In the wake of MLS announcing an expansion of the playoffs from 10 teams in 2014 to 12 in 2015, which will be over half the league, a lot of people, including me, complained that this devalues the regular season. Defenders (which really may just be MLS itself) would argue that this approach keeps more teams alive longer, and thus will help attendance and thus profitability. And that's not nothing. So, can the two be reconciled? Maybe, and here's one way: * The 2 conference structure remains. * Only the conference winners qualify for the playoffs, and they contest MLS Cup. Both teams qualify for the CCL. This will be held two weeks after the end of the regular season. * On the week in between the end of the regular season and MLS Cup will be the USOC Final. The winner qualifies for the CCL (assuming they haven't already). * What are the playoffs now get replaced by... a tournament for the fourth CCL spot (which will open up to Canadian teams, as if they would ever win it). Counting midweeks, there are four match days from the end of the regular season to the end of the post-season. Holding a single-elimination tournament means that you can include up to 16 teams (which would be teams 3-18, as 1 and 2 are already in) to have a chance to qualify for the CCL. I'd rather have an "unworthy" team in the CCL as opposed to one having a chance to be league champion. Obviously this only works if the CCL is seen as something important. One way to help that is to hold a big "last chance" tournament to get in. That's not the only thing, and those other things would need to happen, but it would be a start. It also gives the USOC the showcase it deserves, shortens the post-season (thus allowing the regular season to avoid more international dates), gives at least two weeks for the MLS Cup host to sell tickets, and guarantees that all will agree that the team that wins the league deserved to do so. Note that at 24 teams, teams in each conference would play the exact same schedule (save for home/away differences against the opposite conference) in the 34 game format MLS uses now, so the team that finishes first in each conference will undoubtedly deserve it.
The CCL spots are allocated by national association rather than league so this would be a bit weird, particularly since one of the three Canadian teams will have qualified via the Canadian cup. The open cup is tricky as well. It's not MLS's responsibility to make this a big deal. I'd also contend that this tournament is already gaining traction. The problem with a later final is the possibility that a d3 or NASL team ends up in the final. Many of those teams break up earlier and the players end up training kids and find indoor teams over the winter. If by some miracle a pdl team makes the final, those kids are back in college. I'm not sure a separate consolation prize tournament really achieves what MLS desires with respect to sustained interest in more markets as the season comes to a close.
Let's completely ignore that there are already teams coming in (ATL/LA) that will tip the balance back ... ... and of course there's future expansion. Perhaps this playoff move was actually a future move ?
Nobody's going to support a postseason tournament where the top teams are excluded and the only prize is the chance to play extra games 9-10 months in the future on Tuesday nights against teams you may or may not have heard of, televised on Fox Sports 2.
It's part of the reason why this expansion was necessary to begin with. Houston and SKC were always going to want assurances if they were forced to move to the West. I have no issue with this. Besides which, the size of the post season isn't what devalues the regular season, it's the current structure and that's no different whether the playoffs has 8 teams or 12. I was actually convinced a few years back that the current size did more to increase the importance of the regular season than the smaller size since the play-in opponents come on short rest while a smaller tournament does not afford even that small advantage. I'd take more issue to any plan to try to move the play-in games to a week previous to the round of 8 and eliminate that advantage too. Besides which, a large post-season is necessary to keep more fanbases engaged and relevant and give more clubs elements of achievable success. This is acceptable.
The first part is a distinction without a difference. I can't imagine a scenario where MLS says we would like to allocate our spots this way and the USSF says no.
Points for having an idea. But no points since the idea is so bad. MLS doesn't care about CCL. You idea would kill the regular season for the most part. And, let's not forget, this league had 8/10 making the POs for years. 12/20 is a significant improvement.
I think the post-season should have the MLS USL Pro teams play in a tournament or have the MLS academies all play the SUM Cup then. It would give us something to watch and see the up-and-comers. 1. USL Pro MLS Teams Tourney: "The Future Cup" Tourney or league based on # of teams entered. 2. MLS Academy tournament: "MLS Academy Cup" Tournament with brackets of 4 teams. Each team is guaranteed 3 games. 3. Tournament to be held every day starting the day after Christmas.