I agree. if you are too cheap to get us our own stadium, then at least ********ing pay the extra money to get some man power out there to get the lines off the field. It really is horrible to watch. And I wonder if it also messes with the players perception and space on the field while playing?
I agree that this really needs to be an initiative from the league. MLS should attempt to institute the mandate and work with owners to avoid football lines especially during playoffs. If that takes scheduling games at not so opportune days so be it. Almost 20 yrs of this bush league practice is absurd. It's impossible to watch along with the artificial turf. I tire of even discussing and explaining to casual fans.
The second Revs goal the other night against KC was a thing of beauty. The same cannot be said for most of the rest of the match. I continue to be appalled by the poor officiating in MLS. Terrible.
We are out of town this weekend. Should Revs advance I need Houston to defeat NYRB so Revs host ECF on Sat. 11/23. I'd hope for 11/23 over 11/24 to avoid gridiron lines on the pitch. I'm already putting the cart before the Red Bull.
And it really shouldn't necessitate much in the way of monkeying with the schedule. Multi-purpose stadium operators used to be turn over from football to baseball in a couple of hours. It was nothing for them to host an NFL game during the day and a MLB playoff game at night. It hasn't suddenly become difficult to do. The operators are just being lazy because no one's forcing them to do it.
Will be 11/23 7:30pm. Schedule is already set ECF 11/9 2:30pm NBC 11/23 7:30pm NBCSN WCF 11/10 9pm ESPN 11/24 9pm ESPN MLS Cup 12/7 4pm ESPN
I don't get how that's offside. Dorman is beyond the second to last defender, but clearly behind the ball when Diego plays it. The ball is what keeps Dorman onside.
I hate articles that quote people on something that is "controversial" and then don't bother to examine what the actual facts of that "controversial" thing are. Obviously the writer is the SKC writer but it is so easy to freeze the frame and observe that everyone was onsides.
In this case the writer even notes Dorman was "barely onside" when Fagundez hit the ball (And what's that? I mean, onside is onside.) and then he quotes Vermes and Collin saying the opposite despite the fact that the writer knows it's wrong. And I guarantee you'll never hear Vermes complain about that call again after he reviews the video, because it shows Dorman clearly onside.
Scheduling is all done for TV purposes these days. Aside from swapping home legs, there isn't much they can do. I suppose they could have played Friday night and put the fb lines on for UMass right after the game, but if they have the TV slot for Saturday, that's when they play, full stop. Same thing goes for Seattle, the city that invented smug pontificating. Maybe they should have played Friday night just to give them a little less time to recover from the Colorado game. Didn't Seattle also invent roster depth?
Why should that take priority over everything else? Yes, it's a bit annoying. But we should go to ridiculous scheduling that would significantly impact attendance because of it? No thanks. Not being ready to drop $100M+ for a less than ideal stadium situation is being cheap? Wow. They have tons of experience playing on fields with many different sets of lines much worse than that. Yes, but what isn't set is who the higher seed will be for the next round. If Houston wins (unlikely, I know), they would be the lower seed and host the first game.
Sports leagues have operating standards. All of them are equally important. I know your knee-jerk reaction is usually that what it isn't being done couldn't possibly be done, but this is about as modest as a proposal gets.
Well, the issue isn't a simple one. If you mandate "no football lines" for visual purposes, then you're moving the schedule around. Personally, I think MLS should establish a set schedule as well. These two regulations are at odds with each other. Which is more important? What if the broadcasters mandate set game times? This isn't a black and white issue.
Point 1 - How many years was it that NFL played on baseball infields before each team had its own stadium? Point 2 - Fall to spring schedule would avoid this (for the playoffs).
It's not that black/white, but if they make it a priority it really shouldn't be that difficult to work around. I think they should establish a set schedule, but they could implement an NFL style flex scheduling for the first round of the playoffs. Have the slots set, but the games in those slots can be moved around. End the regular season Saturday. Play in games take place on Tuesday. Conference semifinal 1st leg: 1 East game and 1 West game on Friday, and 1 each on Saturday. If a team is going to have football lines, they play Friday. I don't think something like this is overly invasive, and IMO its a problem worth avoiding. For a league trying to expand its TV audience, having playoff games that make the league look second rate is bad news, and its not gonna attract audiences your trying to convince to watch your product. Hou, NE, and Seattle are the only teams in the league where this can be an issue, I don't think it should be that hard to plan around. Wild hypothetical: If the Revs finished with a few more points, the Pats are at home the day after MLS cup. Imagine how that would go.
It's also not the Gordian Knot. Another parameter in the scheduling software and some prior-to-the-season coordination with broadcasters if you need to run Saturday afternoon playoff games instead of Saturday evening playoff games. This is what sports leagues do.
Wail, that's nice in theory, but a certain really, reallly crappy college football team from 100 miles away had dibs on the stadium for Saturday afternoon. Realistically, the only option to not have lines on the field for our home game would have been playing in KC Saturday and our game on Wednesday, but then we would be the ones with the "home field advantage," not the cow-shagging midwesterners. When there are 3 events in the same venue over 2 days, it is going to be a problem, unless they all use the same exact setup.
I think the most obvious answer is don't book the really crappy football team on the same weekend as the Pats during the MLS playoff season. The guy who owns the stadium should give his soccer team an ounce of consideration.
Really in playoff games, when? And even in regular games, where and when is it "much worse than that"? Show me an example. Please. And yes, he is cheap for not doing his best to get those lines off the field. I find it hard to believe that there was nothing they could possible do to get them off. Maybe I'm wrong though. And on a side note (this isn't directed at you, rkupp): I wonder if NY wins and we go through, will Henry still come up with some miracle injry to not have to play at Gillette on the turf?