If we're not careful people will run out of unique features to hate MLS for. Hmm, I guess the single-entity thing won't go away anytime soon.
But we're all full of shit when we've hinted at, and spoken to the fact that folks have been looking into "American" approaches to soccer .... ...
Are they looking at this as a temporary solution to the temporary pandemic, or as a permanent switch?
They're getting pushback from senior officials and other clubs though I've not seen a definitive no yet. Summer football would go down well in France but it would really mess up their Chumps League competiveness.
I have a feeling that, many years from now, giving the World Cup to Qatar will be cited by future soccer historians as the turning point leading to to the collapse of the sport. It can only get so top-heavy and out-of-touch, right?
But then we have the North American World Cup. I think the 1994 World Cup truly transformed association football the world's game. I mean Alexi Lalas became world famous.
Qatar 2022 isnot going to happen. There's no time to play the qualifying matches and most probably Euro 2021 is a mirage, so it will be Euro 2022.
This is a perfect time to move the 2022 WC from Qatar to Australia and New Zealand. It would stay in the Asian Confederation as well as have some games in Oceania as well. Plus they can keep it in November/December as that would be late spring in the Southern Hemisphere. The time difference would mean low Live viewership in the Americas, However Fox could broadcast on Tape Delay around their NFL coverage on Sundays. Plus outside of Qatar, the the majority of the Middle East would be ecstatic with them losing the WC.
I would suspect replacing the World Cup with the Euro cup would be really problematic politically. Not saying you're wrong, mind you.
I devoted a thread on it. https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/c...er-the-corona-epidemic.2109721/#post-38644678
a. wouldn't they have to play matches at unsuitable cricket/Aussie rules stadiums? b. do they really want to deal with all that sponsorship bs?
a. The oval stadiums are pretty much equally suitable to the stadiums with tracks surrounding the pitch that have been used in many World Cups. b. They do have plenty of rectangular stadiums as well due to both rugby codes. One drawback is that their 2022 bid included a number of stadium expansions to get more 40K+ venues, and that obviously didn't happen.
How many venues do they really need? Isn't Qatar planning the whole thing using 6 stadiums? Australia: Brisbane - Suncorp Stadium - 53K Melbourne - Etihad Stadium - 56K Melbourne - AAMI Park - 30K Melbourne - MCG - 100K Sydney - ANZ - 83K (currently being renovated) Sydney - Bank West Stadium - 30K Sydney - Sydney Cricket Ground - 48K Adelaide - Adelaide Oval - 53K Adelaide - AAMI Stadium - 51K Perth - Optus - 60K New Zealand: Auckland - Eden Park - 50K Wellington - Westpac - 36K Dunedin - Forsyth Barr - 30K
Dutch seasons cancelled: https://www.espn.com/soccer/ajax-am...dutch-season-cancelled-with-ajax-denied-title No champions, no promotion or relegation
Qatar started with 5 but is up to 8. I'm just worried that the CGs wouldn't look great and presumably would need a lot of security work. Do they still have the grassy kKnolls? People complain about NYC playing at a baseball stadium, where the field is under 15,376 meters square, compared the MCG's massive 25,696 meters (+67%).