It just doesn't do anything for me. No different than watching figure skating, rap concerts, European soccer, Lords of the Rings, Harry Potter, etc. They just don't do anything for me. No interest.
For me personally: 1) The more they keep forcing these novelty contests the more it simply cheapens everything. To me this carries no more grandeur or meaning than the worthless International "Champions" Cup; A lame excuse concocted to make more games sound meaningful. Instead they should continue making the USOC and Champions League better. 2) I really don't like the idea of having a whole month dedicated to this and yet another curve thrown into the scheduling window. MLS already takes some hits when enduring normal breaks for international play, and this will just create another lag. I fear it will dampen appeal for league play, which is the exact opposite of where I feel they should be headed. For those of us who've been around long enough to recall the original NASL it's a thrill to see how far the US has come. We should be more vested now in seeing how far we can go, not how we can make Chivas and Club America more popular in the States.
A full month of no MLS means I'll abandon it and likely not come back. It's stupid to try and do something like that. Coming up with these worthless continental competitions will just push me to invest more time and money into USL.
It's interesting, because on some level both LigaMX and MLS are looking at this as a competitive advantage relative to one another. And they can't both be right. I'm torn on it. On the one hand, international club competition is good, and I think this format presents something that both fans and TV will like and be engaged by, and that remains a hugely important factor. On the other hand, it's not hard to see a more cynical view where MLS ownership, desperate to show revenue growth to justify large and growing franchise fees in a moment of structural questions about live entertainment of all sorts, are just maximally squeezing the opportunity to monetize Mexican fan support, especially in their big, weak markets. And good as an idea as this may arguably be, it is definitely another barrier in the way of giving CCL the pride of place that seems to be the perennial white whale of CONCACAF. Everyone knows pouring resources into that tournament is the right thing for everybody, yet there's always a shorter-term cash opportunity. There are a lot of details to be ironed out that will point toward one interpretation or the other, I guess.
I don't mind the idea of this tournament. I've been more supportive then most when it comes to the League Cup. I would be disappointed if they cut the regular season to less then 30 games. I'd like it to stay at 32. And I have to say my biggest gripe in the schedule the last two games is the significant lack of interconference matches. Whatever they do, I BEG them to have just home and away within conference and use the rest of the schedule for interconference matches. It ruins the league schedule to play the same team 3 times (or more last year). It ruins a good thing. So, just throwing this out into the internet void.
I assume most MLS clubs will get bounced early, meaning the last part of that month will be mostly Mexican teams playing against other Mexican teams and a handful of MLS clubs. I'm the kind of MLS fan that only really follows my preferred team, and the rest of the league only casually (back in the day, before we got to so many franchises, I paid more attention to the league). So as soon as my club is eliminated, I certainly won't watch a minute of this tournament.
1) I don't feel like it cheapens everything. Some of the best fan experiences I've had as a DC United fan involve seeing them play international matches against Mexico. The atmosphere in the stands is different, the style of play is different (dare I say even better?). More international matches is not a bad thing in my eyes. 2) I think having the break in the MLS schedule will actually be beneficial. MLS's offseason is already too long, especially for teams that miss the playoffs. Building a break into the schedule and having the season start/end earlier will mean players aren't going 4+ months between competitive matches. Plus, plenty of other leagues completely shut down in the middle of their seasons and manage to get their schedules in, plus domestic and international competitions, just fine. MLS isn't such a unique flower that it can't handle the same things.
Just want to point out that, to date, MLS has never even tried to schedule early season matches in warmer cities, even when the season's begun in early March. Now, it could be that as more stadiums come online, the league might give it a shot. But I'm not holding my breath. Personally, I've always thought this would be a good idea, in theory, for MLS to do. But I understand it's easier to imagine than to pull off in practice. Early season CCL matches always screw things up, too, as they require X number of MLS clubs to black out calendar dates in the event they progress in that tournament. Anyway, I'll believe it when I see it. I agree that the MLS of season is very long, but would argue that that has more to do with MLS having a post season playoff structure than with the structure of the regular season. A regular season that began in early March and ended in December would be nine+ months. Maybe a bit shorter than many Euro leagues, but not by much, and without the winter break that many of those leagues take. But of course MLS ends its regular season a month or so earlier in order to tack on post-season playoffs. All well and good if your team makes the playoffs and progresses past the early rounds, but it effectively ends the MLS season for fans of all other clubs who just aren't all that excited about watching other teams play.
I'm not against more international matches, per se, but there's something to be said about how they're given meaning. At some point simply trying to milk the popularity of Mexican clubs won't endear more fans or lasting attention to US teams, it simply becomes another money grab. I'd be fine with a one week event with every LMX side playing a home match and an away match against an MLS side. I actually like the idea of getting more than the giant clubs involved. But having our own full on US+Mex tournament will put a strain on teams that advance and risks making the USOC and the CCL less a priority. And again, if most of the matches are in the US (where presumably most/all would be played) then it sure feels the biggest LMX clubs stand to be the biggest winners in all of this. Maybe fans in Colorado and Chicago are psyched about hosting Pachuca or Queretaro, or just playing another MLS side, I don't know. It just seems that this won't help MLS close the gap in the long-run. That's the bottom line for me. I want a future where we're not f***ing reliant on gimmicks to sustain the league. I'm patient and I don't presume MLS to someday sit atop the global footie pyramid, but I do want the league and teams to be respected for themselves, not simply as fodder for ex-pat LMX fans. To date MLS has been achieving this to date on their own, so I firmly believe that MLS has the potential to surpass LMX in my lifetime. But lifting up LMX like this, though, makes that task more difficult. Maybe that's just me.
Watch other sports/keep track of the Bundesliga since I'm planning long term to retire in Germany. If the NFL took a full month off in the middle of the season, I'd fill that void with something else and likely watch less when it starts over. A large break like that is one of the reasons (other than lack of competitive balance) that I don't care for F1. Even Indycar irks me with the St. Petersburg race usually being a full month before any other races on the schedule, and their 2022 early season is so spaced out that I probably won't start paying attention until either Alabama or Indy. It's one thing to have an all-star break for a week, or even two, but a month long money grab will probably equate with me hitting the road for USL games in OKC, Albuquerque, El Paso, San Antonio, and even Austin (they're all an easy 5-5.5 hour drive from Lubbock).
But you return to MLS after that. Why would a month break from MLS for Leagues Cup make you give up on MLS for good when a longer break still sees you coming back?
Offseason and during season aren't the same thing. If I spend a month focused on someone like San Antonio or OKC in the USL, then I'm probably going to keep them as a priority going forward.
Personally, I hope that this mid-season tournament drives a stake through the heart of the MLS All Star Game gimmick. Anyway, I'm with you on the reliance on gimmicks issue. But it would seem as though the league thinks differently.
I try real hard to make sure I'm not turning into an old fogey, but that doesn't mean you move forward with any change just for change sake or bend to the whim of the loudest mob on that day.
And when we've been through the SuperLiga, Campeones Cup, multiple remixes of the CCL, multiple remixes of the Gold Cup, the CONCACAF Nations League, the CONCACAF Cup, the original iteration of the Leagues Cup, the All-Star Game vs Liga MX, (am I missing anything?) And it's all just going back to the well of Mexican fans in the major markets over and over and over and over, it becomes hard to claim that this is the magical must-have competition that counts and matters, particularly when we all know that should and probably must be the CCL, and even this plan pays lip service to that. But then, the reason for the endless trips to this well is that there's a lot of water down there, and it seems like there ought to be a way to take advantage in a way that has long-term competitive merit for the league and not just a shoulder shrug cash grab. When you add in the over-expanded playoffs and loss of balanced scheduling for the Supporters Shield it's definitely becoming hard to invest in the competitive legitimacy of the great, great majority of the league's game inventory at this point, certainly worrying.
The Athletic has a lot of details on what Leagues Cup will look like, including how it'll impact MLS scheduling and the US Open Cup here: https://theathletic.com/2842905/202...ll-add-rocket-fuel-to-their-plans-for-growth/ Highlights: Tourney to likely begin in late July or early August 2023. All games to be held in the US and Canada, at least in its first year. The goal is to model it on the 2026 World Cup - 16 groups of 3 teams, top 2 teams in each group go to a 32-team knockout phase (unclear how this works with 47 teams, though). MLS may begin their 2023 season in early/mid February. Don't be surprised if MLS teams that qualify for CCL start skipping the US Open Cup in those years.
They just opened the door for Rocco and the return of North America's most iconic brand! (or is Detroit City FC now the new flavor of the month for the poseurs?)
Hate. If you insist on doing this, do it once every four years. Do it in non-World Cup, non-Gold Cup years. Make it a quadrennial event to look forward to. But I don't give a damn about Mexican soccer, we already have a competition or two that offers inter-league play, and the schedule is already cramped with international breaks we don't fully shut down for. Oh, and everyone's forgotten about the Open Cup because of COVID, but there's that. And with the league already having the number of teams it has (and going up), playing the teams in our own league is already hard enough as it is. It's a straight money-grab, and it could also lead to increased pressure to turn MLS into a Euro league, where anything goes, there are no salary restrictions, the tickets are insanely expensive, and the same three clubs win all the titles. Put me down as a hard no.
I 100% agree with this. No more than 2 games against a single opponent. MLS makes too many unforced errors. You don't create true rivalries by just scheduling more and more games against the same opponent. Those rivalries in conference will be created by the playoffs.
This is a poor analogy. You're saying you like regular season football, but not playoff football, which is the climax of the regular season. Like turning a movie off before the final battle. A more apt comparison with what you brought up, would be that you like pre-Olympic figure skating, but not Olympic. Rap mic checks but not concerts. Euro league play but not UCL. LOTR pts 1 and 2, but not pt 3. The 1st 5 HP books, but not the climactic ones. The CCL is the climax of the region's domestic campaigns. __________ As for this new leagscup format, it's just plain absurd. Imagine Spain and Bulgaria shutting their seasons down to have a tourney among themselves for CL spots. And all games in Bulgaria. Completely ridiculous. I can't see this lasting more than one season. The SL eventually died down with a whimper, apparently no one learned a damn thing from that. I have yet to see a single Mexican fan support this, the only support I've seen on social media are from anglo casuals who don't know the sport too well. This is a disaster waiting to happen. Empty stadia, apathy, and even worse, reduced ratings and attendance when the leagues start back up, it's not like they paused for the World Cup. People's attention will drift. Just dumb every way you look at it. Our best bet is that they cancel it before it happens, which will be hugely embarrassing, but less so than actually holding it. There's no way Euro fans aren't laughing at this. A preseason tourney is one thing, but CCL spots at stake is an insult to the global club football system.
This is all Concacaf's idea.......they approve of it, and in fact are holding similar tourneys in the Caribbean and Central America. So if you wanna lay blame to someone about money grabs??? Go yell at Canada's favorite soccer son. Moving on. This is a good thing. More meaningful games against better competition. The tournament will have a significant cash prize, along with the CCL spots. It's another opportunity for players to make money, and teams to win a trophy. With MLS growing, the chances of your team winning something are getting less likely/harder. There's MLS Cup, Supporters Shield(with no to little inter conference matchups, it's diminishing), USOC, now Leagues Cup, and for some teams the CCL. This also gives the three Canadian MLS teams another route to the CCL. MLS has spoken in the past about how the off season is too long. This helps with that. There'll be more midweek games, just as there have been the past two years now. It'll continue to force teams to play the kids. It will also bring more money to MLS, which will lead to a bigger salary budget, more money for academies, more money for coaches, etc. It also gives referees more games to officiate, and gain experience. That will only help the game in this country and in Canada too. Not to mention it will expose Mexican Referees more to MLS teams and how they play, which will hopefully lead to less Concacaf-ery. And vice-versa, players will have more experience playing games with different officials. Hell, this will piss off relevant sports even more. If you're ESPN or Fox which would you rather broadcast? A tourney with games that have actual stakes, or preseason kick abouts amongst eventual loanees? Chances are many teams in Europe have realized the past two years that while the tour money is nice, having happy players who get to spend more time with their families is likely better for the prospects of their seasons. It's either this, or the big LigaMX teams will still play games on US soil....they'll just be against the big Euro Clubs. That doesn't exactly help grow MLS, or the USSF.
Agreed. On top of that, you cheat the fans in both conferences of the chance to watch talent from other parts of the continent. Why can't Philadelphia fans get a chance to see their team go up against Ricardo Pepi or Johnny Russell. Fans in Los Angeles might want to see Tajon Buchanan or Nani in action at the Banc of California Stadium. And in this year's tournament...one of MLS' best teams is getting wasted in the Leagues Cup Final. So...I think MLS has a ways to go to be competitive in this competition.