Lionel Messi to MLS?.. The Saga Starts Part 1 [R]

I agree. I don't have the answers though and it's something (regular season not meaning much) that's been an issue since day one.
I'm also fully aware that promotion/relegation will never happen because like every other sport in the States it's a closed system. That would certainly make every game count. As you mentioned there's absolutely no difference between Supporters shield and wooden spoon other than the SS qualifies for other tournaments like the Concacaf champions League. That's about it.
We Quakes get to hit the reset button for the hundredth time and hope for a better season. Rinse & repeat.

 

Didn’t they understand how to make money?

 

The other problem is that the season goes way too long. The MLS Cup teams have about a month off and then it’s back to training. They could just have a 3 or 4-game playoff between the winners of each conference. Then you’ve got the WC style tournament - Leagues Cup, and you could embrace (instead of shun) USOC as your domestic tournament and that’s it. There’s just too much crap right now.

 

Yeah, and I wonder just how many people really want relegation and promotion in place.

We know none of the owners want it and I doubt they will ever elect for it if they don't have to.

Miami for example, in any other league in the world will have been relegated last season and there will have been no way they will have won the Supporters Shield in 2024.

Same goes for the Galaxy who was 4th from the bottom.

Instead of winning the MLS Cup yesterday, they will have been competing for a USL Championship trophy 2-3 weeks ago.

Also, San Diego coming in as an expansion team could very well have a tough first season and I doubt their owners would have committed the amount of money they did only to see their investment plunder into the USL after season one.

I also don’t think they will have been able to swing the APPLE TV deal without an LA Galaxy or a Miami in the first tier.

Even in Europe's top leagues when you go down the list, top teams rarely get relegated and it is usually teams who are always on the verge of being on the cusp between a 2nd and 1st tier.

So this rel-pro is a dead issue.

Still, Garber & Co. need to make MLS regular season count for something because as it is, all teams currently care about is qualifying for the playoffs and that is the only incentive there is.

I know teams get bonuses in Europe for placements in the table.

A friend of mine who played at Roma in the later 1990's got $500k just because his team qualified for the UEFA Cup.

I think it's a lot more now with the TV and sponsors.

This is what MLS should consider doing.

 

Yeah I don’t think pro-reg is a great substitute for playoffs in generating fan engagement in the regular season. You wind up with the few teams at the top struggling for a championship, the few teams at the bottom struggling to avoid an “anti-championship” and every else in the middle is twiddling thumbs.

 

Pro/Rel is not happening now and most likely ever. I just brought it up because quite honestly I don't know what else could make the regular season more meaningful.
Everyone likes more money and it potentially could be a point of conversation but I'm pretty sure that quite a few players have stipulations in their contracts for everything from reaching the post season to bonuses from number of goals or being top assister in the league etc. Those are mainly personal gains but I'm sure if they implement team earnings it may change things. Who knows really...but something should be done to make the season have more meaning.

 

That's how MLS is now jejeje just without Pro/Rel and no team suffers the consequences of anything. If you're lucky enough..you win MLS Cup...you suck enough...you get the wooden spoon.

90% of teams in MLS are very similar (by design) and every season with the exception of 3-4 teams fighting for the SS are all bunched up with horrible mediocre records and are happy just as long as they're within the famous playoff line. I personally don't see it as a fun segment of the league.

 

Also, in bringing it back to the thread, if rel/pro was in place, Messi will have never signed with Miami.

 

No I think the teams in the middle all have something to play for all the way to the end. Almost all are vying for a playoff spot, even on the last day of the season, and if they're not fighting for a spot, they're fighting for seeding and the possibility to host more games. And some of those mediocre teams can get hot at the end. NYRB was 7th with an 11-9-14 record - very similar to Quakes 2023.

The MLS playoff system works I think to generate some excitement among the fan base w/o pro/rel. It just makes a bit of a mockery of the regular season. One bad game and you're out. Those kinds of tournaments are common, but do we really want to determine our "league champion" that way? That's why I say that you could have your cake and eat it too a little bit if you just determine MLS cup winner by a top conference teams playoff, and then you up-level USOC and Leagues Cup. It is not that disimilar to English soccer where you have the regular season champion (by regular season record), then FA Cup (somewhat analagous to USOC), and then Champions League (a bit analogous to CONCACAF Champions League). Additionally we have Leagues Cup as another tournament WC style tournament.

The additional advantage to this system is that you don't go into to mid-December to determine your regular season league champion, which is of course ludicrous.

 

I think a case can be made that Liga MX has declined in status/standing since pro/rel were ended in 2020. Not necessarily relevant to MLS, but not necessarily irrelevant either.

 

More likely that's a symptom of their problems and not the cause... what are the biggest clubs being kept out of the first division without pro/rel, Atlante and Morelia?

 

Your first paragraph is exactly the reason I don't like the playoffs set up MLS has going right now. Personally it would have been awful and even more Mickey mouse if a 7th place team that only won 2 freaking games out of their last 20 goes to the MLS cup and wins it. It doesn't happen in any other league in the world and for good reason. Not a good look for a team that has more losses than wins and pretty much coasted and at best were mediocre during the season win the league's championship just because they grinded out 3-4 wins in a mini tournament that they got lucky to get in. Maybe the season gets taken more serious if 4 teams only make the playoffs. Top 2 seeds followed by the second place teams in each conference. That's it.
I do like the idea of your example of dishing out placements for other tournaments with the remaining teams that didn't make the playoffs and finished 5-6-7 on the standings.
Plus as you also mentioned other tournaments, if your season is not going well then you have a chance to win some silverware in the leagues cup or open cup, but let's not reward mediocrity which is what MLS does right now. Playoffs are a joke in MLS as it's set up at this moment.

 

Yeah, in 2004 the Quakes made the playoffs after finishing 4th out of 5th . And like I said we already have mostly or all knockout everyone-in tournaments - USOC and Leagues Cup. I do think those should continue to include everyone and not just the “losers”. Give good teams a chance to win double / triple.

 

It ain’t his Bay Area debut. More Fake News.

 

I bet he doesn't travel here.

 

Barcelona vs. Chivas in a doubleheader with the Quakes at Candlestick Park.

 

2009 - Saw that one from the fourth officials table. Not too shabby!

 

May 14th, 2025 at PayPal.

I always thought they would play at Levi's if Messi were to come.....



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Nope, they want to play the game at a downtown stadium.

 

Any idea how many times Messi has skipped traveling across the country for a mid-week game?

 

Great call. I went to the game.