tennessean.com/story/sports/nashvillesc/2020/07/24/2020-mls-soccer-season-resume-august-22-home-markets/5461017002/ The Athletic reported a "tentative plan" which MLS has constructed that would see regular season matches in respective home markets resume Aug. 22 and consist of 18 total matches through Nov. 8, which are split into two phases over the course of some 11 weeks. According to The Athletic, Phase One consists of six games, slated between Aug. 22 and Sept. 13. Phase Two consists of 12 matches being played between Sept.16 and Nov. 8. All teams will have played 23 matches by season's end. The top nine teams from the Eastern and Western Conference will qualify for the MLS Cup Playoffs. MLS Cup Playoffs would start Nov. 20, The Athletic reported. All playoff matchups will be single-elimination and the MLS Cup Final is tentatively scheduled for Dec.12. Basically, MLS is thirsty as hell for even trying to do this the way they're trying to do it. Just cancel the whole thing and let everyone stay safe. This is not worth risking folks' health for.
I could easily see them playing in front of empty stadia. Finish the season for sponsors and TV slots (huge money there), and plan for '21 when hopefully there's a vaccine.
I think I read something about them allowing smaller crowds into the arenas. For us, that'll be a really bad look. But it is what it is- they don't have to do this at all.
The emails that Atlanta United have sent out indicate that they're planning for about 20,000 capacity spread out throughout the stadium, so a little over 1/3 capacity. A 20k crowd will be on par with what the NFL is drawing at the same time, so it won't be that bad of a look. I presume MLS will do whatever NFL and NCAA are doing crowd-wise. Plus, a 20k crowd is plenty to generate revenue in the stadium. If you're a team in an 18k stadium and you're limited to 6k paying customers, I'm not sure how that works (though FC Dallas, Columbus, and Colorado have been making it work for years, so it must be sustainable).
Huh. I wonder how they're going to choose which STHs get seats. I get that. I do think the haters will ignore that it's a virus and try to use that to pretend AUFC isn't a big draw. I'd imagine so, if they're buying like they'd usually do. lol
I haven't filled it out yet but I suspect that's what the survey is for; Let folks know their seats are secure for 2021 regardless, determine which ones are and are not interested in home dates for 2020, and then basically give those so interested first crack at tix in a unique, clean slate approach. It's imperfect but any approach in this context would be.
Yeah, STHs were given the option to just roll over their accounts to 2021 and not attend any games for the rest of this year. I suspect there will be enough drop outs to keep everyone reasonably happy. The remainder may only get to attend 2/3 of the games or something. The survey email also asked about upgrading to a suite, so I assume some of those are being abandoned for the season, as well. For the record, I told them I'd happily sit in the nosebleeds in MOPP gear as long as they had the A/C going.