's bunk. It's a wildly popular meme, but it's anti-critical crap.

    For every La Liga 06-07, there are three Ligue 1 06-07s, and ten Scottish Premier Leagues. The only thing that makes the overwhelming majority of leagues, year after year, exciting, is the non-league competitions that teams can qualify for without winning the league Championship (and/or relegation, but let's not go there). If you take away those competitions, those leagues because dull, meaningless affairs, for the overwhelming majority of teams, very early in the season. And, as the season progresses, it becomes more dull and more meaningless for even more teams. HOWEVER, the fact that incentives exist beyond the top spot, is precisely what helps those leagues stay attractive and interesting (to the extent that some are able to). Using a playoff system is not significantly different - from a competitive and/or "meaning" perspective, as long as there is incentive to finish first in the regular season; and there is such an incentive - an incentive that soccer fans and players and coaches recognize.
     
  9. bunge

    bunge BigSoccer Supporter

    Oct 24, 2000
    But the league wants and needs to expand beyond the soccer snob in order to be profitable.
     
  10. jfranz

    jfranz New Member

    Jun 16, 2004
    Portland, OR
    No, it doesn't. The league has said so itself, many times. In a country with over 300 million people, with the largest economy (by far) on earth, there are already plenty of existing soccer fans in this country. They just don't all follow MLS. So all the league has to do is attract those existing fans to become profitable. And, once it reaches that plateau, the league will create its own kind of gravity (see NHL, NASCAR, etc) and generic sports fans will likely start paying attention. At that point, explaining some of the more unique features of the competitive universe that soccer exists in is not very difficult to communicate and/or make soccer noobs understand.
     

Share This Page