Pardon me if this has been killed to death...but... I've been wondering lately over the holidays which is the best setup for MLS to maximize its regular season and postseason/playoff/cup tournament to satisfy the typical American (and curious soccer spectator) fan? There is the status quo, which is basically a regular season that eliminates two teams from each conference, and then a playoff with four teams (yes ....out of five teams) in each conference qualifying, 1 versus 4 and 2 versus 3 in a home and away series. Most goals win. No away goals rule. ADVANTAGES: With the U.S. playing numerous tournaments during the summer, as well as friendlies and intercontinental tournaments with the clubs, no MLS club is really at full strength until the playoffs start. Thus, for the past 8 years, the regular season champion (awarded the supporters' shield ) really is debateable because of this fact as well as a staggered schedule. DISADVANTAGES: Well, besides the obvious point that the regular season does nothing but eliminate the absolute worst teams, there is the issue of quality of play. I argue that by the last month, teams know that they will make the playoffs and hold off their best efforts until the post-season starts. Also, eight teams qualifying is a bit much. Its a bit embarrassing explaining this to people. And yes, expansion for the future is always the reason why the number is 8, but really...even if the league expanded to 16 teams, is the best 50% really a good percentage of what teams should qualify for the post-season?? Just my opinion there.... Finally, with the home and away finally being applied this year, I think its either justfiable that it be used throughout, not just in the first round, but also in the semifinals...or just single elimination throughout. The final, I guess has to be a single game to maximize TV audience and spectators, but I wouldn't mind a home and away series one more time just to salute the home fans of both finalists. MLS Cup is a bit a question itself, whether the "neutral site" is best, but as far as playoff format, I think we need one more year to find out what the best system is for MLS. Again, I sort of understand why MLS does what it does to determine its champion, but I think it would be nice to see just to see how successful a home and away final would be as far as pulling in the home fans. Obviously, you would need promotion and advertising,and that has been a serious problem that MLS has had since its inception. Anyway, I've been pondering about different formats....if you have any other else, I'd like to hear it. Here are some of the common, as well as the uncommon alternatives....... ---------------------------------- A) Keep the regular season the same, but cut the teams to postseason to 4 or 6 team's. Champion of MLS Cup is MLS Champion. B) Change to usual league format...single table, and top of the table club by end of season is MLS League Champion. That would either mean a short 18 game (1 home and 1 away) season, or one long 36 (2 home and 2 away) season. The latter option is the least likely to happen, since the U.S. is absolutely a huge country and that costs would skyrocket for clubs transportation expenses, while the former is a problem because the season would really be too short. Also the American audience is so used to a postseason, that this option is almost impossible to be accepted. C) A drastic idea, where the regular season shortens (home and away against every team) for a total of 18 regular season games. Then somewhat like the Scottish league, a split playoff league is implemented where the top half of the league plays each other in a post season league format (5 teams in the top half fighting for league champion, 5 teams in the bottom half fighting for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd draft picks...that's for all three picks for the bottom half winner...in other words, Dallas this year would have the 1st, 2nd and 3rd draft choice picks...that's not a bad deal IMHO). With the regular season points included in the playoff league final result (4 home and 4 away games) making a total of 18 regular season games plus 8 guaranteed postseason games, for a total of 26 games. Obviously, as the leage grows (hopefully to only even numbered teams) the split league postseason would expand, from 5 and 5, to soon 6 and 6 with the addition of Chivas-USA and Cleveland for 2005, and hopefully 8 and 8 by the year 2014 (hey ...I can dream, can't I?!?!?) Thus, in short... 2004 = 10 team league, (18 + 8) = 26 league games 2005 = 12 team league, (22 + 10)= 32 " " 2010 = 14 " " , (26 + 12) = 38 " " 2014 = 16 " " , (30 + 14) = 44 " " Now I know you all think that 44 games is a lot for a league, but if you think how MLS has expanded lately, we are likely to have a 14 team league for the near future much more likely than any other amount. So 38 games, IMO, is a darn good number to have U.S. players playing for their club team. Couple this with the U.S. Open cup and MLS Cup (with one of these cup tournaments being the last game of the entire season), and you are having players in top shape for the whole year (something you can't say now....hec, hasn't the national team coach Bruce Arena complained how short the MLS season is right now???) Having said all that, I know the powers that be at MLS headquaters would never consider this idea because it is a radical solution...which leads me to this last format.... D) The way a lot of Latin American countries (and Japon) set up their season. That is with an Opening and Closing tournament. That would mean the first stage is 18 games, home and away against every team, with the winner of a single table Opening League Champion. Then repeated again for the 2nd stage, resulting in Closing League Champion. If the winner of the two isn't the same, then you have a title game to determine the overall year Champion. I sort of lean towards this idea, simpy because it makes both stages sprints rather than a marathon. That, to me, produces more exciting games, because each point earned is tremondous. But I know this idea would get shot down because it would confuse the average American audience to have multiple champions in one year, and that the concept of "there can only be one champion" is king in the U.S. Thus, for the realist in me, I can only see the status quo and possibly another change in playoff format to be ever undertaken by MLS bigwigs. The dream of single table can never occur in a country as big as the U.S., and with the key component of getting regional rivalries created, the purist in me sees the A-League being more successful in creating a more logical system to crown a league champion than MLS could ever do. Well, that's my rant.... (and before anyone else says it...yes, I like cheese too ) P)
This is beaten to death, but I'm gonna bite. I don't like the two seasons with each winner playing off in a championship game. I just don't like the idea that a team could coast through the 2nd season because it won the first, etc. When I was thinking about what I'd like to see I thought about having two leagues (via MLB) with a championship game. Each league being single table. But then I thought about how the last half of the season would be meaningless for half the teams and how without Euro places, relegation and promotion (which I hope we never see!) single tables just aren't that interesting. I think I've finally decided on the format that I would use if I was going to run all of MLS. I would make the league center around 3 competitions that are played back to back. Start out with the US Open Cup which would be played in full before the MLS season starts. Then, take the regular season and make it a single table. The winner is the MLS champion. Finish the year off with the MLS Cup. Single elimination tournament with the teams seeded based on their regular season finish. Its quite likely that in 3 years we'll have 14 teams in MLS. Top 2 regular season finishers get to rest while the other 12 teams battle for the final 6 places in the quarters. None of this works if MLS doesn't promote 3 competitions. Right now there is only one competition (season -> playoffs -> championship game) and an unpromoted Cup. It would also be nice if MLS has 10 teams if they join in the round of 32 in the US Open Cup and the officials make the draw totally random.
The nice thing about the current format is that there are more different titles for teams to strive for, and use in their marketing. Unfortunately the Supporters' Shield has never caught on for this purpose, but it could - particularly if it were given a more logical name like "Regular Season Champs". There are 10 teams in MLS, and five titles they can aim for: Supporters' Shield MLS Cup Champs US Open Cup Champs Eastern Div Champs Western Div Champs Naturally, there will be cases of one team claiming more than one of these - if nothing else, the MLS cup winner can also claim their division championship. But it gives more things that the teams' marketers can use to promote the next season. Splitting the season into Opening and Closing (Apertura and Clausura) would give yet another title they could brag about - with a midsummer break for FIFA tournaments etc. This would be especially good in World Cup years. I do agree about the semifinals being a home-and-away series, and hope MLS will do that.
Playoffs - Either first-to-five, with homefield advantage to the higher seeded team or a single game with full overtime but try to avoid penalties. As it stands two legs offers no discernible advantage which makes the regular season a 30 game qualification for a crap shoot. I say shrink the playoffs to six teams and have a single playoff table again - the league isn't big enough otherwise. Still seed the divisional winners and give them a first round bye. Make the regular season mean more.
I sort of like how you tinkered with it...kinda like how NCAA basketball does their season. First the U.S. Open Cup, then the MLS League Season, and then the MLS Cup. Of course all USL teams would have to slightly adjust their schedules to make this work, as well as massive promotion and marketing to get this idea of 3 Important Competitions that's out there. (U.S.S.F. has, IMO, done a horrendous job of that, as well as MLS headquarters to a certain extent). Interesting....any other ideas???
Although not really statistically significant, each of the higher seeds won their particular playoff series this year. [Sarcasm]Yeah, let's get rid of that awful two-leg series--it was such a bore this year.[/sarcasm]