Well, more discussion for the offseason void. I do believe the league could make some changes, perhaps not as drastic to bring us in line with europe as some would suggest, but at least make the regular season, open cup, and playoffs more competitive. 1. Move All Star game till after the season. By doin that, the regular season would finish a week earlier, or the league could have a 1 week break. 2. All open cup games should be held at a smaller secondary site, and when it's MLS against A-league or less, they get home field advantage. 3. Reverse the playoff system, so the first round is one game at the higher seed, second round is home and home. 4. Change MLS cup to a home and home series. 5. Bring back the senior international limit back to 4, so we can sign more, better high quality foreigners. Well, what changes would you guys like, or do you guys think I am wrong?
How 'bout dumping the All-Star game all together and making that weekend the 3rd round of the Open Cup. It'll get much more attention and grow the awareness of the sport in this country to communities currently without MLS representation.
I don't see your point on this one. NO league has their all star game after the season. Either get rid of it all together or leave it the way it is. One more time: MLS does not control the open cup! Also, why do poorly run second division, or lower, teams deserve the games more that MLS sides? The answer is: they don't. These two are just plain bad ideas. If anything every playoff series should be home and home. As for MLS cup being a two legged affair, is the World cup final two legged? NO. Is the F.A. cup final two legged? NO. I think you get my point. This one is actually a good possibility, but personally I don't like loads of money grabbing mercenary foreigners making the league look bad i.e. the foreigner dominated EPL. Money should be spent developing talent here. Mostly wrong.
Because if the Open Cup is worth anything to MLS teams, it's a very marginal increase in revenue. For the A-league teams, it's a huge windfall, having an MLS team come to town. Whether or not it will happen, it would be good for the health of u.s. soccer to help the a-league teams out a bit.
I agree with some of the things missing mathis said but would tinker with the ideas a little bit: I would like all rounds of the playoffs to be a home and home series including MLSCUP; if MLSCUP was a home and home series there would be two guaranteed big crowds. The all-star game should remain in the middle of the season, but should always be against a big name foreign club. Maybe make this game part of the champions world tour. I really like the idea of when an MLS club plays an A-League or lower divsion club in the open cup it should be at the lower divsions club stadium. Why? b/c: it expands MLS into markerts it's not already in and as you can tell by attendance when cities that have an MLS team have an open cup game it doesnt draw well, so it's obvious there isnt a huge demand for it As for increasing the foreign player limit to 4 it's a good ideas as long as the salary cap is increased. If you have the same amount of resources but spread them out over more places each player is going to be not as good. I believe the most important thing MLS can do besides building their own stadiums is increase their salary. Not by alot that will do damage to their league but by enough that their product on the field will grow. I think if MLS increased their annual salary per team from 1.7-3 million a year we'd see alot better play on the field without costing the league too much at all. A better level of play on the field, I"m not saying that it isnt good already, will help draw more fans which will bring in more revenue etc....
One more suggestion I forgot to make. No more inter MLS all star games. Require a best of MLS vs a foreign opponent all star game. By far the best all-star game I remember was MLS vs Chivas, and if we could get solid europe and south american competition, I think it would be an interesting game. And to Dixy Dean, the NFL holds the pro bowl after the regular season, and u'r right, no one watches it, if we moved ours after the season, and brought in respected foreign competition, then we could make our all star game something worth watching. Donno bout anybody else, but I'd go to HDC to watch Guevara, Ruiz, Adu, and Pope, take on Smith, Giggs, Neville, and Howard. Even though I know we'd probably lose.
A few more things before I shut up. Dice came up with the point of foreign competition for all star games, sorry I used it again. And Dixy, if MLS was comparable to EPL, and the open cup had the history and respect of the FA cup, then your views would have more merit then mine. However, MLS is not as strong, the FA cup is godly compared to our pissy thing, and the way the current open cup format is, it is a financial strain and scheduling strain on MLS teams who have to play at home in a half empty stadium against an opponent most fans don't know or care about. By playing at A-league or D3 stadiums, it would financially help teams like Portland and Seattle who could use the big crowds and the money. And anyone who thinks the A-league or whatever it is called now is worthless, tell that to Chris Armas, Chris Henderson, Kerry Zavagnin, Brian Ching, Dante Washington, Robin Fraser. We need that league to stay as strong as it can.
Scrap the all star game as like other all star games no one cares or wait until the end of the season and invite a top European team to participate. Reaching the playoffs should be a challenge not a case of avoiding finishing last. Merge the seperate divisions into one and have a league champion at the end of it like the rest of the world. This gives a true representation of the years best team instead of who goes through a good spell for 4 or 5 games at playoff time. Have a seperate cup competition including A-League teams much like the FA Cup. For everyone who just wants to be different I think you would appreciate this more legitimate approach.
I'd rather elimnate it. I'd like to see this too, but it's all up to the USSF. Two seasons ago it was rather embarassing to see LA host Fresno with 3K, half of them being Fresno fans. Or maybe at the home of the higher seed, better record, whatever.
Or perhaps they are planning on shelling out transfer fees for promising youngsters like Saragosa...........