Alert: Commissioner Don Garber to Discuss MLS Playoffs and League's Future on Fox Football Fone-In‎

yeah it is simple, I mean relegation should be like that though 3 years of all-time play, i mean this would make every team want to be the best to avoid relegation, here in the MLS there are probably teams that would take pay cutts to become better nexzt year resulting in reall bad play and horrible games Via red bulls maybbe they ddnt want to waste money on talent this year to forward their stadium? no? just a wild guess, talkin out ma ass but you get my concept right?

If there was single table it would be simpler, just play home and away, who ever is in the top eight played everybody to get to where they stand and go to the play-offs, now in the mls in the other hand you play your conference twice and play the other conference once, so whenm the red bulls went to the west with a horrible record they beat everybody and went to the final, that just aint right, if the single table was used at the time they wouldnt even be in the play-offs it would have the teams who rightfully deserve to be in the play-offs

 

I'm not saying it isn't an issue. I'm saying if that individual fact alone is so confounding to an individual, I think they're just inventing reasons to not follow the league.

The Championship is not the highest league in England. (As I showed before) Promotion and relegation an involve average points coupled with a playoff system. Some leagues split the table part way through the season and play a championship and a relegation season seperately.

I hardly think the fifth place team in one conference moves to the other conference for the playoffs is the most mind-boggling concept in the world. I too think they should seed 1-8, but I'm more interested in the games than arguing over minutiae.

 

I think you need to look at the 2008 standings again and understand the rules in play.

 

Yea very true, and you can see that seattle should have been a hgher seed than the seed they are now, if it was in single table... conference do eff things up....

That was my initial though as well since soccer wasn't taht big years ago, it was the only way to keep the fans thinking they are a good team in a conference setup when in fact single table they would be 10th or eleventh, but hell you can still be in the play off race at 10th 11th place!!! So why the conferences?!?! just switch to single table!!

 

As someone who has tracked MLS as a single table for the past three years, the balanced/unbalanced argument is 'partially' moot.

Yes, it's difficult to determine who the truly best team is when not everyone plays the exact same schedule; however, the final four playoff spots the last two seasons were determined on best record overall and not in conference, and the four teams that qualified this season -- Seattle, Chivas USA, New England and RSL -- did not play the same schedule, yet were classified in the table as if they did.

So MLS could have an unbalanced schedule and still eliminate conferences. And I believe they should as the league grows to take advantage of natural rivalries within driving distance (SEA, POR, VAN and DC, PHI, NY, NE most notably) and to eliminate as many travel miles as possible while still being a fairly representative schedule of the whole league like they do currently. MLS can schedule that way without having conferences.

The last three or four weeks have been a pain to correctly order the teams with all of these cryptic H2H tiebreakers MLS has come up with, especially with such a parity-based league. I looked at MLS' page on tiebreakers prior to the weekend and it made the NFL wildcard playoff scenarios look simple in comparison, and I keep up with things in the league. I can't imagine someone trying to follow MLS on a casual basis trying to make sense of it all.

No poll for this, but how many MLS fans here care about their team's conference? I'm a Crew supporter, but I couldn't care less about the Eastern Conference. I want them to be at the top of the overall table/standings, and if not there, as high as possible in playoff positions 2-8. That's all that really matters to me.

Right now you have conference standings that only matter for 1-4 and single table for the rest (pos. 4-15) and playoffs, and teams that have to play for the other conference "championship" during the playoffs. I see no reason why you couldn't have it for all with 1v8, 2v7, 3v6, 4v5. And I'm no Eurosnob.

EDIT: Even the 12th place team in the table still had a shot at the playoffs going into the final weekend.

 

Ok you are correct, I might have exagerrated but my point is that colombus should have played the red bulls from the get go (first round of play-offs), dynamo with real and so on and so forth!! there would have been a different result, yes or no? That is my idea im trying to get through to the conference setup lovers... Red bulls would have lost to Colombus and they would have been out since they came in last place they play the best placed team in all of MLS... you see what I mean?

 

Thank You, Im not a eurosnob either, I just want the teams to be in single table to show where they truly stand in an overall picture and not the conference different schedule crapt..


Damn there ya go!! even the 12th place team had a chance at the play-offs!!

 

Yes, I do. Yes, that's something I would welcome. I just disagree that seeding the conferences and moving a wildcard to another conference is a horrible impediment to people following the league.

 

i would never refrain from following the league over it. i agree.

i don't think it's particularly bothersome other than the fact that i despise having to look at conference standings on MLSnet ... pretty much from day one of the season on. it's mickey mouse and it's annoying. and the league is pretty much admitting all of that when they convert everything to single table at the end of the year anyway. i mean, what the hell is the point? guys, you're 95% of the way there ... just dive in!

 

Now I guess it would be ok if in each conference they get the top four, but even then some team in east may have 50 points in 5th place and the 4th place west team has 47 point yet they make the play-offs and the 5th place more points awarded team would be left out, and that just ain't going to happen, so putting everything in single table would rightfully place the teams in their respective positions..

 

Wait, in a country where "America's Team" in the country's biggest league (the Dallas Cowboys) plays in the East we're stating that its too confusing to have NY as the champs of the Western Conference?

Moronic (the argument, not NY in the Western playoffs).

Some other examples:
Indy Colts in the South
KC Chiefs and St. Louis Rams in the West
Texas Rangers int he West
Memphis Grizzlies and New Orleans Hornets in the West

(The NHL actually has a pretty good relationship between the division names and the team locations in the division)

 

I see what your getting at and that is true, but my argument is if the MLS was in single table, you wouldnt have to worry about east west, and your argument kind of does not make sense because they are in those divisions because they have to, Not because they were placed into it at the end of the year.. Red Bulls played the east teams twice and go to the other conference, it kind of isnt fair, all the west teams played the west teams and red bulls play the east teams but play against the west in the play-offs..

Anyways the argument is that teh Red Bulls of NY(8) should have played colombus(1) in the first round of the playoffs (in single table format) and avoided the worst team against the best team in teh final, it should always be seeded fairly due to performance on all out table. conferences dont make sense in this type of sport!! in Basketball would you see the Miami Heat playing the western conference finals!!!! would that be correct to you?!?!?! obviously not so your argument is moronic, because it does not compare to this...

 

You keep saying this over and over even though I don't think anyone here has posted that they disagree with you on this point. I don't think you are accurately reading people's posts.

 

Baseball publishes playoff/wild card standings every season.
The NHL and NBA publish separate divisional and conference standings for basically the same reason as MLS, because the playoff spots in each conference go to the three division winners, then the remaining teams with the best record. This should not be a complicated process for any American sports fan.

I can't tell--are people upset about this? It made for some great, exciting games. Was there a single game this weekend where there wasn't a playoff spot or seed on the line?

 

I just stated it as fact, not my opinion on it's value. I thought it made for a very exciting last couple of games as the teams fought for those last three or four spots.

If MLS had Top 4 East and Top 4 West instead of best overall for 4-8, Real Salt Lake, Colorado and FC Dallas wouldn't have had as much on the line this weekend, given the relative strength of the West this season. The setup gave them that chance and made for a much more esciting finish.

 

Is he?

 

can someone post the Q&A session with Garber?

 

Garber up after the break. Of course he is right now thinking how to call Wynalda an idiot for his prior comments.

 

Good lord. This show is just like Bigsoccer. Same points drubbed over and over without any real basis to back them up. "Let's change the scheduele so we can play in the Champions League!". Seriously?

 

I'm on the line right now and can here it early lol.

 

So far:

Expect changes in the next few years regarding things like player academies and the like.

Single table? Needs someone to explain why because he doesn't understand how it would help.

"European" schedule? The dead horse wants you to stop beating it.

 

With the single table, he thinks it is team at the top wins the title. I want single table so I can easily see where my team is in the playoff race since the top 8 go.

 

Exactly. Who says single table can't still end with a playoffs? This is not really answering the question I am wondering.

 

I think this Jesse Marsch bit is a whole lot more informative and much better than the Garber bit.