Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Would an European league system be better for MLS though? I'm skeptical. Americans have the playoff culture. It did no good to Brazil a while ago when they went European league style. There was a drop mainly in stadium attendance and TV audience suffered a little too.
Maybe it suits the US better, but for us, after completing a 38 game season, the places always reveal the true position of that club IMO. A playoff results in a team winning the league who could have had a lucky game in the final
Would an European league system be better for MLS though? I'm skeptical. Americans have the playoff culture. It did no good to Brazil a while ago when they went European league style. There was a drop mainly in stadium attendance and TV audience suffered a little too.
A European league system and playoffs are two different things. A European League system is promotion and relegation. Playoffs are a mechanism used to decide a league champion.
Would promotion/relegation work in the U.S? Of course it would. It's worked everywhere. The difficulty would be transitioning from a franchise system to a league system.
I'm not sure what a playoff culture means though. I'm glad there are playoffs in the NFL, NBA, MLB, NBA, NHL and now College Football. But because I like playoffs in the NFL does that mean I like playoffs in soccer? Not at all. I see the sports through different narratives. Also, it's important to mention that soccer, unlike any of those other sports, has cup tournaments throughout the year. This is an important difference and makes soccer unique and different from all these other sports.
Maybe it suits the US better, but for us, after completing a 38 game season, the places always reveal the true position of that club IMO. A playoff results in a team winning the league who could have had a lucky game in the final
I think you are both right and wrong. Sometimes a team that was crap most of the year will get on a lucky hot streak during playoffs and win it all then go back to being crap the next season.
But then sometimes a team that has proven it's self statistically during the regular season will have chinks in it's armor that will make it really not deserving of the best title. A prime example is the Atlanta Braves baseball team. Often after having played what feels like a 1,000 season games they will be sitting on top but inevitably during play offs it will be revealed that they have problem producing runs or strike outs or with coaching when the pressure is on and they will fold during playoffs.
Play offs are a bit like warfare. You could argue that on paper Napoleon had the better army against the Russians or Irwin Rommel and Robert Lee had better skilled more expertly led Armies than their adversaries through out the majority of the conflict. But does any of that matter if they lost the war? The final result is what counts not statistics.
Good luck to the MLS. As a Brit I welcome the MLS becoming more popular, and if I am bored I will watch German, Spanish and Italian league games on cable/satellite, so why not US games as well.
Any one who loves the game wishes the MLS nothing but success.
A European league system and playoffs are two different things.
I'm pretty sure I know that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Aldous9
I'm not sure what a playoff culture means though. I'm glad there are playoffs in the NFL, NBA, MLB, NBA, NHL and now College Football. But because I like playoffs in the NFL does that mean I like playoffs in soccer? Not at all.
You actually answered your own question! Even though you may not like playoffs in soccer, it is still the system in place in all major sport leagues in the US. People love playoffs here. The long league style with everybody playing each other at home and on the road can be boring and frustrating for some fans. It works well in Europe because a good percentage of teams are good quality and very popular, so the games are good, but still, even the EPL, La Liga, Seria A, etc have some painful games to watch between 2 weaker teams during the season. I'm just not sure the MLS would be ready for that.
Good luck to the MLS. As a Brit I welcome the MLS becoming more popular, and if I am bored I will watch German, Spanish and Italian league games on cable/satellite, so why not US games as well.
Any one who loves the game wishes the MLS nothing but success.
It will take a while for sure.. most European leagues are built on tradition and years of fan support
You actually answered your own question! Even though you may not like playoffs in soccer, it is still the system in place in all major sport leagues in the US. People love playoffs here. The long league style with everybody playing each other at home and on the road can be boring and frustrating for some fans. It works well in Europe because a good percentage of teams are good quality and very popular, so the games are good, but still, even the EPL, La Liga, Seria A, etc have some painful games to watch between 2 weaker teams during the season. I'm just not sure the MLS would be ready for that.
This was said before on another thread, but my opinion is that MLS should strive be just like MLB of old. They need more teams for this to work though...maybe 32-36 teams in all, which is a lot, and I'm not sure if the US can support that many times in the near future. That leads to:
Two separate leagues that don't play inter-league in the regular season that leads to a Western League Champion and an Eastern League Champion (Or North and South). So, each team would play only all other teams in their League twice. The teams would put these banners up at their stadiums and it would be a big deal. The supporters shield goes away in place of these two separate league champs.
The top 3 or so teams in each league make it to the MLS Cup and then compete for MLS Cup champions (The Anschultz Trophy, or something like that). So, in the end, the US would have two separate leagues, run by the MLS that only meet in the MLS Cup.
People infer too much from foreign sporting cultures and apply them to soccer specifically. European nations have promotion and relegation in many sports. Likewise, they award championships based on league standings over a season. Those are not intrinsic to soccer, so why do Europoseurs act like they are actual rules of the game being cast aside for plastic Americanisms? Our '90s shootouts were an abomination, but playoffs and closed leagues are just business as usual.
I just always think that a league table where points are uses to determine positions is the best way.. the best team always wins
The most regular team always wins a league format and sometimes (probably more often than not) it also happens to be the best team, but not always. There is too much extra factors at play in a cup playoff that make a better team to be eliminated by a weaker opponent sometimes. History is full of good examples of that.
So, in Brazil there is this debate about getting back to our roots, whis is the cup format for our Serie A. I'm one of those who defend it because, to me, that had always been our soccer identity. The argument against it, especially by the smaller teams, is that the big guys with lots of fans tend to have a lot more support in the palyoff games and that is just not fair.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
