The San Jose game had already been selling tickets for Saturday night, then changed to Sunday afternoon just a week before the game. It just all seemed to be kind of a rush, and with soccer being kind of under the radar, it does take time for a lot of people to become aware of a game taking place, then to decide to get tickets. One week isn't really long enough. And as much as I'd have hated to see the Earthquakes miss the playoffs, I do think limiting it to 4 teams with the one week break would generate a lot more interest.
And before we label this playoff format as being stupid and use attendance as our proof, at least wait until the first round is complete. After home games in LA, DC and Columbus. All 3 cities draw pretty well and if you're going to slam the format, at least allow the format to complete Round 1. The format is designed so that the higher seed gets that additional week to sell tickets. So give them the chance.
Not necessarily. In the East, NY/NJ finished only 2 points behind DC, and in the West, Colorado finished only 2 points behind Los Angeles. And San Jose were only 3 points behind Colorado, with Dallas only 2 points behind San Jose. Even within the last month, almost any of those teams could potentially have made it.
Considering using last year's numbers as "proof" would tend to make you think this playoff format was a big improvement over the first-to-five, I'd wait until the whole nut is over. Last year's first-round crowds, FYI: Chicago at DC............15,202 DC at Chicago............15,312 San Jose at LA...........20,201 LA at San Jose...........14,145 New England at Metros....10,211 Metros at New England....14,823 Kansas City at Colorado...6,434 Colorado at Kansas City..10,712 Total...................107,040 Average..................13,380
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/soccer/10003239.htm even the players are puzzled about the playoff system used "Asked about his team's inclusion in Major League Soccer's playoffs, Earthquakes left back Todd Dunivant replied, ``It doesn't seem fair, right?''" ``We get to reap the rewards for, for the most part, being mediocre,'' said Earthquakes captain Jeff Agoos, whose team finished the season with a seven-game winless streak.I still don't understand why you would have an advantage going away in your first game.'' Then-coach Frank Yallop and the Earthquakes openly voiced their displeasure, wondering why a fourth-place team should be given the opportunity to win the championship. Earthquakes wing Brian Mullan said it won't be easy for the Wizards (14-9-7, 49 points) to open on the road.`You're first in your division and they're making you move,'' he said. ``You had a hard season. All you want to do is stay home.''
Say what you want about all the other stuff, I love the 2 leg playoffs. They are the most exciting games to watch. Games to watch next weekend, KC, LA and Columbus actually having to attack at home in order to get a result. I watched all four matches over the weekend and enjoyed them. As for the Smurf comments in the Smurf Mercury News, they weren't complaining much about the playoffs last year.
I'm not the first person to propose this, I'm not going to read every page of this thread, and I'm not even saying I really want this system. My idea would call for a playoff single round robin. The top seed would host three matches, the second seed two, the third seed one, and the fourth seed none. The top team in each conference after this process goes to the final. Ties would be settled by goal differential, then by goals scored, and I don't know after that. Similar to the World Cup of Hockey, where the dirty Canadians got to play every frickin' game on home ice, the difference is that the top team would have to earn that privilege. People often talk about making the regular season and its champion more meaningful, this would seem to accomplish that competitively and financially. I don't know, sounds like a case of the Mondays.
The three attendances in bold were on matchdates known well in advance. I'm not sure, but I believe that the Metros and Colorado were selling tickets on short notice. This suggests that lead time does make a difference.
I was going to say that - but then I would just be repeating what had already been posted. Last years attendance with this format was the highest it had been since 1999, yet this year the format blows because on the first weekend of the playoffs, we averaged less than 10,000 fans per game. I am surprised this thread wasn't started during the first half of the Colorado - LA game. The BigSoccer cat-like over-reaction reflexes never cease to amaze me. This format has its flaws, but they are not major, and I too like this format over anything MLS has done before.
I'm confused a bit - it seems like some people are referring to "8 out of 10 in the playoffs" when they say "the playoff format" and some are referring to "two legs in the first round." The 8/10 thing has been discussed to death. The two-legged bit on better dates with (usually) more time to sell seems to have been a positive, with some precincts still out. There is no perfect format that I can see. At least not one that anyone has brought up yet. Everything has plusses and minuses.
Funny sig. Isn't Canada part of America? Maybe a bye week between the regular season and the playoffs would help. No? I don't know.
What if we just pit those 3527 against the last 3527 to arrive and pit them against each other in hand to hand unamred combat to see who deserves tickets? I imagine the PPV coupled with the addidas billions could finance a nice bump in the cap. How much does Boca want for Tevez again?
If they moved the season up a full month and shaved two weeks off the playoffs by eliminating four teams, it would accomplish the following: From a competition standpoint, it would make the regular season matter more. Top teams from each conference would get home field in the semifinals. This would also ensure a playoff race if one team pulls away from the pack early in the season and doesn't look back. From a marketing standpoint, it makes a ton of sense. In the past few years, the baseball postseason has been pure drama. Nearly impossible to compete with that, but their postseason creeps later each year. They don't even start until October. If MLS Cup was the last week of September, there would be no conflict with baseball. NFL would be in approx. weeks 2-4 during the two weeks of soccer playoffs so there wouldn't be any week 1 hype to compete with. Having the semifinals and finals after the baseball postseason makes it very hard for the casual fan to catch back up with MLS if they haven't been following for a month. By starting the season a month earlier, it would also position the league in a better time for their opening few weeks. I was actually quite surprised and happy about seeing 5000 people at the Revs game on Saturday. With the Sox in the WS, there were very few casual fans in the place. There is no marketing technique in the world which could have dragged 99% of New England away from Game 1 of the first Red Sox World Series in 18 years. Sorry.
I don't know how exact it is, but I've been told by folks that the league is obsessed with having the final on ABC, and that the only date ABC will give them is that mid-November date, so they have to work backwards from there. Again, I don't know that's true, but that's what I hear from people who I trust. And I don't know why that's the only date available on ABC. But considering no one's watching the thing anyway, based on the historical ratings for MLS Cup, what's the difference? If you could get an earlier date and get it on ESPN, what's the difference? Hell, the NBA Conference Finals are on cable now. I think it would be better to get the playoffs over with earlier (cue the people who will whine about having an extra 8 weeks of offseason), but that's just me.
I still say single elimination at the home of the higher seed. One offs all around. Total commitment and excitement for every match. No second chances, nothing held back. JMHO.
I'm not sure that it's the only date, but there is at most a limited selection of dates. Due to ABC having other Sunday sports commitments such as golf or whatever. 6 of the first 7 MLS Cups were on dates when game 2 or game 7 of the World Series was scheduled, and the complaints then were that there was no hope of getting even a tiny slice of media attention during the World Series. It seems to me they consciously have moved things a bit later, both to avoid going directly against the baseball playoffs, and because they have been relatively successful with group sales for regular season games in September and October. Though Garber did say last year, at the Supporters Summit, that they did not like having the final on the Sunday right before Thanksgiving, which it was last year. My guess is that MLS would choose the first Sunday of November if allowed to freely choose.
Especially if Chicago wants to host one some year. You take your chances. It looks like this weekend has a chance to be nice here, but it can just as easily be stone cold on Halloween.
I do not like the play offs but they seem to work in Mexico and Colombia, meaning the format is not the problem. I think the play offs fail because of the amount of teams. Ten teams in the league and eight in the play offs is just stupid. Get more teams, allow A league teams to graduate into the MLS with MLS teams also facinf relegation to the A league. You have the drama of relegation and the drama of a true play off. This also recognizes the true soccer fans in the US that go to watch A league teams week in week out. We should stop trying to have big city teams and begin having good teams. I do not care if I am watching Rotchesrter versus Richmond on TV as long as the game is good and iy matters. League should have no less than sixteen teams and relegate one avery year. A league champion moves up. Most likely no "MLS" team would truly face relegation but at least it would hang over their necks. I also don't care if the final comes up against the superbowl or the world series. I am a soccer fan, guess which one I will watch. Time to reward the fans, big city or small sity fans!!