What if they renamed the Supporters' Shield something more meaningful like "The Regular Season Championship".
Won't be the first time someone got killed and buried face down in a shallow grave in Oklahoma Won't be the last
How would rock paper scissors work with 20 teams? Or even just the playoff teams, who would then be in a playoff of rock paper scissors instead of footie. I'm not saying it isn't a good solution, just that there might be some kinks to work out. Also, as an SKC fan, I am almost positive that Vermes will be throwing out whatever the hand signal for "high pressure" is every time. It might be seen through. Kind of like the playoffs, I guess...
Why not a MLS League Champion and a MLS Cup Champion? In England and others leagues you have both titles... Regular Season*: MLS League Champion and runner-up CONCACAF Champions League MLS Cup**: MLS Cup Champion CONCACAF Champions League US Open Cup: US Open Cup Champion CONCACAF Champions League US Super Cup: 3 US Champions (preseason tournament). 4 domestic titles and 1 international title. * With a more balanced schedule, only home and away games inside conference, and home or away games between conferences. With 20 clubs this will mean 28 games. Saving here, to accomodate MLS Cup expansion. ** Including all MLS clubs. 1st round: bottom 4 clubs from each conference (qualifying round) 2nd round: 4 clubs from round 1 + 12 new entries=16 clubs third round: 8 clubs 4th round: 4 clubs 5th round: 2 clubs Each competition should mean a champion title....
Americans haven't shown much interest in the CONCACAF Champions League or U.S. Open Cup relative to the regular season. There are people who complain that the English League Cup (Capital One Cup) is not necessary.
If the alternative is having your team win the championship by virtue of a result they do not even participate in, like what happened to Leicester, count me out. What an anti-clamatic way to win a title.
I whole-heartedly agree. I'm glad Leicester City won the title. But watching on TV from your kitchen seems like the least exciting way for a team to win the title. The problem with it is the only way the European model works is if everyone plays everyone home and away. In the U.S., it's impossible because we're not going to stop at 20 clubs, or even 24 (46 game season !). In Western Europe (everything west of Poland not counting Italy or any of the Scandinavian countries) the population is 320.5 million. The U.S. has 318.9 million people. Could you imagine Europeans being happy if England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, France, Monaco, Luxembourg, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland only had 20 top flight professional teams in one league? By my count, those countries have 192 teams in their 'top flight' league. 192. For 320 million people. The U.S. has 318.9 million and has 20 teams in the entire top flight. We can handle more than 20 teams. We can handle 40 teams. Hell, we could handle even more. But, playing everyone in a double-round robin is impossible. So, the championship will need to be decided some other way than 'the table'. A playoff is the only logical solution. Would Europeans be happy if the UEFA Champions League only put all the teams that qualified into groups of 8 and whoever had the most points in their 14 games was crowned champions of Europe? No? Exactly. They want a playoff there. Because they realize that's the only fair way to determine a champion when you're dealing with that many teams. Europeans already like playoffs. Why there's an issue with the Americans using playoffs is beyond me.
I'm not against playoffs. However regular season should mean something more. But doesn't make sense a regular season champ if the Schedule isn't balanced, at least in each conference clubs should have the same games. With this model a overall ranking winner could claim the title. Because all clubs in MLS will play the same games, only with a small difference, interconference games, some teams will play home and others away. After a MLS Champion you could have another competition MLS Cup. Regular season position will determine in wich phase teams will entry, and against who they play.
Been there, done that. Whatever happened to the Atlanta Apollos, Atlanta Chiefs (1), Atlanta Chiefs (2), Baltimore Bays, Baltimore Comets, Boston Beacons, Boston Minutemen, Calgary Boomers, California Surf, Caribous of Colorado, Chicago Mustangs, Chicago Sting, Cleveland Stokers, Connecticut Bicentennials, Dallas Tornado, Denver Dynamos, Detroit Cougars, Detroit Express, Edmonton Drillers, Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1), Golden Bay Earthquakes, Hartford Bicentennials, Houston Hurricane, Houston Stars, Jacksonville Tea Men, Kansas City Spurs, Las Vegas Quicksilvers, Los Angeles Aztecs, Los Angeles Wolves, Memphis Rogues, Miami Gatos, Miami Toros, Minnesota Kicks, Minnesota Strikers, Montreal Olympique. Montreal Manic, New England Tea Men, New York Cosmos, New York Generals, Oakland Clippers, Oakland Stompers, Philadelphia Atoms, Philadelphia Fury, Portland Timbers (1), Rochester Lancers, Saint Louis Stars, San Antonio Thunder, San Diego Jaws, San Diego Sockers, San Diego Toros, San Jose Earthquakes (1), Seattle Sounders (1), Tampa Bay Rowdies (1), Team America, Team Hawaii, Toronto Blizzard, Toronto Falcons, Toronto Metros, Tulsa Roughnecks (1), Vancouver Royals, Vancouver Whitecaps (1), Washington Darts, Washington Diplomats (1), Washington Diplomats (2) and Washington Whips? Over-expansion. There was a paper on how and why NASL failed which was used as a basis for MLS. I'll try and dig it out.
I think it would mean more if the best team won it, rather than the team with the best record. In my opinion FCD were a much better team than NYRB last season but FCD played in the harder conference. However, playing a team on the other coast rather than 3 hours up the road may affect attendances.
Not the question. The SS recognizes the best record over the course of the season and grants automatic entry into the CCL. The only thing the MLS Cup does that the SS doesn't is garner you "league champion" status. So how could the regular season mean more when the SS does everything the MLS Cup does, outside of granting the title "league champion?"
One more thing/ In how many of those countries is soccer the fifth most popular sport? There are plenty of soccer teams in the US, including the 91 who enter the US Open Cup. When they pack their stadiums and turn a significant profit I'm sure they'll be worthy of consideration MLS - 20 teams NASL - 12 teams USL - 28 teams = League 1 Ontario - 16 teams = Première Ligue de soccer du Québec - 7 teams PDL - 62 teams = Pacific Coast Soccer League - 9 teams NCAA D1 - 212 teams