I thought about this watching the game tonight, sort of a 'happy medium' between several different ideas people have for playoffs, namely two-legged playoffs and single elimination while preserving both home field advantage, optimum advance ticket sales, and easily scheduled home games. Top six clubs qualify for the playoffs. First Round: Seed 1 and Seed 2 - bye Seed 3 v Seed 6 Seed 4 v Seed 5 (Two Legs, second leg at home of high seed, 20 or 30 min OT if tied, then penalties) Second Round/Semifinals: Seed 1 v Seed 4 or 5 Seed 2 v Seed 3 or 6 (One game at high seed, 20 or 30 min OT if tied, then penalties) MLS Cup Final: Seed 1, 4, or 5 v Seed 2, 3 or 6 (One game at predetermined site, 20 or 30 min OT if tied, then penalties) - Enables advance scheduling with fixed number of matches - Every team in playoffs gets a home game - Additional advantage for finishing 1 or 2 - Plenty of time between matches for ticket sales If MLS wishes to maintain an 8-team playoff, it's adaptable: First Round: Seeds 1, 2, 3, 4 - bye Seed 5 v Seed 8 Seed 6 v Seed 7 (Two Legs, second leg at home of high seed, 20 or 30 min OT if tied, then penalties) Second Round: Seed 1 and Seed 2 - bye Seed 3 v Seed 6 or 7 Seed 4 v Seed 5 or 8 (One game at high seed, 20 or 30 min OT if tied, then penalties) Semifinals: Seed 1 v Seed 4, 5, or 8 Seed 2 v Seed 3, 6, or 7 (One game at high seed, 20 or 30 min OT if tied, then penalties) MLS Cup Final: Seed 1, 4, 5, or 8 v Seed 2, 3, 6 or 7 (One game at predetermined site, 20 or 30 min OT if tied, then penalties) Same benefits apply. I don't know. It's just an idea. Take it or leave it.
Yet another MLS should do things better thread. I wouldn't respond, but there is an interesting angle that makes your option one vastly superior to option two. The advantage is knowing what dates to sell tickets for. Three game series, you never know if the third game will be played or not before the series, so you can't sell those games aggressively. Regarding six versus eight teams in playoffs, this solves a problem the Rapids had in selling their potential semifinal game. Maybe Friday night, maybe next Wednesday night, but we won't know until Thursday morning. In a six team scenario, maybe you host a semifinal game, maybe you don't (that is conditional on actually winning), but you sure know what date it is. The disadvantage from a money standpoint is the league #1, #2 host only one game, but lesser ranked teams have an opportunity to host a second game so long as they win the quarterfinal.
Well so am I, but the truth is MLS probably won't be messing with the number of teams to qualify for MLS Cup in the near future. Personally I don't see how option A is any different from option B in any regard but in the number of teams.
I think they should start with the MLS cup and work their way backwards, like that episode of Seinfeld where they go to India and the whole episode is in reverse.
Byes are a cool idea, and the notion of a play-in is also good. I would've figured the home and home format would kick in in the later rounds, and that 5, 6, 7 and 8 would have single elimination games to qualify for later rounds. One point to consider with the 8 team format is that the top two teams would certainly get a lot of rest. Is is possible to get too much?
Well one of the complaints abnout home and home (rightly so) is there isn't as much home-field advantage involved. If home-and-home is reserved for the play-ins there isn't much of a complaint as they should have finished higher, plus it ensures all teams in the playoffs one home playoff game. Yes, but with one or two weeks rest teams won't be sitting on their duffs. It's near-guaranteed they'll play a friendly or have a ton of scrimmages to stay ready.