With Orlando as #21 in 2015, are we looking at 12 teams playoff in 2015?

hopefully not. there are already enough crap teams that make it into the playoffs. Makes the regular season less meaningful if you can finish in12th place and make the playoffs.

 

Man, if Houston and SKC keep up their performance standards the west will be SO stacked in '15.

 

I hope not. In a 21 team league #12 is technically below average. No business in the playoffs IMO.

No 12 teams at least until 24 for me.

 

For 2015, I do not know. But when the league reaches 24, I believe a 12-team playoff will be inevitable.

 

Unless they both land in a new Central Conference instead. Based on some comments that Peter Vermes made a week or two ago, he seems to think that the league is headed toward three conferences. Presumably they would look like this initially:

Eastern - DCU, MTL, NER, NYC, NYR, ORL, PHI
Central - CHI, CLB, COL, DAL, HOU, SKC, TOR
Western - CHV, LAG, POR, RSL, SEA, SJE, VAN

Three matches against each conference rival and one against each of the other teams would make for a 32-game season, possibly allowing for expanded playoffs, although I personally hope that MLS waits to do that until it gets to 24 teams. At that point, two matches against each conference rival and one against each of the other teams would make for a 30-game season.

 

This was something I was thinking this morning, and it would be certainly nothing new on MLS history, but I do not believe they would make the season shorter. I think they would add some third games to reach 34.

P.S.: Absolutely unrelated, but I still prefer NYB than NYR for that team on Harrison. I associate NYR with the Rangers every time I read it.

 

HAR

 

Maybe, but there has been some talk lately about reducing the schedule all the way down to 28 games to accommodate more FIFA dates. 32 games with 21 teams and 30 games with 24 teams would obviously be steps in that direction.

 

The decision would be economical. You would be giving up revenue for the sake of someone else. That is hard.

 

TV ratings will be really informative. If the playoffs get better ratings than the regular season, then more playoff games may be inevitable.

 

Fox Soccer Channel was pulled off the air back in September. I think Soccer has taken a step back because of this here in the US. True, NBCSN has taken over, but I miss what we had as a 100% soccer channel.

Two Conferences (East and West) is the way MLS should stay. I like the current format. Forget about three divisions, that's not going to work. The MLS Cup should be the best from the West vs. Best from the East.
The two divisions as they are now is fine, but no more than 12 teams in each. I dont think we need more than that in a first tier soccer league.
You look at the MLB, NFL, NBA, and even the NHL, there is just too much disparity between teams, the financial side,
the cities, the markets, and then the talent pool, which is spread thin. I don't want to see the MLS get that big, there is no need.

It should stay at 10 teams (top 5 from each conference) that qualifies for the post season. No need to change that.

 

It will work just fine, and there will be less travel for everyone over the course of the season. It does make the playoffs less straightforward, but I offered my proposal for that, and it will still be better than the years when you could have two Eastern Conference teams playing for the Western Conference championship and/or vice-versa.

Why, exactly? Baseball and football have never been set up that way, and seem to be doing just fine.

 

If they go with three conferences, I believe the top-2 from each conference would qualify directly to the quarter-finals, and the best 4, regardless the conference, would go to the play-in matches.

Conference champions would be # 1-3;
Conference runners-up, #4-6;
Wildcards, #7-10.

 

I was thinking that I had posted this here, but it was actually in another thread.

1. All three 1st-place teams (Conference Champions) and the best 2nd-place team get a first-round bye.
2. Next eight in the combined table are seeded accordingly and play one game at the higher seed's venue.
3. Winners are reseeded for two-leg series against the teams with byes.
4. Winners are reseeded for two-leg semi-finals.
5. Winners meet for MLS Cup at the higher seed's venue.

Reseeding for each round rewards regular-season performance. I also think that two-leg series should be decided by points, rather than aggregate goals. Extra time (or even a third leg) would happen only if each team wins once or both games are draws, regardless of goals scored.

 

MLS has invested a lot into making the conference championships matter. Three divisions? No way. Four? Maybe.

 

How? By providing the opportunity for several teams to win the championship of a conference of which they were not even a member? Better just to call the last two standing the "MLS Cup Finalists," rather than "Conference Champions."

I should have noted, my proposal above is for 12 playoff teams once the league has 24 total. I would keep it at 10 until then, either using gremio1903's setup or making the three 1st-place teams seeds 1-3 and the rest 4-10 based on the combined table.

 

Thankfully , MLS no longer allows wildcards from the opposite conferences to participate.

 

I think the answer is definitely.
Having more than half the league make the playoffs is what they've always done.
Plus, it tends to give more coaches job security having the fact that they've made the playoffs for "x consecutive seasons."

 

The only reason that could make them avoiding three conferences is that they aim two conferences of 12 teams, whenever they reach 24. In such arrangement, two games against conference rivals and one against from the other makes a 34-game season.

They will go eventually to a 12-team playoff. I just do not know when, but with 24, I could bet on it.

 

Houston is so hot and cold though. They're not really elite. Also, will RSL be anything special if Kreis leaves and heads East to NYCFC?

I think the East might be the tougher conference by 2015. There's just so many teams with so much money and such great ambitions in the East....

 

So... with the expansion, time to speculate on the format of conferences, regular season & post season in 2015?

• Conferences: Remain as 2 (E/W),
  with Houston back to the West?
  (As NYCFC & OSC join the East...)
• Regular Season: Still be 34 games?
• Post Season: Going to be 12 teams?

 

This has already been going on quite extensively in several other threads. As I see it, here are the most viable realignment options:

1. Two conferences, NYC and ORL join Eastern, HOU moves to Western.
2. Two conferences, NYC and ORL join Eastern, HOU and SKC move to Western (since MIA is probably next).
3. Three conferences, NYC and ORL join Eastern, TOR lands in Central.
4. Three conferences, NYC joins Eastern, ORL joins Central, TOR lands in Eastern.

As a fan of SKC, I personally favor #4, because it keeps us with both HOU and CHI long-term (as well as former partner ORL, at least initially) and avoids more late kickoffs on the West Coast. Three conferences would work nicely for a 32-game season in 2015 (3x6 + 1x14) and a 30-game season once the league reaches 24 teams (2x7 + 1x16); hopefully the playoff field will not be expanded to 12 until then. At that point, crown the three 1st-place teams as the "conference champions" and give them a first-round bye, along with the best 2nd-place team. Seed the next eight in the combined table for the play-in match-ups, then reseed after each round (like the NFL does) to reward regular-season performance.