Originally Posted by
jloome
Given that the last poll on MLSsoccer.com and the last two polls on SBI all indicated that the majority of MLS fans clearly want single-table, that's not really an issue either. It's one thing to resist outside culture, it's another thing to do it without purpose. This has been polled repeatedly; Ives Galarcep didn't believe it either, so he polled his readers, got thousands of responses, and it was clear most MLS fans want both relegation AND single table.
MLS will accelerate the process of being taken seriously when Juventus fans in New York start going to Red Bull and NYFC games, not just exhibitions against their favorite teams from Italy. They won't do that if they think the sport, as presented at its highest level, is disrespected or sold short. That's always been the case.
I'm not saying it has to happen. But it will accelerate the support and improvement of soccer in NA. And it doesn't have to be simple, or even common. The conditions can be onerous, such as a clear league win, plus beating the relegated team from above in a home-and-away, plus having a minimum season ticket base. But as long as the possibility exists, the regular season means something for the bottom half of the table in a league about to expand to TWENTY-EIGHT teams. Think about that; for 16 sets of fans, the league will mean nothing (because the SS basically means nothing): it won't determine a league winner, it won't determine a relegation fight, and it won't provide a chance to win a cup.
YOu want serious fans involved, give them impetus, good or bad. Make the whole Cosmos thing mean someting. Make the Austin fight mean something. Bring in smaller communities (that are still very large cities) by giving them hope. Football in Europe lives and dies on local club support; that has to happen here before it will ever reach the top level (let alone by MLS' 2022 goal). But it won't if so much of the season is meaningless, or if it's assumed all fans are fairweather and have no club culture to keep them with a relegated side.
EDIT: You can even use revenue pooling to avoid serious financial losses to relegated teams for a certain period. There are many steps available to mitigate the "they'll lose more money" thing. When you consider how many U.S. MLS teams seem to DELIBERATELY lose as much as possible, you have to wonder based on American tax code how much of it is just a dodge anyway for much larger financial entities.