Idea for season restructuring

I have a little bit of a developing idea of how the MLS season could be restructured, but it's likely that I'm missing some information and it may need some work. In general, though, here is the idea.

Generally speaking, everyone would like for the MLS to start play early in the calendar year, but it doesn't work out with the climate to the north. Also, in addition to the somewhat tepid results that MLS has had in CCL play, there are some who would like for MLS to follow the example of Liga MX teams that participate in Copa Libertadores. The main obstacle to this is travel and fitting it into the overall schedule.

So here is my idea. Perhaps MLS could have two different parts to its season, sort of like an Apertura/Clausura situation. To open the calendar year, perhaps MLS teams could begin with international friendlies in December and January, and then- this is a little ambitious- every single MLS team travels to South America for a few months in order to play a whole series of games against each other. What I envision is that four or five MLS teams not otherwise qualified for CCL play are participating in Copa Libertadores, so those teams would be strategically placed along with a handful of other MLS teams, probably going in groups of 6 to four different major cities in South America. In between playing games against each other, these MLS teams would also play through the second stage of the continental competition in February, March, and April. I would assume that all the MLS teams could arrive a few weeks ahead of time, everyone plays five games in one place, and then everyone strategically moves around to a different city and/or country for another stretch of games.

As far as I can tell, the beginning of this portion of the season could coincide pretty closely with that American sports dead spot right after the Super Bowl, while also being right after the African Cup of Nations. It seems like a good time to begin, although I'm not exactly sure how long this portion of the season would go. I do know that in the US, nothing much else would be on TV, comparatively speaking of course. Additionally, since most US soccer fans would not be able to make the trip and see their teams in person, that could give the league a bit of a ratings bump as they would have no option but to watch on TV. I do realize this is a silver lining on a less than ideal situation, but it sure is better than having no games at all as we wait for the northern climate to cooperate, which it never will. So what do you do? This.

I also imagine that in this all-neutral-site situation, it would be fairly simple to have a single-table situation with no playoff for this portion of the season. I'm not extremely committed to that, but it probably would make sense.

At any rate, I'm not sure exactly when this portion of the season would end, but it does seem likely that MLS teams would return to North America previous to the knockout stage of Copa Libertadores. (Based on when the US Open Cup fixtures begin- the ones involving MLS teams, I mean). That does have potential for some travel strain, but I would hope that some games could be postponed if someone makes a surprisingly deep run. That does have potential to be a drawback, and it certainly is a mark in the negative column. But I still think it's likely that there are more positives to this than drawbacks, and if we're being honest, 90% or more of MLS' hypothetical Copa Libertadores participation would most likely be contained within this we're-already-camping-out-here strategy.

The next portion of the MLS season would have fewer games than in the current format, especially if the playoff is still retained. I would like to think this could still work out if cross-conference games are minimized and conference play is emphasized alongside meaningful rivalries, and while I do like some aspects of ditching the playoff for a single table, I also like the idea of having both things happen within the calendar year. See how it works out when one league is doing two different things- that's very interesting to me.

There are two big things that I hope this idea could accomplish- one, significantly lengthen the overall MLS season, while taking full advantage of untapped time slots for TV viewing. And two- I hope that this can sidestep the climate problem while bringing MLS more into line with the FIFA international calendar. I'm not exactly sure if I have found enough information to be super confident that it would do that, and I don't have exact dates on when everything would happen. But I have a general sense that this could kill several birds with one fairly creative stone.

Couple of additional issues to address- this would require an outstanding amount of cooperation from CONMEBOL as a whole, but I think that confederation would bend over backwards to make it work. All of their past behavior strongly suggests that they would go for it, as far as I'm aware. The other issue would be accommodations (which might take a fair bit of investment by MLS, it would also require a long term commitment to making this more than just an experiment) and there is also a bit of a challenge in dumping 24 top-flight teams on a continent with no actual home field for any of them. Think about it his way though, in a city like Sao Paolo, there are 15 different pro soccer teams at a variety of different levels. They all play away games half the time, right? You split the league up in groups of 6, there's going to be no more than 3 games per group at any one time. In a huge metro area, I think you can work out a way to have 3 venues available just because those teams have traveled to away games.

Logistics, coordination, scheduling, accommodations, all that you need for a good telecast but possibly in a rather small stadium- not to mention the question of how many people would actually show up. Although, if you think about it, South America is pretty well represented among MLS players so I think there is something to work with there. These are all valid concerns that would make it difficult to get off the ground smoothly, but I also think that really good permanent solutions could be reached provided there's investment and a sustained commitment to cooperation.

One final perk before I wrap this up- if this sort of thing were to happen, think of all the good things it would do for MLS' recruitment efforts in South America. That alone outweighs the occasional travel concern, if you ask me, and there's quite a few positive things besides that. No I'm not saying it suddenly makes the Columbus Crew more attractive than Barcelona or that it puts Orlando City at the level of Man City, that's silly. But it does give MLS a giant leg up from where it's at now, and it could also lead to a more formal pipeline if MLS academies started to be established right alongside this type of annual presence.

Do I have something here? I do know it's just a pipe dream, and no one is really talking about doing it. But when it comes to dates and commitments to do other things, is it feasible? Is there any possible way for the MLS season to be altered this way without bumping into some other giant commitment that I am overlooking?

 

Ok, I just realized what I'm overlooking. The most important part of CCL play runs exactly through the part of this restructured thing where I have everyone traveling away from North America for an extended period of time. Which makes me wonder if CONCACAF could move that thing around, and that would be a rather large adjustment.