https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/mls-announces-audi-2021-mls-cup-playoffs-schedule Most details are the same as recent years. 14 teams qualify, single-elimination, higher seeds host. Notably there will be a conference semifinal on Thanksgiving Day. Round One November 20-23 Conference Semifinals November 25-30 Conference Finals December 4-5 MLS Cup Saturday, December 11
One other note, the first two first round games, scheduled for Sat Nov. 20th, will only have local English broadcasts, but will be available nationally through the league's Spanish partners. All other games (including the other 4 first round games) will be nationally broadcast in both English and Spanish.
After a twitter discussion I've realized that Thanksgiving Day match has a decent chance of blowing up in MLS's face. They must be thinking/hoping Seattle is going to win the West. But what if they don't? Choice A: Put Seattle and another high attendance team into the two first-round Saturday slots and hope one of them win, then give them 5 days to sell tickets to a game on Thanksgiving. If they both lose you're stuck with giving a team the Thanksgiving day on short rest (Sun/Tues game) or hoping that enough upsets occur that one of the Saturday upsets get to host and can take the Thanksgiving game. Choice B: Announce that one of the conference champions will host the Thanksgiving Day game. They'll have almost 3 weeks to sell tickets. Great if Seattle wins the West, or even KC, but what if Colorado wins the West and the league has to choose between New England or Colorado to host on Thanksgiving. Or even NYCFC at Yankee Stadium? Clearly the league is going to have to go with Choice B and hope Seattle wins the West.
In fact, the scheduling is really simple because of the weird rest times between games. The only decision is which conference goes first. Conference A will play its first round games on the 20th and 21st, and its Semis on the 25th (Thanksgiving) & the 28th. Then it would get the final on Dec. 4th. Conference B would then have its first round games on the 21st and 23rd, and then take the later semis on the 28th and 30th (because having one of the winners from the 23rd play in the Thanksgiving game on the 25th isn't feasible). They would then need as much rest as possible after the 30th so they would get the final on the 5th.
The scheduling for the playoffs also gets the benefit of the FIFA break in November. Decision Sunday is November 7. The playoffs don't start until November 20. I agree that the league probably wants someone like Seattle or KC to win the West in the regular season. Put the West in your "A" slot and go ahead with scheduling W1 on Thanksgiving. That also means that there are West teams in the Spanish national TV slots on November 20.
I also think while it's bold and risky too many people are also over doing it a bit much with this could be risky and blow up in MLS face when the alternative is HIGHLY LIKELY a 250-300K FS1 game, This is essentially house money. If the game only gets 400k well that's still more than it would've got and pleases FOX which likely wanted this moved. The plus side is there is a residual spill over audience of even 5-10% that adds to the MLS audience and you get 700k+.
Great for TV, not great to attend in my opinion. But yeah, looking forward to skipping the constant advertisement machine that is the NFL on Thanksgiving.
I've been kicking this schedule over in my head and I think I've come up with the most sporting schedule given the dates. Now obviously its not just sporting fairness that drives the schedule, stadium availability and TV partners have a lot to do with it, but based on just what makes sense from the "most fair" standpoints. Sat. Nov. 20th - Both conferences' 4/5 matchups -Logic here is that a conference winner is going to host the Thanksgiving Thursday match, so their opponent (the winner of the 4/5 matchup from their conference) has to play on Saturday for maximum rest by Thursday. Rather than give the other matchup in that conference (2/7 and 3/6 winners) teams with unequal rest have the other 4/5 matchup played as well, because it doesn't matter how much rest that winner gets compared to the other team since they'll be facing a 1 seed on a bye Sun. Nov 21st - 2/7 & 3/6 matchups of the conference hosting the Thanksgiving game -The winners of these two matches will face off and get the winner of the Thanksgiving match, so trying to keep them on as similar a rest as possible Tue. Nov 23rd - 2/7 & 3/6 matchups of the non-Thanksgiving conference Thurs Nov. 25th (Thanksgiving) - 1 vs. 4/5 winner -As we've already discussed this almost has to be a conference winner with a bye Sat. Nov 27th - 2/7 vs. 3/6 winners of Thanksgiving conference plus 1 vs. 4/5 winner of non-Thanksgiving conference -This keeps the Thanksgiving conference winners close together in rest, and the other 2/7-3/6 winner matchup would then get a full week of rest Tues Nov 30th - 2/7 vs 3/6 winners from non-Thanksgiving conference Sat. Dec 4th - Thanksgiving conference final Sun Dec 5th - Other conference final -Giving Tuesday night's winner as much rest as possible before they meet the more rested winner of the other conference semifinal
Note your games listed as Sat Nov 27th would be Sun Nov 28th per the MLS schedule. This would mean the East would have to be your Thanksgiving conference since the Revs can't play Sunday due to a conflict with the Patriots that day. As a Revs fan I've been bracing for this and laying the groundwork with my wife that I may be prioritizing an MLS playoff game that day
Anyone know when the final playoff schedule will drop. Seems like they should have had the different scenarios mapped out ahead of time and be ready to release it pretty quickly.
It could seriously be that they're trying to figure out how to get the best possible matchup on Thanksgiving day since they likely thought Seattle or SKC would be the 1 seed and could host in that spot with 3 weeks to sell tickets and put a big crowd on TV. With that said, I'm guessing they're working on it being New England since the Pats don't play in the stadium between 11/14 and 11/28, giving them time to sell tickets and get the NFL lines off the field to make it look as good as possible.
Its also a domino effect. If you give NE the Thanksgiving game, then the NYCFC-Atlanta game has to be played on the 20th. If you give it to Colorado, Portland-Minnesota has to be played on the 20th. Whichever one is not going to be available for ESPN/FOX then. Plus stadium availability comes into play. Portland and NYCFC should have no issues on Saturday, but does that force somebody else into a day where their stadium won't be available (like Seattle or Nashville)?
They've got to map it out all the way to MLS Cup as well. Nashville, Atlanta, New England, and Seattle are all in NFL stadiums. They have to work around every possibility for those 4 locations with the current seeding. That's something they should have done ahead of time, but it is what it is.
It will not be the Revolution hosting on Thanksgiving day. Multiple sources, including Bruce Arena have stated that the Revs will be hosting on Tuesday, November 30th.... Assuming that this is the case... It would really suck if Vancouver and RSL both won on the 20th and thus Vancouver would host the playoff game on a Thursday afternoon when most folks have work in Canada.
The good news for MLS Cup is that the Patriots are on a bye and the Seahawks and Falcons are on the road. The Titans host the Jaguars on Sunday though (MLS Cup is scheduled for Saturday afternoon).
The only way Nashville could host MLS Cup is if Minnesota, Vancouver or RSL end up winning the West (Vancouver seems most likely of those three). It's possible, of course, but odds are against it (but then odds were against Colorado finishing top in the West as well).
I can try to track down the interviews Bruce has had with 98.5 the sports hub. He states it every week in his interview that they will be hosting on the 30th of November. Also of note the Revs see Buksa being available for selection. He has a broken foot and the more time between games the better for the revs. I assume that the league already knows what the deal is going to be. I assume it will either be Colorado hosting or the Seattle/ KC 2/7 3/6 hosting. SKC and Seattle would be the only teams that MLS would honestly want hosting on THanksgiving day.
I started typing a response that I couldn't believe the league would leave it until after the first round is done. They wouldn't want a team having to sell tickets on short (4 day?) notice on a holiday. Then I worked out the scenario. If Seattle and SKC both lose, Vancouver would host Salt Lake. And Canadian Thanksgiving isn't the same day as American Thanksgiving. But the game is scheduled for mid-afternoon Vancouver time, which would be a work day in Vancouver. So I still can't see that working out for them.
It's a shame more games weren't shown nationally yesterday. No reason why the 3 broadcasters couldn't have shown both Eastern and Western Conference games simultaneously. Hopefully from next year... Continuing on that negative note after a riveting decision day, with the Revs, Sounders and Nashville playing plenty of home games will we manage to avoid football lines?