This is the best MLS-related news I've seen in a while. I'm very happy about both of these developments. Hopefully, when they actually make up the schedule, we won't get to this point in the season and have teams with 3 games in hand. But still, great to see that we'll be playing a standard home-and-away format next year.
I think MLS will keep the two conf set up becuase it wants to stick with a 30 game sched and with two more teams on board soon, maybe three if you add in Montreal, it would be kind of silly to switch back after one season of single-table. On the other hand.... This gives MLS a great chance to just go for it, see how single table feels, becuase, in the current playoff system, heaven forbid if in 2010 the top two teams in the East just happened to be in reality numbers 9 and 10 based on points. THAT would be a tragic event that would make MLS take three steps back in credibility. What many don't understand (and many in fact do) is that even if you get to 19 clubs you can jigger the sched any which way but loose to keep a 30 game season. Sooo, you can keep the single table top eight playoff system beyond 2010 even if say LAG plays a different sched than NYRB. EVERY sport league in the USA/Canada does this and live quite well knowing nothing is ever "fair and balanced." The top eight table just looks nicer in my mind, it is simple to see who makes the postseason and who doesn't. Or, after 2010, stick with conferences and can the crossover wildcards and make it top four per conf and be done with it, expand to your hearts content up to 24 teams.
I can understand the argument for a balanced schedule, but the single table thing has always baffled me. MLS is going to keep the playoffs, so the East versus West thing makes sense. Anyways, Mexico has divisions and playoffs. Why don't folks go complain about them for a while.
actually i think thats where MLS got the playoffs idea from now...in mexico the top 2 teams in each group make the playoffs with the next best 2 teams in total points making them as well for a total of a 8 team playoff
MLS Gets It Right, Announces World Cup Break FanHouse He meant to say Euro-Snobs...and the likes. And I like these other goodies ..
You'd just translate them into English. Call one season the MLS Opening Season and the other the MLS Closing Season. A split season is not unheard of in American soccer. The old American Soccer League had one back in the 20's-30s.
We asked for this in 1998 and it arrives in 2009. Just a shade over a decade but I'll take it. Thanks Don! Not if you win them both.
Don't double post often but if some people here think that MLS owners won't jump at the chance to have more home dates over the 30 game cieling you have another thing coming. The owners over the years are the ones that pushed for the old 32 match season and it was owners like LH that demanded the two leg opening playoff scenario as it guarantees both playoff first round opponents of an additional home date. Ie more beers, scarfs, parking and so on. Combine this with more and more clubs owning their own home ground from 2010 and beyond and I can see MLS keeping pace with expansion and adding more matches. Less NJ Sports Authority and U of H AD's to have to pay cover charges to so the more matches means even greater the number of strait revenue streams. Study demographics much? Do you know what the U.S. will look like and talk like in 2040?!? I don't have the exact numbers but just by looking at things terms like clausura and apertura will not be hard to explain Clock.
2010: Best. Supporter's. Shield. EVER! (And possibly forever after!) Though, call me a Eurosnob if you want, I wish they'd call it the MLS League Championship even if the Shield stayed as the trophy.
Well done MLS. For everything that's frustrating about the league, I do think Garber and Company listen. They may not always be able to accommodate, but they give it a fair hearing.
lol. are you referring to the mistaken view that hispanics will out-populate everyone else in 40 years? yes there would be a majority of hispanics if they continued to immigrate at the rate they were a few years ago every year for 40 years. however immigration has already slowed because of the recession. who knows if such high numbers of immigration will continue in the next 40 years. Dont believe everything you read on the internet.
What I like is how with this format MLS seized on an opportunity (which with league expansion they may never get to do again) to make everybody happy. Those fans like the American style post-season playoffs get what they want to see, and those fans that want to see who is top dog after a balanced regular season schedule get what they want. So often on here people debate "single table or playoffs" as if one system must exclude the other. Next year we get single table and playoffs. Nice.
Good news, though I expect it will only be temporary until we get to teams 17 & 18 (and 19 & 20) and the schedule gets even more unbalanced than it is now. Still, it gives me hope. Maybe they'll see that playing another midweek game or two (especially if they aren't losing a weekend game) isn't the worst thing in the world. Maybe they'll figure out that adhering to the international calender can be done. And that playing soccer in the dead of summer doesn't produce the best product. But I doubt it. It also ticks me off that some on BS can't get through their thick heads that single table and playoffs aren't mutually exclusive. All we are asking is: 1) Balanced schedule 2) See the playoffs accordingly: 1 v. 8, 4 v. 5; 3 v. 6, 2 v. 7. We've done it before (2000-02). Regardless of conference.
That only works for 16 team for 30 games, maybe for 18 team 34 games. I don't think balanced single table and playoffs go together. Two tables with playoffs make more sense for MLS. Regular season produce E. Conf. Champ and W. Conf. Champ. Then inter-conference playoffs for MLS Cup Winner. E1 vs W4 W1 vs E4 E2 vs W3 W2 vs E3
Except we don't actually get a single table. We get a balanced schedule with two conferences, conference-based play-off qualification, and conference-based play-offs/cup final.
Is this true? To go with a balanced schedule but still decide playoff qualification based on "conference play" seems idiotic even by MLS standards.
Well except for the minor issue that those extra dates will have to be either on a weeknights or early/late in the year in bad weather in a majority of MLS cities. Both weeknight games and bad weather games have shown a tendency to have bad attendance in stadiums that cost the same to operate regardless of attendance. So I'm not sure how excited those owners are really going to be to open their stadiums when they're lucky to draw much more than 10K.
1) Does this mean the Philadelphia team was in jeopardy until this month? 2) There is a major psychological problem when the worst insult that can be made about this sport is that it is "Americanized". 3) How much of an attendance and TV ratings boost will occur next year due to these changes?
This is the best MLS news I've heard in a long time. If it was a perfect world, I wish they would take the entire World Cup duration time off. But seeing that they take some time off for the US Men team to compete is good news. Now teams with US Men players can take a break and come back for MLS games. Good news!
This is not only good for Philadelphia, but the entire league man. MLS fans can watch U.S. Men play instead of going to league games.