Bruce Arena's thoughts for MLS....

If MLS does go to a single table, they're gonna have to set up some sort of incentive for teams to finish second, third, or fourth. In Europe, that incentive is to qualify for continental club tournaments, but we really don't have anything quite like that here. But per Arena's suggestion, what kind of financial bonus would suffice to create games like the SJ-LA one?

 

There is a simple solution. Only 4 teams should make the playoffs. When MLS is a twenty team league, an 8 team playoff would make more sense.

 

I've been becoming more of a single table fan lately. I think bruce is right about there needing to be some financial incentive for performing well, though I question how such a thing would be implimented when we are a single entity league, with all teams sharing in the losses. In europe, getting into the Champions league provides that financial bonus. The same does not hold true for the CONCACAF Champions Cup.

 

Here's one time I hope MLS ignores Il Bruce.

Playoffs rule.

Single table's fine where the tradition and attention exists. But single table without relegation? Who farted?

 

Bruce is right that regular season games should count for more.

At the risk of spamming, I think the solution is a ladder format where 4 plays at 3 for the right to play at 2 for the right to play at 1 for a berth in MLS Cup.

Mega reward for #1, yet most teams qualify for the postseason.

Also every team (except #4) gets exactly one home game, good for attendance.

(Hey, I got a new sig from that article!)

 

That is an interesting, and original idea. It'll never happen, but it's a neat idea.

I don't know why Bruce is the expert on this, and I know he gets a lot more games from Europe than most around here, but there are many snoozers in Europe as well. And even if the games in Europe are more intense, I doubt league format is the only factor in this difference. MLS players don't quite have the same competition for playing time that exists over there, for one.

MLS teams compete for the MLS Cup, not monetary incentives.

Make the first round a single game, to give the 2nd place a bigger reward over 3rd, and also more reward for 1st, as they would have home field throughout.

Bruce, I'm sorry. You need relegation and continental spots to make single table anything but a bore.

 

I'm not sure Bruce said there shouldn't be playoffs, just using a single table format.

I still say make the Supporters Shield an official honor - with bonuses - and then play a "Cup" for the MLS title, preferable with 6 teams in the playoffs (or something; haven't thought it through).

 

Every game's intense in Europe? You could make the argument that "every game counts" but it usually only means something to one of the two teams playing. Half the teams in the Premiership probably haven't played a game that really matters to them (outside of the endless number of derbies) in years. If England had playoffs to decide the champion everyone in the world would be going on and on about what a great spectacle it is.

Of course a coach is going to want to put emphasis on long-term goals and accomplishments rather than the results of a two-game series. Coaches and players are not fans of soccer in the same way posters on message boards are.

 

Again here is my proposal:

MLS can decide to have 3 championships.

1. MLS league championship. It's rewarded to the team with most points in single table. It's considered the "best" championship and the team that wins celebrate as THE MLS champion.

2. US open cup champion. It's equivalent of English FA cup. No explaination necessary.

3. MLS "Cup" champion. The top x MLS teams are "invited" or "qualify" for the championship tournament at the end of the season, which is basically post season playoff like we have right now. This is equivalent of English "league cup" or Carling cup or whatever they call it, except the competition takes place at the end of the season. This championship is as good as US open cup, but is not as prestigous as winner of regular season champion.

I think my proposal is close to what Europe has and still maintain post season playoff. It's like a good compromise.

 

I like your idea (in fact, it's my idea), except I think the Supporters Shield Champion and the MLS Cup have to at least be more or less equal in terms of honor and prestige. If the Cup champion is somewhat less, no one will even wnat to play in it at the end of the year.

 

Try a little harder to confuse the casual fan. Sportscasters had enough trouble explaining the home-and-home format.

 

I don't believe pleasing the casual fan is one of MLS's long term strategy any more based on what I have heard and read. MLS has done enough of that and alienated enough of their core fans. MLS now is going after youth but that's another topic at another time.

I don't think pleasing casual fans will get the league anywhere.

It's more important now to do what makes most sense.

Forget about trying to please the casual fans or trying to be like Europe just for the sake of being like Europe. I am not even sure if my idea makes the most sense, but I know for sure our current system doesn't make sense. Bruce is exactly right about our current system making a farce out of the regular season.

 

I just don't think there is a magic formula to make every game mean a lot. We can fiddle with what we've got until we maximize game importance as much as possible, but there will always be a good number of games that mean very little, or nothing at all.

Many posters are talking about having 3 BIG champs, but I say if there is no big cahuna at the end of it all that is bigger than the rest, they ALL are diminished in importance. How special would it be if you win the MLS Cup, but there was already a champion crowned a few weeks earlier? Kind of takes the luster off, doesn't it? And for the one that won the reg. season, it would be quite a short-lived celebration.

It would be like Notre Dame/Florida State every season, if you know what I'm talking about.

 

I think MLS gives the Supporter's Shield the proper respect... none.

It's an unwritten rule in every league in every sport in every nation I know of that the same games don't count toward multiple championships.

MLS Cup is the championship, either have playoffs for it or don't. If you're going to have playoffs, make damn sure the regular season impacts them.

 

I agree with this, but I would do it in a single table, with only the top four teams qualifying (from your post, it sounds like you want to keep the separate divisions and 8 out of 10 qualifiers). Single table, top team qualifies directly for MLS Cup, and hosts it - other 3 teams play one game eliminations the way you set up, with the higher seed as host.

In this setup, every playoff game is guaranteed to be the host's last home game of the season, so that should provide both big crowds and big intensity. And the regular season matters a lot- #4 seed has a very tough road to the championship.

If four teams is seen as too few, maybe have 2-5 play a normal bracket (again, single elim knockout hosted by higher seed) for the right to play in MLS Cup. I don't think more than half of the league should qualify for postseason, and I really like the idea of having the regular season winner host the final. Although moving away from a neutral site MLS Cup might create some marketing and scheduling problems, the delay between the end of the regular season and the final should mitigate that somewhat.

 

I think the best solution for now is to chop the number of teams making the playoffs from eight to four. Since there's no huge disparity in points between the middle rung teams, the late season games would still mean something to those teams battling for the fourth spot. Also, it would prevent what I would call "the florida marlins syndrome," where a lesser deserving team (they were the wild card team) would win the championship for no other reason than good timing. (And no, I'm not a bitter Yankee fan. I'm a bitter A's fan.)

 

You do realize that if only four teams made the playoffs we wouldn't have had the SJ/LA series that prompted Bruce's comments about how exciting these series are?

Not that I disagree with you about the playoff structure or anything... just saying.

 

This seems the next, logical step. The League should honor the Shield with bonuses for the winning team.

The curent home and home aggragate system is the best yet, in my opinion. It offers the closest thing we have to relegation -- the bottom 2 teams are sent to Coventry -- or to the golf course -- in shame. Whatever. They are excluded from the post-season, their fans humiliated and eager for revenge.
It's good theatre, if nothing else.

And if it can produce matches like the LA-SJ classic, so much the better.

 

It is a matter of degrees. Using this past season, you would have a race for 3 and 4 between the Revs, Metroturds, Wizards and Rapids. Leaving 3 teams out of any contention. What would the drag be on their attendance if they were eliminated. Bruce is right about the 8 of 10 playoff teams kind of making the regular season meaningless especially when there is a real bad team like Dallas, but it is the best possible scenario given the league is only 10 teams. I like the idea of maybe giving teams an economic icentive (ie. more cap room?) to finish higher especially in the case of the Western Conference this year.

 

No playoffs or MLS cup final game = boredom. Two tables, East vs. West is great, single tables are for countries that cover small geographic areas equivalent to maybe one or two states in the US. Top two from East, Top two from West two game aggregate goal system, 1 game MLS Cup final at Home Depot Center every year until more Soccer Stadiums develop. Also season should end much earlier than November 23, should not overlap with NFL,NBA and Europe. This season should have ended months ago with only 10 teams in disinterested markets like KC,and Denver.

 

that's not true at all. single tables exist in countries where there are balanced schedules...MLS does not have a balanced schedule...when the league expands to the FIFA maximum top flight number of 20 teams...there will by then, at least, be a balanced schedule prompting the need for a single table...

 

One table is boring. We have no champions league and in America. We like playoffs, and elimination games and championship games, winning the regular season does not win the championship in any sport in this country. This country is much larger than say England with one table and twenty teams in an area not as large as California.