With San Diego getting a team, does this wipe out Seattle/Portland's chance for a team? That would leave 7 West and 5 East teams. Would they move KC?
5 teams + San Diego = 6 5 teams (east) = 5 You are referring to Seattle/Portland as the 7th i take it. Currently Cleveland is rumored to be the "frontrunner" for the second slot anyways....so 6 teams each conference....and Houston, OKC, and Philly have most likely more of a chance than Seattle/Portland for the first round based on rumors. Anyways, if someone else gets it....pretty simple IMO...6 furthest east teams in east; six furthest west teams in west. Pretty simple logic that should be easy to understand if you ask me.
... and we'll always have Rochester, especially once the new stadiium is built. Adding teams in the East will not be a problem.
I'd say it doesn't affect Seattle/Portland being that those two cities had ZERO chance of being one of the next expansion cities anyway. Neither has an investor, in case you haven't noticed. If there's an east-west imbalance in MLS it's in favor of the east. For geographic balance and better national market coverage, MLS desparately needs more teams in the western US, especially the Pacific NW. KC could just as easily be in the eastern conference as in the west.
They can always move Dallas to the east, and accentuate the Dallas-Chicago rivalry. Also, I highly doubt Rochester gets a team unless they put in a grass fied.
Conference aligment isn't a problem... Not in comparison to problems like how to schedule a season with 11 teams. As for cities moving up and down the list, I think the Kroenke and Chivas buy-ins have raised the bar for potential new owners. And the number of new stadiums under design/construction has raised the bar for stadiums in potential cities. (If it was up to me, all new teams would have to construct a SSS. No more NFL mega-stadiums.) But the basic criteria will stay the same--an owner with enough bucks and a reasonable stadium deal. Seattle would be a wonderful place as would Houston, Philadelphia, any number of cities. But unitl they meet the basic requiremnts, ranking them on a list of potential cities is meaningless.
Re: Re: San Diego's Effect On Seattle In the words of Bill Schonley (appropriate because we're discussing Portland), "Bing, bango, bongo, baby." Anyway, I'm sure MLS is more concerned about geographic footprint than conference alignment at this point. Conferences can always be realigned.
I was going to say, just move a team over. Chicago has done it. We were in the Western Conference, Central, and after Florida going Defuct, The Eastern Conference. If Dallas WAS moved, the rivalry would be like Rangers-Celtic!
Rochesters stadium will be built 3500 seats to short of the MLS 15 k minimum, besides Rochester is a far streach i just don't see how one integrates a capitalistic run business( Rhinos) within a socialistic organization( MLS )
MLS would probably go back to the stupid three division setup. Portland/Seattle San Diego San Jose Los Angeles Denver Kansas City Dallas Chicago New Jersey Rhode Island DC Columbus