MLS idea

[LIuconn]

Hatched a half-baked idea while on a run this afternoon. Includes pro/rel.

Two 12-team conferences. Helps ease travel, regular season sees each team plays conference mates 2x, other conference teams 1x.

In each conference:

Top 4 make playoffs. Home and home series, no away goal bonus. Higher seed selects who hosts first game. MLS Cup (East vs West) one game final.

• Teams 1-2 receive first round bye
• Team 3 is safely in
• Teams 4-5 one game playoff to get in. Played at #4 home stadium
• Teams 6-8 are safe, season over
• Teams 9-12 Round robin home-and-home series, last place team is relegated. Played concurrent to playoff schedule
• MLS final weekend triple header - relegation battle at the bottom, Div 1 promotion playoff, MLS Cup

Creates a few races and elevates each game - Conference championship, playoff bye, make playoffs, stay out of relegation battle and to stay in the league. Or something like that

 

[UCFBfan]

Screw playoffs. Why do we need to make every league in this country copy each other. Playoffs in soccer are stupid. However, without promotion/relegation they make more fans interested, I guess?

If they ever put in pro/rel, which I feel will never happen, they should scrap the whole play off crap. Team with most points wins the league. Home and home with every team. Done. It works everywhere else in the world. Why do we need to make MLS be like MLB or NFL?

If anything, it might make it more interesting because it’s different then all the other leagues in this country.

 

[ZooCougar]

Screw playoffs. Why do we need to make every league in this country copy each other. Playoffs in soccer are stupid. However, without promotion/relegation they make more fans interested, I guess?

If they ever put in pro/rel, which I feel will never happen, they should scrap the whole play off crap. Team with most points wins the league. Home and home with every team. Done. It works everywhere else in the world. Why do we need to make MLS be like MLB or NFL?

If anything, it might make it more interesting because it’s different then all the other leagues in this country.

Get rid of NCAA soccer too. Just make pro clubs. NCAA is nearly zero value added at this point.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Get rid of NCAA soccer too. Just make pro clubs. NCAA is nearly zero value added at this point.

There is no need to get rid of it. It's not up to the MLS or US Soccer to do that anyway. More players will opt for pro clubs, some will go to college. It will work itself out. Baseball has them side by side and it works.

 

[ZooCougar]

There is no need to get rid of it. It's not up to the MLS or US Soccer to do that anyway. More players will opt for pro clubs, some will go to college. It will work itself out. Baseball has them side by side and it works.

Baseball has a longer offseason than soccer. Soccer basically is 10.5 month a year sport. More than that if you count preseason. Unless it is MLS that has an absurdly long offseason.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Baseball has a longer offseason than soccer. Soccer basically is 10.5 month a year sport. More than that if you count preseason. Unless it is MLS that has an absurdly long offseason.

College baseball players, good ones, go to the cape cod league or similar. But it doesn't matter. Any soccer player with professional aspirations can go pro whenever they want. That's no reason to deny other kids the chance to play college soccer. It's actually the way all the sports should be, so we again have real amateurs.

 

[meyers7]

College baseball players, good ones, go to the cape cod league or similar. But it doesn't matter. Any soccer player with professional aspirations can go pro whenever they want. That's no reason to deny other kids the chance to play college soccer. It's actually the way all the sports should be, so we again have real amateurs.

So you are saying "student athletes" AREN'T getting paid???

 

[Waquoit]

MLS is always going to suck. It's built in to their business plan.

 

[HuskyHawk]

So you are saying "student athletes" AREN'T getting paid???

I don't think soccer players are. I don't think any of them should be. They should all have an available route to turn pro early, so that those who want to go to college instead can do that.

 

[ZooCougar]

 

[ZooCougar]

Don’t you guys love the hyperbole! There are fruit flies older than Atlanta’s Academy.

 

[UConnDan97]

Don’t you guys love the hyperbole! There are fruit flies older than Atlanta’s Academy.

It's not the age of the academy that bothers me. What bothers me is the arrogance of thinking it's one of the greatest in the world. Claudio Reyna talked about this arrogance throughout American soccer, and here's yet another example...

 

[ZooCougar]

http://nypost.com/2017/10/17/claudio-reyna-pins-us-world-cup-failure-on-arrogant-culture/

Must read.

It's not the age of the academy that bothers me. What bothers me is the arrogance of thinking it's one of the greatest in the world. Claudio Reyna talked about this arrogance throughout American soccer, and here's yet another example...

Yes, I agree completely. Posted his comments above. May have been a career limiting comment from him.

Remember the time when Bob Bradley said he was just as good as Pep and Jose?

 

[meyers7]

Don’t you guys love the hyperbole! There are fruit flies older than Atlanta’s Academy.

It's not the age of the academy that bothers me. What bothers me is the arrogance of thinking it's one of the greatest in the world. Claudio Reyna talked about this arrogance throughout American soccer, and here's yet another example...

Obviously he didn't finish reading the sentence on his notes....."which is among I think one of the great academies in the world of Atlanta Soccer.”

 

[Waquoit]

The personification of the arrogance of USA soccer isn’t the coaches it’s Landycakes. That he or someone else floated his name as a potential president is laughable.

 

[ZooCougar]

MLS making enemies every week it seems.

Wolff asks DA to investigate MLS in Toyota Field deal