We need a single table!
This is becoming ridiculous the western conference has almost all played 13 games and still we (the third place team in the east) are better than the first place team. This league is so one sided its ridiculous. If not for that reason we should do it because it is the thing to do for a football league so why the heck not?
2/7 teams is almost all?Originally Posted by T_Mizz
No...we're level on points but behind on goal diff.and still we (the third place team in the east) are better than the first place team.
currently the season isn't balanced so a single table doesn't really reflect equal schedules.
in the EPL for example every team plays the other home and away... in MLS you play a few more games against your division rivals...
also, the playoffs are not straight 1-8, 2-7 like in the NBA or whatever, so they have the division play in the playoffs.
they could try single table when they get to the point that they have enough teams to do home/away only with everybody and still have a nice number of league games.
maybe we need to bring Montreal into the eastern conference quicker so as to lower the standard to help out the west... [insert smily face here - (where are they anyway?)]
Fail to prepare, prepare to fail.
Roy Keane
its an american thing....always wanting the EAST VS WEST!!
Hockey was ruined when the took the single table away years agO!
1 vs 16
We likely won't ever see a single table if it means a balanced schedule - not with so many teams 3 time zones apart.
Speaking of which, we better start getting some wins against teams in the East, we can't count on the West to beat DC, Columbus, and NE if we can't do it ourselves, especially on the road.
IF the season was to end today..this is the way it should look! ! on a single table that is!
1 NER VS 8 DC
2 COL vs 7 DAL
3 LA VS 6 HOU
4 TOR VS 5 CHI
but the way its set up now..i think we would be playing Columbus first round....dont make sence really!
Last edited by RPB_RED_NATION_RPB; 06-16-2008 at 09:29 PM.
And when they had a single table, the longest travel would have been to Chicago. When they expanded, only Philly and Pittsburgh were east of Chicago.
Single table has to come here..the MLS should stop trying to Americianize football and do what already works when the time is right. Obviously not now because it wouldn't make much sense but hopefully a single table will come once we cap off expansion.
3 time zones and 2500 miles between some cities... I dont think these clubs would appreciate a single table.
Btw... what is next? Promotion / relegation to USL-1?
Because it would change things in their scheduling how?3 time zones and 2500 miles between some cities... I dont think these clubs would appreciate a single table.
Btw... what is next? Promotion / relegation to USL-1
Seattle in '09, Philly in '10... you see where this is going?
Nope
We'd still play home and away up until there are 20 teams in this league, which won't be for a while. A single table won't affect scheduling in the least, but it would give credibility to the standings. This is just a math problem, not a logisitics problem.
TFC plays no more than 2 games on the road at the same time throughout the course of the year, that means a lot of back and forth. It is not like they are going on a "road trip" to knock out all west coast games at the same time here. Having the 2 leagues makes more sense now and through expansion...
Where is the rule that states they need to play a home and away against every team going forward past this year? The more west coast teams they add the more travel for East and vice versa. My point is that the travel on this continent wears on the clubs and they wouldn't appreciate more trips. I still feel this is the case, and managers do mention it from time to time in pressers.
Lets see what JC and Preki have to say after the home and home with Chivas later this year.
I have never seen any football league anywhere that does not have a home and away schedule. I would be interesting in seeing one. Like I said, I doubt we will ever see the end of a home and away with all teams unless MLS grows to larger than 20 and that is not happening any time soon. Therefore, the logistics are the same...so why the different math?
Not sure what you mean by math. Unless you mean distance travelled. Which domestic leagues are you referring to specifically? Because there wouldn't be very many that cross 3 time zones and the kind of distances between teams that MLS clubs have to travel.
Because it won't work in North america....fans will see their team near the bottom of a single division and not bother showing up. the difference in amount of games played has more to do with stadium dates then anything else, when all MLS clubs have control of their parks the a more balanced schedule could be inforced.
I wouldn't object to a single table where the Supporter's Shield is the real thing to play for...and if the play-offs got scrapped, I wouldn't complain.
And yet MLS still does the home and away and simply "adds" games within the conference to fill out the schedule.
As soon as more teams come in to fill the east and west, those "added" games will simply disappear.
So why then no single table when the travel would be the same?
playopffs won't get scrapped they need that for a league championship, and money maker for league/clubs.
Yep...to do away with the playoffs would be to Eurocentric. North American fanbases simply do not understand "no playoffs".
That is shown in the fact that the Supporters Shield was an afterthought because of the supporters groups demand for league winner from the schedule itself.
Does it go by head to head or goal difference?
If it was head to head, we would be 3rd place.
The problem with the Supporters Shield now is that with an unbalanced schedule a team may end up with a light schedule by playing a weak team more than twice (the standard home & away) and end up with a points total that doesn't accurately reflect the quality of their team.
Totally agree. But until there are enough teams that balance out the schedule so that we are NOT playing Columbus and DC 3 times a year as opposed to twice, what can be done?
Who are the lucky bastards that get to play San Jose more than twice this year?
My point is that it wouldn't / shouldn't be the same. There would likely be more intra-conference play and the possibilty that East teams may or not play all of the teams in the West at all. That is where I was going. Drop some of the West games to make the travel a little bit more bearable.
To make the point... I took a look at Manchester United's travel sched. For the entire 2008/2009 domestic season they will log 1935 miles (3870 return) and all in the same timezone.
In contrast Toronto to LA is 2530 miles (1 - way 5060 return)... currently TFC makes 2 trips there.
It is head-to-head, yes.
They could do that...but when you play a max of 38 league games a year, half of which are at home, I don't think it's an issue that requires such drastic measures. Baseball teams, hockey teams and basketball teams do MUCH more travelling than that. So while comparitively speaking, MLS teams do more travelling than European teams, on the other hand they do less travelling than other sports in North America. And the thought of excluding a visit of a Beckham or an Henry to New York or DC (or Toronto if you think the MLS puts us on par with the big cities) it would be madness and a marketing nightmare.
Last edited by Roogsy; 06-16-2008 at 10:43 PM.
single table is needed yup
Exactly... they bracket by conference still unless more than 4 teams from 1 conference qualify... in which case they will be moved over into the other conference bracket. I think this would be the way it shakes out if it ended today.
IF the season was to end today..this is the way it should look! ! on a single table that is!
1 NER VS 8 DC
2 COL vs 7 DAL
3 LA VS 6 HOU
4 TOR VS 5 CHI
but the way its set up now..i think we would be playing Columbus first round....dont make sence really!
East Bracket
E1 (NE) vs E4 (CHI)*
E2 (CLB) vs E3 (TFC)
West Bracket
W1 (LA) vs W4 (DCU)*
W2 (HOU) vs W3 (FCD)
* - wildcards
This format is new this year.
Can't argue with that based on present state of the league. And I wasn't proposing this was going to happen any time soon just saying that it could happen. The league also has to take into account all of the other "extra" performances that other sports don't participate in such as CL qualifying, major tournament qualifying (WCQ, Euro etc, etc). No other NA sport have those kinds of requirements.
Also, just because other leagues do more travelling doesn't lessen the impact on them either. I am sure the players and coaching staff would prefer less travel as well if it were up to them, of course those leagues demand it for some of the same reasons that you mentioned above.
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