This needs its own thread. I could see doing this when the league gets to 24 teams but 12/20 is a throwback to the ridiculous days of the league. Adding Philadelphia and Portland would not have enhanced the season or playoffs this year. The lackluster attendance and ratings don't suggest that people are screaming for more of these games. http://www.si.com/soccer/planet-futbol/2014/11/29/mls-cup-playoff-format-2015-changes
I'm hoping MLS FO gets its head out of its ass and shorten reg season by a week, and have the play in round on a Sat
At some point, it is going to just be called the first round, and not a play-in round. Or, they could take out some of the H/A rounds and just play the full post-season at the home of the higher seed.
This change was expected. MLS is aiming for a sweet spot of somewhere around 60% of teams making the playoffs. The idea is to keep as many teams in contention for as late into the season as possible. When the league is 24 teams, you can expect 14 teams in the playoffs.
Guys it adds 1 team to each conference playoffs. We've had over 50% access to the playoffs since 2011, hardly the end of the world. If this is what the TV execs asked for for that nice TV contract upgrade, so be it. There are some positives. It will increase higher seeded teams' advantages and make more money for MLS which will mean a better product on the field (in theory)
Thank god. I was a bit worried about the 'Caps not making the playoffs with Houston and SKC coming to the west. Of course, this format will make a bit more sense when the league is up to 24 teams.
This also increases the advantage for coming in second in your conference as opposed to third: one less game
Way to reward mediocrity ... If they want to expand playoffs why not add a game 3 tiebreaker for the high seed. This way you actually reward success and get your increased TV content. Playoff games between teams below .500 is absurd especially in the current format where there is no real advantage to the higher seed.
I wasn't expecting it. I actually thought they had more sense. In what universe is 60% of teams making the playoffs a "sweet spot"? That's just ridiculous. Why even have a regular season? I really, really hate this. That is how you boil a frog. Doesn't anyone recall the uproar when they added the 5th team and the play-in round? It was grudgingly accepted because we figured that they were just setting up the playoff format in anticipation of expansion. Soon it would be 20-24 teams and 10 playoff teams would mean 50% or less making the playoffs, which is in line with the other major sports. This, on the other hand, is a joke.
The first round playoff games need time to breathe. There needs to be a break before the playoffs ensue to give everyone time to keep calm and buy tickets.
I have to think the owners of current and soon-to-be Western Conference teams had some sway here. Why would they accept further loading their conference vis-a-vis the East without some benefit coming their way?
Not this year, but in 2015 adding an expansion team in the east and at least one of Houston, KC, or Portland in the west would make things more interesting.
There already isn't enough punishment for failure in this league--why in the holy heck do Klopas and Yallop still have head coaching jobs in MLS, for example? So my larger concern is not for just the playoffs, but for the now abysmal level of head coaching accountability becoming completely vaporized into some sort of "it's all good, we finished twelfth" mentality. I would only be onboard with this if it meant the automatic firing of every non-first-year head coach that finished 13 or below. I also think owners who make mistakes or go cheap should be forced into some sort of a comeuppance. This is NOT the path to get owners to spend more on players who will one day make the league better than LigaMx and prove it in CCL, that's for sure. This is yet more "cover" for cheapness and mismanagement.
Maybe they can hand out orange slices and give a trophy to every little special snowflake of a player while they're at it.
Because penalizing Kraft would have made this Revs season better how? If anything it would have made it less likely for him to sign Jones.