Hopefully it's not a mid-season game in Columbus when it's 33 outside. Oh wait it's 33 outside right now. This is exactly why college football would never work in the spring without changing the order of games. Ohio State vs Akron or Toledo in March and TTUN in June? Hard pass. People will ignore the cold weather for the games of most importance.
Did the FO even recognize it this year? Going back further, the Lamar Hunt Pioneer Cup was a thing and that gets renewed in 2026.
Three of our upcoming twice in a season opponents are currently in the Western Conference. Though, I guess the grouping makes sense.
The only one I haven't been to is the Fire. And I have been to Chicago numerous times, I just never made it to a Fire match in Chicago or Bridgeview.
I've only been to Allianz Field and Cincy (other than ours) and liked both a lot. Good venues. I have been to Soldier Field, but that was for other events like the World Cup.
The new Chicago Fire stadium is on a toxic waste dump. The owner paid 7 other states to accept 6ftx78 acres worth of toxic earth and then poured the same amount of fresh soil back on the spot
It’s not on a toxic waste dump. It’s on a former industrial rail site. Not all that different from what had to happen before our new stadium could be built on a brownfield site: https://www.pandeyenvironmental.com/project-highlights
Fair enough. I see why the small divisions are necessary to make the math work. And playing those teams twice a year might help generate geographic-based rivalries, I guess. I just hope MLS doesn't actually create "divisions" in a technical sense or pretend that there's any meaning to divisional "standings." I mean, a team could technically lose all ten of its games against its divisional foes, win all 24 of its games against everyone else, and rack up enough points to finish the season at the top of its division. But, as you say, this is meant to be an adjusted single table set-up, so (as usual) I'm probably getting wound up over nothing.
Yeah, all that matters is that you play those teams twice, and the division winner is guaranteed a playoffs spot (though if you have the most points in your division, you're probably already in anyway).
I haven’t seen or heard anything about divisional standings nor division winners qualifying for playoffs. Source?
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/68...division-revamp-rivalry-san-jose-lafc-galaxy/ Its been rumored since the switch. New playoffs too.
Paywalled. I know they’re messing with the playoffs yet again, but I haven’t heard any format decisions.
I know its hard for a growing league but the lack of consistency in the playoff format or even how the standings work, adding in leagues cup, etc does create a under lying sense that everything is temporary. Each of them individually may totally make sense but I would love to fall into some level of consistency.
I get the feeling the league would much rather go with the Leagues Cup over the USOC. The signs are all there. Look at what the bonus game has been and how MLS Next Pro teams were used in last year's USOC. I'd be surprised if next year's bonus game is the first home USOC game. At least one home Leagues Cup game is guaranteed. Of course the Leagues Cup is an MLS organized/co-organized event. The USOC is US Soccer's thing. /conspiracytheory Consistency would be great. Hopefully this new format is it for a long, long time. Much to the chagrin of the Eurosnobs, we'll probably never get to a day with a true single table and no playoffs. This seems to be the compromise
I can verify that the plan is to have a balanced schedule where everyone plays every team at least once a season. I can't say how I know that, but trust me, it is their plan.