As much as Im looking forward to the 2003 season, 10 clubs is just a rediculously low number of clubs to play for a National championship. Couldnt MLS try to let go of the "franchise obsessed" concept that are American leagues just for maybe a season and invite 10 of Americas best independent clubs in the mix. They can play the same amount of games as now except they wouldnt be playing the same team 8 times! This would allow for more variety (who want to see the same 5 games every weekend!) and also to test the smaller markets for future MLS expansion among other benefits. Frankly I would be more interested in seeing my Metrostars play idpendent clubs on occasion than see them play the Crew or Revolution for the 10000th time in 2 years.
doesnt the US have the A league? why dont they merge with the MLS? i agree with Scout, 10 teams in one league sucks and they need to get rid of this rediculous Playoff sheme 8 teams in the playoffs? do they still have that or have they changed it?
I totaly agree with you , why don't we the BigSoccer community invest like 10 mil a team and get a few teams . How many do you suggest we should buy ? There are what 20,000 -25,000 members here let's say $ 10,000 per member that is 200 mil I hope your in it
I think all MLS fans want to see more teams. However, for that to happen, MLS teams have to be a viable investment. Inviting in new teams for free is inconsistent with trying to achieve decent returns for the league's current investors. Which is a way of saying, your goal is widely shared, but your plan is unrealistic. Which Segroves summed up in the statement "Weah to Metrostars."
Patience, my friend, patience. Or a big fat bag of cash, and a soccer-specific stadium. Either way...
Re: Re: 10 Clubs is not enough i'm in it! but $10.000 is WAY to much. $1000 per person should get us a good A-league side. and from there we'll move up! i mean come on... lets be realistic here.
ecuador has 10 clubs and that works out just fine. of course ecuador is roughly the size of texas. i think two groups of 10 each, west coast east coast with NO inter-divisional play until the playoffs would be perfect. but where is all the talent going to come from? i'd rather see 8 good teams and 2 bad ones play than 3 good teams 17 shitty ones.
Evil. Just evil. How 'bout we just we have pro/rel where the worst 2 teams get relagated to someplace in Canada?!?
Yeah, 10 teams isn't many but as soon as we get a couple of new ones in the next couple of years it will look better. Of course we need a lot more teams down the road but in the coming years I think two to four new teams will look much more acceptable. But of course it all takes patience I guess. I might be wrong but didn't I read the investors are commited to 2006. I would die if I thought there was even a small chance that that could be it!
IMHO, 8 is the absolute minimum for a league, and really, 16 is where it really starts to look good. But Paul is right, once we get back up to 12, it'll start looking much more appealing. I think 16 teams is realistic by 2010. With the stadia and most teams hovering around the break even point financially, the league is looking much more stable and attractive to potential investors. Promotion and Relegation is a great concept ... but not for sports. Let's apply it where it would be really useful ... like in elementary and high schools. -Digital
I agree, I dont know how the 20 team concept will work out in the long run. It would be great if it ever got to that level but for now I think a more realistic goal is 16.
Wow--this thread is three minutes of my life that I will never get back. My god. Did I just waste more time by responding to it?...
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...... We know 10 is not enough we are getting twelve very soon and the league just started! Everyone wants more then ten of course, and it will happen soon!!!!
I agree on both your points. I would rather see MLS play less regular season games and expand the US Open Cup. Maybe playing 4 games versus division foes and a unbalanced schedule versus the other division to reach 22 or 24 games. Make the US Open Cup like the Gold Cup with all 10 MLS teams and the top 8 from the A-League, DIII and the top 6 from the PDL in round robin of 8 groups of 4. Then moving onto single elimnation for the remainder of the tournament.
well, for a league that has 8 years circulating in a oversatturated sports country, i think ten teams is fine, considering the huge finnancial problems that MLS have. i think that the 2010 is going to be fine with 14 or 15 teams....
Maybe he's on a dialup connection. I have DSL and I can read crap like this thread pretty quickly. Oh, and here's what the MLS should do. The USA is a big country. They should create a league with three 20 team divisions - East, Central and West. Then there will be SIXTY teams in the MLS! That would be cool.
That WOULD be cool. I can see MLS expanding to 36 someday with two 18 team divisions and having promotion and relegation.
Just 60 teams? What are you, a frickin' Commie? I will not rest until every community with a population of at least 1000 has an MLS franchise.
Re: Re: 10 Clubs is not enough how many teams does Scotland have ? year after year you got Celtic and Rangers fighting for the championship, the rest of the teams have no chance, Now that's what I call boring !
Re: Re: Re: 10 Clubs is not enough If scotland have 60 teams, only celtic and rangers will have a chance...... that is not a good example...