After seeing the attendance numbers to last nights playoffs games,( and past seasons) frustration set in asking myself what's the point to it all ? I mean if people don't care for the playoffs why have it.? But then i'm thinking getting rid of the playoffs all together will make a lot of MLS games meaningless towards the end of the season. Once teams are out of championship contention what are they supposed to play for, we don't have the structure of promotion/relegation, and no one realy cares much about CONCACAF Club Competitions as people do with the Champions League, and UEFA cup. So then how do we fix the playoffs. My suggestions are : 1. Single knock out game played at the home of the higher seeded team as is done in NFL i belive. 2. Playoff games to be played only on the weekend , quarterfinals to begin 10 to 14 days after the end of regular season. 3. Include playoff tickets as part of season tix 4. Have playoff dates set just as every other MLS game is , so everyone will know in advance when the playoffs are, just as we all know when MLS Cup is.
I would agree with going to single elimination playoffs. They're always talking about rewarding teams for regular season record, right? It's not fair if you only get one playoff game and it's on the road? Do better in the regular season next year. Don't scrap the playoffs. I was one of the 6300 at the game in Dallas last night, and that game kicked ass. The intensity level was way above normal and definitely had a playoff feel. The attendance problems with the playoffs are due to the fact that front offices don't know the schedule until the last minute and therefore don't have time to market the game the same way they do in the regular season.
Don,t worry after 2006 we all be watching more Baseboll and Footboll. Burn claimed 6000 at game,it looked more like 1500 on tv. They must have counted the BS posters along with the people at game.
This subject is already under discussion in numerous threads. I'm moving it to the MLS General Discussion forums. Thanks,
You're full of it. I was there just like I'm there every Burn game and there was definitely 6K there. They were the hardcore ones too. The beermen were quite busy and it was awfully noisy in the stands. A great time was had by all.
One simple thing to boost attendence for the playoffs. Instead of making game one on weds night, put it on sat night and make the other team play game 2 on weds. This way its a weekend game with another four days to promote the game. Game three can be on the following sat night too. Then in the semis make game one a week later on sat night again. Its that simple. More time for the playoffs
Here...kick this around and see what you think about this knockout format: The top 8 teams qualify. They're split into 2 groups...teams 1-4 play each other in a modified double-elimination format...teams 5-8 play straight knockout. In the top group, the 2 conference champions host (1v4, 2v3), in the lower group the 5th & 6th seeds host (5v8, 6v7). Down the stretch in the regular season, that means you're playing for either the conference championship (seeds 1 & 2), playing for a double-elimination slot (seeds 3 & 4), playing to host a knockout match (seeds 5 & 6), or playing for a playoff spot (seeds 7 & 8). The first round of playoffs are all played on a Soccer Saturday. In the top group, the winners advance straight to host the semi-finals on the next Soccer Saturday. In the bottom group, the winners advance to a mid-week matchup with the losers from the top group (who would host as higher seeds). The survivors of these "preliminary finals" would advance to the semi-finals to meet the first round top bracket winners. The brackets also cross to eliminatet the possibility of rematches in the semi-finals. You've completed your run-up to MLS Cup in a tense, taut, 8-day period...keeping momentum and public attention at a high level. Hypothetically speaking, using this year's order of finish: 1v4 = Dallas at Los Angeles 2v3 = San Jose at New England 5v8 = Kansas City at Colorado 6v7 = Chicago at Columbus Based on nothing but the top of my pointed little head: Los Angeles and New England advance to host the semi-finals. Columbus at San Jose Colorado at Dallas Kansas City and Chicago are eliminated. Semi-finals: Dallas at New England Columbus at Los Angeles San Jose and Colorado are eliminated. There...simple clean and easy...and no silly "first-to-5" format. A fair and balanced way to run a playoff in half the time. I'll accept the slings and arrows now...
I kinda like it but to a normal minded fan this could be confusing... I like home and home... Or a REAL best of 3...no games end in ties (10min OT then PK's)
I like where you're going with the latter system, but I've never liked PK's. Rather, I would prefer a baseball/basketball-type arrangement, i.e. play until there's a winner. At the very least I wish FIFA would rewrite the rules of the penalty kick. Something along the lines of the NASL format to level the odds, give the GK a chance to stop with skill rather than luck. Like in hockey.
Haven't I told you to come back after you clowns beat Real Madrid? That should keep you away for years to come, you troll.
How many Australians are there? They can figure this out, it's pretty much how they do it in Australian Rules Football. Think of how many times more important this makes the regular season. ALL 8 SPOTS ARE MEANINGFUL IN SOME WAY. It is not that difficult to figure out, it rewards the best teams in the regular season by giving them a double chance, and it sure wouldn't get near as many looks as "first to five" has. As I've seen in the past, BS posters take one look at it, decide it's too complicated before ever considering the beauty of it, then blow it off and either start trolling or saying they want home-and-home with gimmicks. Think about it, give it a chance. It's a perfect set-up. Or, as perfect as MLS can get, I guess...
We have a real best of 3 right now, MLS is just too stupid to call it that. Just call it best of 3. Once in a while, things will be tied after three games. Big deal.