MLS needs to change [R]

[Vagegast]

A team that was 13-13-6, 4th in the West, 8th overall and had a -1 GD in the regular season just won MLS Cup.

I think there's no question MLS needs to implement some changes for next season.

By the way, most boring MLS Cup game EVER? Someone take back Twellman's MVP title.

 

[ForzaNerrazurri]

Get rid of the playoffs, let the team with the most points at the end of the season win the Championship, and implement a cup tournament, sort of like the Coppa italia in italy, Carling Cup in England, etc

 

[RUSI]

Yeah, that was possibly one of the worst matches I have seen. Nice goal to win it though.

 

[Vagegast]

implement a cup tournament, sort of like the Coppa italia in italy, Carling Cup in England, etc

We have the US Open Cup, all MLS and USL teams participate if I'm right.

And yeah, it was good to see Matt Reis' face after he gave an assist to Ramirez

 

[El Diablo Rojo]

In my opinion, they should get all the teams to play together not making "conferences" let that for lower categories.
Another thing that would start to earn my respect is if there was promotion/relegation and it'd change its name to MLF.

 

[bjmenge]

For the last time, MLS will NEVER have promotion/relegation. See many of my previous posts for the reasons why.

I do think scrapping the conferences is a good idea. I also believe that if MLS wants to keep the playoffs, they need to include only 4 teams. With the league at its current size, 8 teams being in the playoffs allows for way too much mediocrity. I might even agree with having only the top two make it to a championship series, if that would cause the rest of the league to step up their play.

 

[Rochester Rhino]

Part of hte conference thing has to do with money, The US is very big country compared to most european countries. In europe they can just take a bus to all your league games, but in the US especially east and west coast teams playing eachother there is no choice but to fly. ANd that can get expensive expeciallyfor an MLS to do that alot, so they create it so they more times the teams in their conference.


OR you can pretty much scrap what I just said and put it all on one table, and just keep the same kind of scheduling as they already have. That's what the USL did and it's working very well and I like it very much.

 

[sl benfica]

Well with todays Official word that Toronto will be the next expansion team in 2007, and the 14th team will be known by December 31st. The 14th will have to put up 15million to join the league and have their own futebol specific stadium.

The bad news in either SanJose or Kansas City or both will be moved or takenover by new ownership so they can get new stadiums and get attendence up(KC).

 

[Run DMB]

By the way, most boring MLS Cup game EVER?

2002 was worse

I'm not really troubled about the Galaxy winning the trophy. However, I would support a switch to a single-table format and the elimination of the playoffs. That format has its setbacks too, but I'd like to see MLS give it a try.

Of course what I really want to see in MLS is a 2-part season:

First part: MLS League Championship, runs March to June; single table, two games against every opponent, 22 games total, 1st placed team is champion

Second part: MLS Cup, runs August to November; East and West conferences - teams play two games only against teams in their conference, or 10 "regular season" games total; the top 4 (or 2) teams from each conference make the playoffs

That format would ensure that every game counts. Of course, it will never happen, but I can dream...

 

[El Diablo Rojo]

Part of hte conference thing has to do with money, The US is very big country compared to most european countries. In europe they can just take a bus to all your league games, but in the US especially east and west coast teams playing eachother there is no choice but to fly. ANd that can get expensive expeciallyfor an MLS to do that alot, so they create it so they more times the teams in their conference.

No idea if it would be too much a trouble for the United States. Argentina, except for Russia, is big than the european countries and hes less money, but the 1st and 2nd division works with a single table, In the first division there aren't too many troubles, but then in the 2nd division for example you have CAI a team from near the bottom south of Argentina which for every away match has to do at least 1500Km(aprox), for example 3 weeks ago they had to play against Juventud Antoniana a club from the top north of Argentina, there very few cases like this between the 3rd, 4th and the 5th division, specially in the play-offs, but it gets repeated during the play-offs. I'm not sure but i bet in Brazil(which is bigger than Argentina) there are cases like this one

 

[Vagegast]

The so-called problem about the U.S. being too big for teams to travel is overblown in my eyes. As it is right now, every team plays each other no matter where they are located. All it needs is some smart scheduling.

MLS is just trying to stick to it's American "roots."

 

[Brondbyfan]

Yes I was really disappointed with the game for several reasons.

1) The entire idea of playoffs is stupid, and never was that more apparent than here. I've always hated the fact that you only have to be eighth best in the regular season to be declared champion. It only encourages teams to try and be number eight, not number one. Maybe I feel this way because my 2001 Seattle Mariners were arguably the best team in the history of baseball and ultimately it didn't mean anything because they didn't win the playoffs. Playoffs are always just a cash-grab, but they are especially bone-headed in soccer because there is only one game. At least in baseball or basketball it's best of 7. As we saw today, the best team in the regular season can have one bad game and then all was for naught.

2) The commentary was really bad. Whoever did the play-by-play sounded like he has watched about five soccer games in his life. And the color guy didn't add much excitement. Don't dumb down the action. I like that if a match sucks or a player sucks in Britain, the commentator tells you. I still laugh at the commentary for games like Czech Republic vs. Greece in EURO 2004.

3) The whole thing was Americanized. The stupid "talking to the coach" feature, the awful half-time show, and worst of all, the "split screen" advertisements, which is probably the worst thing to hit TV since the Anna Nicole Show. We missed a good goalscoring opportunity and shot just to watch a bunch of really unfunny "comedians" (seriously, that Michael Ian Black guy needs to be killed) talk about Sierra Mist. I understand that they are trying to draw an audience that is used to that, but I like soccer because it's different than American sports. Those kinds of things are relics from the inevitable boring moments in a stop-and-start game like American football or baseball. Gimmicks like this aren't going to make or break soccer in this country.

4) The game itself was crappy. Apart from some bright moments from Donovan and Jones, it was a snoozer. That's the whole problem with the playoff system in a budding league like this: when what the league deems the premier game of the season in fact sucks, it makes the whole league looks bad.

 

[Avalanche]

Some thoughts on MLS Cup

-First off, I'm not congratulating the Galaxitives on their "win", because I'm sure MLS management told the Revs to lay down to make sure The Crybaby won. They sure did a very good job in making sure that it didn't looked rigged.

-As much as you purists want single table, with no playoffs, its not gonna happen. MLS is somewhat comparable to our southern cousins with their format. Plus, several other leagues in the Americas have playoffs in various guises to end their seasons.

-Toronto joining the league is nothing but a good thing for MLS. T.Dot is a truly international city that is apesh*t for football and they'll have a SSS from the start.

-Lastly, I feel that the Revs' window to win a championship has closed. The realist in me knows that the team will be gutted in the offseason. In other words, I might be waving good-bye to Dempsey, Twellman, Noonan, et al.

 

[Voltaic Borusse]

3) The whole thing was Americanized. The stupid "talking to the coach" feature, the awful half-time show, and worst of all, the "split screen" advertisements, which is probably the worst thing to hit TV since the Anna Nicole Show. We missed a good goalscoring opportunity and shot just to watch a bunch of really unfunny "comedians" (seriously, that Michael Ian Black guy needs to be killed) talk about Sierra Mist. I understand that they are trying to draw an audience that is used to that, but I like soccer because it's different than American sports. Those kinds of things are relics from the inevitable boring moments in a stop-and-start game like American football or baseball. Gimmicks like this aren't going to make or break soccer in this country.

Same here.

 

[JFG_Lancer]

1) The entire idea of playoffs is stupid, and never was that more apparent than here. I've always hated the fact that you only have to be eighth best in the regular season to be declared champion. It only encourages teams to try and be number eight, not number one. Maybe I feel this way because my 2001 Seattle Mariners were arguably the best team in the history of baseball and ultimately it didn't mean anything because they didn't win the playoffs. Playoffs are always just a cash-grab, but they are especially bone-headed in soccer because there is only one game. At least in baseball or basketball it's best of 7. As we saw today, the best team in the regular season can have one bad game and then all was for naught.

You are so true man San Jose who not only dominated the West but the whole league and were the class of the MLS were knocked out in the 1st round by a team that they beat in every meeting during the regular season. The only reason that LA won was because they want to hype up that little whinning Soccer player.

 

[yoyo913]

i like the mls play-off

its fun for FM

 

[Run DMB]

MLS Cup ratings are up for the third consecutive year.

Reportedly a 1.0 share, which means around 1,000,000 viewers.

This is up from around 800,000 viewers last year and around 700,000 in 2003.

But looking at the big picture, we're right back to where we were in 2001, when the LA - San Jose game also got a 1.0 share.

'05 MLS CUP NIELSEN METERED-MARKET RATINGS
market - size rank - rating/share
1) Boston (#5) 2.8/5
2) Cincinnati (#33) 1.7/3
3) Austin (#54) 1.6/3
4t) Detroit (#10) 1.5/3
4t) Los Angeles (#2) 1.5/4
6) Atlanta (#9) 1.4/2
7t) Knoxville (#59) 1.2/2
7t) Minneapolis-St. Paul (#14) 1.2/2 - REPRESENTIN'
7t) Providence-New Bedford (#49) 1.2/2
7t) Seattle-Tacoma (#12) 1.2/3
7t) Washington, DC (#8) 1.2/3
12t) Denver (#18) 1.1/2
12t) Kansas City (#31) 1.1/2
12t) Memphis (#44) 1.1/2
12t) Norfolk (#41) 1.1/2
12t) Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne (#20) 1.1/2
12t) Richmond-Petersburg (#61) 1.1/2
12t) Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto (#19) 1.1/3
19t) New York (#1) 1.0/2
19t) Pittsburgh (#22) 1.0/2

In Boston the MLS Cup final beat out NASCAR (2.5), which is a step in the right direction.

 

[bjmenge]

Ohio reppin' at #2.

 

[Avalanche]

BFD Shifty, you guys still didn't beat the mighty 401. Anyway, those ratings were a wee bit inflated because of the match going to extra time, where another cheating c*nt from Guatemala robbed us of glory. Yes, I'm still bitter.

 

[Bummy_JaB]

ok so 8 teams go by to the playoffs..... thats kinda lame considering there is only 12 teams........

It should be the TOP 4 teams go by going to a GROUP stage where each team plays each other twice.....and the winner of that group should be CHAMPION......seems more fair than a stupid knockout stage like the CL where it comes down to a bit of luck.....