Originally Posted by
jloome
My argument is that it is possible to have both pro/relegation AND protect franchise value AND respect NA playoff traditions. It's also possible to do it while increasing the value of the entire league schedule. And all it would take is tweaking what's already there.
1. Raise the number of teams in MLS to 36.
2. Instead of having an east-west division system, move to a tiered division system and award each tier a title.
3. Buy out the USL C and turn it into a third division.
4. Allow some teams from each of the top two tiers into the MLS Cup playoffs, and award a separate playoff title to the winner.
5. Include a guarantee promo/relegation between Premier Division and Division One of, say, three teams.
6. Include a difficult-but-possible promo of ONE team from Division One to div Two, making it extremely difficult to achieve, so that relegation from One to Two in effect is only a penalty for exceptional incompetence. Similar to the Mexican lower-league promotion chance, the teams would have substantially lower salary caps in div two, and would have to win a multi-leg playoff against the potentially relegated team. (And put in financial protections, similar to the Premier league, that give the relegated team an advantage to return immediately)...
So you'd have an 18 team MLS Premier Division, with the top team getting a renamed Supporter's Shield as Premier Division Champions. The bottom three teams get relegated to the First Division. 15 clubs make the cup playoff.
You'd have an 18 team MLS Division One, with the top team getting the Division One title. The top three teams (abitrary, but it works elsewhere) get promoted to the Premier Division. The top nine clubs make the cup playoffs, with the ninth going up against the Div 3 winner in a playoff to make the Cup bracket.
You'd have a 24-team MLS Division Two, with the top team getting the Division Two title and a chance to play the bottom team in Division One for promotion, assuming they can meet financial conditions. The top team would also play the ninth placed div two team for a chance to make the MLS Cup bracket.
Division Two would be salary capped WELL BELOW MLS, further hampering any possibility an existing MLS club might lose franchise value. Frankly, if after this much advantage it still isn't enough, they're probably a financial drag on the league already. There could even be a lost value mechanism in which the promoted club pays a percentage of perceived lost value to guarantee their MLS spot and compensate the relegated.
The consequences of this:
* All season games now mean something, as does the final league standing.
* The schedule is division only, so completely balanced.
* All the playoff games mean something. Playoff tradition is respected and existing franchise value is well-protected.
* And MLS becomes, in many respects, in accordance with football elsewhere, increasing foreign fan and owner buy-in.
* Lower-level football in America would be massively more meaningful due to growth and promotion potential. Whether this sticks after a decade without anyone achieving it, I don't know. But by then, people might be supporting their club to the fullest due to supporter culture growth, not just the perception of being a top league.
I've possibly overcomplicated this all in presentation but basically, the way to have promo/rel AND playoffs is to just eliminate it being a LEAGUE relegation, and make it a division relegation. As long as the owners and playoffs fans know they can still play for MLS Cup against the best teams, everyone is happy.