==== Interesting, so I would agree, labor peace definitely moves to #1 as long as the players realize that until crowds improve, they may have to negotiate in baby steps (much like MLS) and grow with the league.
Hey now. USL could just take the posture of the Canadian PL and completely ignore the union their players formed 2 years ago.. Jokes.. I make them badly.
Wait a minute, you seem to implying the Earth is round? But how would the giant space elephants be able to support a ball shape?
Once we get to 36 teams, have the hot places play a winter schedule and the cold places play a summer schedule. Miami, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Austin, Las Vegas and probably St. Louis and a few other places will become increasingly unsafe locations for July matches over time. Unless we go the Qatar route and air conditioning the outdoors.
Given all the Covid disruptions taking place in pretty glad the MLS is over. If Covid continues to disrupt the big European leagues in future seasons it may act as an incentive for them to move to a summer schedule.
Someone should get Gregg Berhalter's opinion on the subject...I'm thinking the morning of February 3rd would be a good time to ask...
By the way... new rule for this forum: If you're one of the people jumping up and down about how stupid it was to play a World Cup Qualifier in Minnesota in February, you're never allowed to complain about MLS' schedule again.
Yeah, tonight pretty much sealed the deal for me about an August to May schedule. St. Paul was cold, and Chicago was a wintry mess.
===== In my world = We remain a summer league We skip pro-rel We "try" to get our pyramid levels better organized We move on.
Lots of places are going to have to take steps to adjust to more severe weather over time, and I hope that the lure of TV money doesn’t exacerbate the problem and endanger players and fans needlessly. The Texas teams, Las Vegas (if they get a team), St. Louis, and any lower level clubs that play in the inland southwest are going to face increasing numbers of days each year with highs over 100°. The hydration break rule is a good one. But game day start times after sundown would help a lot. 8pm is MUCH better than 7pm. Stadiums like Austin’s with a shade roof and gaps to let breezes in are much better for fans and players than older stadiums like Dallas’. It looks like the polar vortex we are experiencing today will become more common. My home club has preseason matches in the winter months, but we are in the south. Northern teams with cup and other tournament matches in February will have to be careful.
------------------- With MLS going to its new TV deal, should be no reason for day games at all because you can watch any game anytime anytime now. If Fox is going to have a weekly over the air game, pick your games properly related to time of year in the market you are televising from IF Fox wants a day slot. Now this is mainly summer. Some markets may still have 1pm games early or late in the season, but summers have to be 7-8pm outdoor game starts. Also should be easier as more teams are playing in their own stadiums, so fewer conflicts.
-------- If I could rep this 100 times I would. Even in a "summer" schedule some of our early spring games can have pretty bad weather. So the league still needs to make use of the couple of domes we have (VAN-ATL-MONT) and all the warm weather cities we have. With more and more teams playing in their own stadiums, this should be easier and easier to do.
I'm currently watching St. Louis City versus the San Jose Earthquakes. The announcers keep complaining about how cold it is. It's 30 degrees Fahrenheit. Gridiron players would laugh at that.
I was at the past two Union home games.....Fall-Spring.....can Spring on out of here. It was colder than a witches tit the past two games. No thank you.