Saturday 9 Dec 2023

La Liga’s Real Betis Balompié (yes, there’s a reason that the badge monogram features interlocking Bs).

 

So much to take in from yesterday's State of the League. First off I was surprised it wasn't on Season Pass or YouTube. That being said where to start? No fourth DP but exciting things to he announced next week is the cliffhanger to stay engaged until the schedule is released on the 20th. That's the earliest I can remember MLS releasing the schedule just eleven days after the final game.
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He hinted that how MLS competes in the US Open Cup might change. I find this interesting because the champion gains a spot in CONCACAF Champions Cup and I would think USL would be quite happy if they totally dropped out.
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Mentioned very quickly that Leagues Cup might change so that Mexican teams wouldn't have to travel as much next year.... Hmmm.
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Finally, roster changes of some sort and the amount they can spend seems to be changing somehow next year with the exciting announcement.

 

I didn't hear the state of the league address, but I read an article and the main points of it on Soccer America.

It seems like Garber continues to do and say the right things.

After I came back to the Bay Area from living in Europe in the late 2000's, I never imagined MLS would be the biggest league in the world by 2023-24.

I was the first fan to arrive at the inaugural MLS game between DC United and San Jose on Saturday, April 6th, 1996 at Spartan Stadium and comparing that time to where MLS is now is pretty incredible.

We all criticize the league and Garber at times and I'm sure they can improve in many different areas but then you also got to give the commissioner a lot of credit for building the league and bringing it to where it is now.

Good job!

 

I wonder if MLS will try to get early season regular season matches to count as a play in for the Open Cup. It would a) reduce fixture congestion by 1 directly and b) reduce it indirectly by having MLS v. MLS matches earlier in the competition.

 

That’s actually a good idea.

If two MLS teams are paired in a group, have those same games count in the regular season standings.

If they for example are playing in a Leagues or Open Cup, it would eliminate 1,2 and maybe even 3 games off the MLS schedule.

The games may even mean more as opposed to now where you have many teams tanking a given tournament because they are not wanting to sacrifice players or are even ready to be eliminated.

They may also increase in fan participation.

I don’t follow the NBA but I read where teams are playing in season tournaments where those games count in the standings.

MLS can maybe do something similar.

 

Problems with congestion? How about getting rid of the unnecessary Leagues Cup. Somehow North America survived all these years without it.

 

Both the Leagues and Open Cups mean very little when you compare them to the regular season games.

 

Leagues Cup isn't going anywhere anytime soon, that's very wishful thinking.

What they could do, is just have those teams that are eliminated in Leagues Cup Group Play enter the US Open Cup at the later stages. That would give those teams another game during a period that they otherwise could be off for 2+ weeks. The teams that advance to the Leagues Cup Knockout stages just aren't in the Open Cup that year.

Every year of the US Open Cup, the MLS teams that play at home take it more seriously than those who have to go on the road in the early rounds. Most teams heavily rotate their starting 11, and if it's a tight game in the final 20-30 minutes they'll bring on more of their usual starters.

US Soccer has tried to regionalize the Cup in order to make travel easier, but then that also hurts the competition as the same matchups happen every year. NYCFC, Red Bulls, DCU, Philly and New England already play one another 2+ times a season. It's worse in the western conference too. How many more Seattle-Portland games do we need to see? It's crazy to think that in a league with soon to be 30 teams, that matchups are stale.

One thing US Soccer could do, is allow MLS teams the ability to use more of their Next Pro rosters for the early round games.

IMO, MLS needs to expand the rosters by 2-4 players, and also the spending to increase to allow for higher quality depth across the entire roster.

 

100% right --

but given the amount of expansion fees ($500 mill for San Diego), i think we all know there will be more expansion- the money is just too good to turn down

 

interesting take-- its certainly an option

 

Most people like money. Since you don’t, please send me yours.

 

Divide that $500M by 30. Then realize that the incumbent teams will,have to share revenue with that 31st team. It’s really not that big of a deal in the context of an MLS team’s budget,

MLS will expand so long as new teams bring as much or more revenue to the table as they soak up. Unless/ until expansion fees get a lot bigger, the fees won’t drive expansion. This isn’t like the NHL a while back which had legit money trouble and did use expansion fees that way. It’s been a long time, but I believe that’s why the NBA brought the Mavericks in.

For over 20 years people have misunderstood expansion fees. I’ll be dead and they’ll still not understand them.

 

Exactly. The Apple Deal is for 9 more years.... $250M divided by 29 is different than $250M divided by 31, 32, etc.... Same goes for the Adidas deal.....

Now World Cup 2026 could change things, emphasis on COULD. There's a lot of assuming that MLS is gonna go nuclear in popularity over the next 3-4 years. Soccer will certainly be much more popular in the US after 2026..... HIGH LEVEL soccer that is. Copa America, endless European/Foreign Club Summer Friendlies, Club World Cup, World Cup, Women's World Cup (possibly)..... Where does MLS fit in? One of the things that the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB have in common is a lengthy offseason. By the time March rolls around baseball fans are excited about Spring Training. August rolls around, fans are amped for NFL training camps and pre-season games. I'm gonna be honest, the 2023 MLS season has been exhausting and it still won't be over until about 6:30-7:00 PM EST today when MLS Cup concludes......... some teams will be reporting for preseason training the 2nd week of January to prep for CCC play the first week of February....

IMO, MLS is going to have to increase it's product quality at a much more rapid rate in order to capitalize on the opportunity in front of it over the next three years. The game of soccer/football is going to be MUCH more popular after the next three years. Will MLS be more popular, and more importantly will MLS be able to capture some of that popularity on a more permanent basis?

 

That would require delaying several rounds of the Open Cup until after the Leagues Cup, increasing schedule congestion at the end of the season. This year the Open Cup was already down to the semifinals before Leagues Cup.

I could envision MLS getting USSF to agree to exempt CCC teams from the Open Cup, or perhaps creating some kind of arbitrary system to cut down the teams that enter. The first 16 teams to win a regular season game, or something like that.

 

You are correct in that they survived but surely didn't thrive.

 

How about asking the people who throw their money away buying tickets to this tournament. I like my money.

 

DC United called him and he hung up.

Thx,

Jay!

 

Some of us are old enough to remember when MLS did this. And how it sucked.

I particularly remember the early days when the USOC and MLS games were scheduled on the same night. Somehow the "random" USOC draw just happened to matchup Tampa Bay and Colorado, who were already scheduled to play a league game that same day. So they decided one game would count for both.

They never explained what would happen if the game were tied after 90 minutes, since the USOC used extra time and MLS (at that point) was still doing the 10 minute extra time. Luckily Tampa Bay scored right before the end of the game to win.