The switch to playoffs October 19 --> November 10 works for me, but everything else about this is pretty bad. If i was commissioner, this is what I would have done:
1-4 from the East makes the playoffs.... 1-4 from the West makes the playoffs.. So only 8/24 make the playoffs
2 legged Quarter Final (home and home) - Tie breaker is higher seed (not away goals)
2 legged Semi Final (home and home) - Tie breaker is higher seed (not away goals)
1 game MLS Cup as usual, higher seed hosts
I can live with the format, but it's not my favourite. I would rather have a play-in round, then put 4 teams in two groups have have them play a single round robin at the home of the higher ranked club. Top team in each group at the end of the stage play for MLS Cup. It would only require one more game, which could still fit in-between the international breaks if MLS compresses the playoffs a bit.
As for the longer off-season, it's not that long. MLS Cup finishes mid-November, and Preseason will start by end of January. That's only an 11 week off-season. The EPL starts in Mid-August and ends Mid-May, so it's comparable. And the compressed regular season means they'll probably move the start of the season up to the last weekend of February.
This change doesn't really bother me at all because I don't care nearly as much about the MLS Cup as I do the Supporter's Shield. Slowly we're falling in line with how the majority of the world does football and besides, the previous playoff structure was ridiculous. Anything is preferable to 2 months of broken up playoffs.
As for too many teams, yes there are but I am sure that was a necessary concession to get the owners to sign off on potentially losing home playoff fixtures.
I'm on the fence for this change. For what it's worth, Liga MX does 8 team playoffs in about 3 weeks. This past Apertura was 19 days long.
2 leg quarter finals, 2 leg semi finals and 2 leg finals. The MLS window for the new playoff format is about 26 days. Would have been possible!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apertura_2018_Liga_MX_championship_stage
I don't see anything wrong with a cup. We're North America. We don't have to do everything the same as Europe. We can have our own traditions.
Whether the league gets considered "serious" has more to do with money and getting the best players and coaches (due to money) and not so much on the league format. By that standard MLS' reputation is getting better by the year.
I agree with this as the leagues drastically vary across the world. There are Apertura/Clausura seasons, state cups, national cups, playoffs and different amount of teams in various leagues. Even in Europe, things vary from country to country, as some countries have multiple cups while others have a single cup.
I know it's never going to happen, but I'd like to see the league get up 32 teams and then split into MLS1 and MLS2 (16 teams each league). Teams would move between the two leagues through promotion/relegation but the teams in both leagues would still share the same revenues so there's no financial disadvantage.
In both leagues:
Schedule: 30 game, balanced scheduled.
Regular Season: #1 seed gets supporters shield in MLS1, #1 seed in MLS2 advances to MLS1 playoffs.
Playoffs: Top 7 seeded MLS1 teams make the playoffs, #1 seed from MLS2 makes playoffs. Single elimination until there's MLS cup winner.
Pro/Rel: Bottom 4 teams go down, top 4 teams go up
Travel will always be a factor for balancing a schedule in North America. We should probably get over that idea.
Leave the Shield the way it is.
Playoffs can do whatever. It's for pussplops fans to decide. Carry on.
P.S. I had a great time at Pussplops final party but wasn't that invested.
FORMER FULL TIME KOOL-AID DRINKER
I really like the new playoff format and timing. I like the one match win or go home style with no reseeding. It should mean more losing teams chucking the kitchen sink, extra forwards, or anything at the winning teams during the final 20 minutes of each tie. More exciting cup games. What I don't like is the fact that some home teams have artificial turf which could lead to more injuries for away teams. And the new format does not make it clear about the accumulated yellow card procedures.
Re: scheduling
I would rather the the season be pushed back 10-15 days and the final 10-15 days later. So the season starts March 15th-17th and the playoffs end Nov 23rd-24th. Games in early march so close to February are still to way cold, for CCL as well. Early March is a lot colder then mid-late November.
Also, ALL March games should be played in western or southern states. It is only 1-2 games where road teams start their season off on the road. All cold climate eastern teams (NYCFC, Toronto, Red Bulls, Chicago, Montreal etc) have their first game and potentially 2nd game start on the road. Week 3, Eastern teams have their home openers in the first week of April or March 31.
Toronto
Avg temp February: -3
Avg temp March: + 1
Avg temp November: +5
Avg temp December: -1
Last edited by Defoe; 01-08-2019 at 11:43 AM.
No point dreaming up promotion / relegation alternate universes for MLS. As you yourself said, it's never going to happen. In the discussions I've seen, it's always imagining OTHER cities teams that are in an MLS2. No one volunteers THEIR team to be the victim. People in North America aren't like in England, they don't follow minor league sports.
I could ask anyone who thinks promotion/relegation is a good idea for North America how many of you bothered to watch the Toronto Lynx in USL, even when they had that exciting young player DeRo? We've had these discussions since 2007.It's time to stop spending bandwidth over this.
IT'S ALSO OFF TOPIC.
Last edited by Oldtimer; 01-08-2019 at 11:49 AM.
The single knockout suuuuuuuucks.
Toronto FC baby...best team everrrrrrrrrr -Jozy
A new season, a new format FFS.