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Who, outside of a few hardcores, nuts, manipulative hit pandering journos, and over the top snobs, is really worrying about pro/rel?
$360.00 for supporter group section is $20.00 per game. The team listened to the fans! Plus, there will be payment plans! I'm ready to convert my deposit!!
You want to hear something ironic? Twenty plus years ago I argued that it was a good idea... for baseball. It would have kept the minor leagues independent with greater local interest and forced MLB owners to spend money and actually try to win instead of collecting their share of luxury tax revenues off the Yankees. The key is of course that we had decades of history with minor leagues, including fully independent leagues, that was on the point of vanishing. The minor league title races were completely insignificant, with key players called away to the parent team without regard for the race. It also would have lower the cost for an ambitious, intelligent owner to make the big time - take over the Mud Hens, make some clever signings and in a couple year, you're in the show. Continue to be Marge Schott and you sink from view. Pro/Reg is an accident of history. It was the only way to get far flung established leagues with strong local followings to agree to a single structure and governance. You can't create that by fiat. And anyone paying attention should recognize that MLS has its own version of pro/reg in the playoffs. Over the last few weeks of the season, so many more teams were still involved fighting for their spot than would have been with a cuple teams desperately fighting being dropped. The MLS structure created more excitement and more critical games, not less.
I know. Also, say what you want about the "cheezy" American playoff system but I found last year's MLS playoffs very compelling and it seems people overseas did as well.
Absolutely true, but I will say that Pro/Rel and playoffs are not mutually exclusive. Having said that, however, I see no need for it, and it will never happen anyway. The first thing I ask people who lament that there is no pro/rel in the U.S. is - who would get promoted? It's not like we have a second division having any teams that could easily step up to the level of MLS.
From my experience the overwhelming amount of people who lament that there is no pro/rel in MLS have never really supported MLS anyway.... ....and it isn't the reason they don't support anyway!!! These "fans" can FK off as far as I am concerned. Not worth the time and effort.
Beautifully put! Also, keep the summer schedule! I'm in no hurry to see my team play in January in New England!
Saw the sad headline on MLS that Stuart Holden is retiring after 11 years. And my immediate thought was, "Eleven years, just not in a row."
This is the key point imo. People who refuse to support MLS teams aren't going to do a 180 because pro/rel was installed. Eurosnobs and soccer haters aren't going to be affected by league structure changes and anyone who believes otherwise is simply delusional.
A little slow to the draw. I made a previous comment that Carson may be an interesting place to be as Holden was working out with the National Team on an invitation from JK. But, then, I think Holden just welcomed a new child in the world and probably has other things to think about. Edit: Ah, I see he has now officially retired as of yesterday. Well, it seems he is of a good frame of mind. He and Landon can exchange baby photos
The thing that was cheesy about the playoffs was not their mere existence but the way that they tended to flatten out the reward for the different finishing places, which, in turn, robbed the regular season of significance. The introduction of play-in games partially remedied this, by erecting a higher barrier for the lower-seeded teams. And, ironically, the expansion of the playoffs from a 10-team field to a 12-team field actually improved the situation further by making all but the top two seeds in each conference play in the first round, thereby creating a discernable difference between finishing near the league's top versus near the league's middle. The remaining flaw here is that there is still no real difference between finishing first versus second, or between finishing third versus fourth. Furthermore, the two-legged format in the conference semifinals and conference finals effectively levels out the advantage that the higher seed ought to possess in those rounds. The ideal playoff system would reward each place differently. We can imagine a system involving an 8-team playoff field whereby, in each conference, no. 4 plays at no. 3 midweek, and the winner travels to no. 2 on the weekend. The winner of that match then travels to no. 1 on the following weekend for the conference final. (All single matches.) This system rewards each place from no. 1 to no. 4 very differently, creating strong incentives to compete for those places. It also takes far less time to complete, which would help keep the MLS Cup Final out of December. What such a system doesn't do, however, is to give a home game to every team in the conference semifinals and conference finals. Just as the improvement represented by last year's playoffs required dropping the policy that every single playoff team get a home game, further improvement would require further curtailment of home games. Unfortunately, that is a step which the league is unlikely to take.
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The current MLS CBA has finally been released: http://www.mlsplayers.org/images/Collective Bargaining Agreement - February 1, 2015.pdf Happy reading
For some reason, that's a generally unpopular sentiment, and I commend you for expressing it. Let your freak flag fly, Jefe.
I agree with your post but disagree here. I think the away goals rule gives the higher seed a significant advantage. They have the choice to get the away goal with the security of heading home if they fail, or the choice to smother their lower seeded opponent on the first leg and count on winning at home. I think people undervalue that. Your idea does make sense, but single game formats tend to make everyone more conservative. I really think MLS nailed it in 2015
Newly created US/Mex Champions Cup and multiple references to Copa Libertadores (not saying it is happening but they cite it as an example at least twice). They have also really tightened up the option language:
Gardner gets a bad rap. Well, okay, some of it is accurate. And you do have to put up with his meandering style. And he does beat the same drums alot. But he knows and has seen a lot and he often has a lot of interesting stuff to say. I always read him and think that the reflexive bashing of him is wrong. Edit: and now having read it, it is a good piece. It's not just that the guy is coming to MLS. Its that he is getting the Bruce Arena seal of approval.