MLS isn't the only league to have to deal with the possibility of having a home team at a neutral venue. According to this article, the NFL is starting to plan for the Chargers to make it to the superbowl in San Diego(a pipe dream I know). http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/canepa/20021022-9999_1s22canepa.html So, it can be done. And what if it is? It could present a nightmare for the NFL. It's all hypothetical, but what if the Chargers were to host the AFC Championship Game? The League would have little time to do all it has to do to get Qualcomm Super Bowl-ready. The NFL always resods its Super Bowl fields. All kinds of things are built in the parking lot. Seats are moved around. No Super Bowl team has played the big game in its own stadium. "First off, it would be great if the Chargers got that far," says Ky Snyder, president of the San Diego Super Bowl XXXVII Host Committee. "Logistically, I'm sure we'd have to work through some things. I'm not sure what they are, but we're going to start looking into it." ... "It would affect the parking lot and auxiliary seating," Steeg says. "We have to set up in the parking lot, and we take a lot of parking spaces. I don't know if we would have enough time to completely resod. Putting in new sod is a one-week process. At the end of December, that (Qualcomm) grass isn't in the best of shape, as it is. "This is a possibility we definitely are going to have to start looking at. I wasn't going back to San Diego for a while, but it looks like I may have to now. We've never had a team play in its own stadium in a Super Bowl . . . maybe it's catching up with us."
The Superbowl will be fine. It will just take some extra work from the NFL and the Chargers to get it ready. Just like it would take some extra work if MLS was played at a non-neutral site (i.e., the higher-seeded team) every year.
Apples and Oranges IMO. Besides, as a lifelong Charger fan, I know they really don't have to worry about this possibility. The Bolt will fall at a hurdle somewhere along the way (or just get smacked in the big one)
Yes, it's apples and oranges but at least they're both fruits. I just posted this to show that MLS is the only sport where these same problems/advantages happen.