It Could Get A Bit Messi In Here - The Football Thread.

Ginormousthumbs said:
I don’t really have a problem with it. It’s an American League and that’s the format with all the sports here. Maybe it won’t last.
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Hasn’t the MLS had it right from the start in 96?

As much as I hate them, just have a league and a cup like everyone else ffs, I’m guessing he was talking about the changes to the format of them for this season.
 
Joe Mac said:
Hasn’t the MLS had it right from the start in 96?

As much as I hate them, just have a league and a cup like everyone else ffs, I’m guessing he was talking about the changes to the format of them for this season.
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Yes, just the change in format. I believe they tried that before and it didn’t stick.

I don’t really understand the hate. The league has made great strides in a country that wasn’t supposed to care about the sport at all.

I’d love to see top 2 or 3 teams from the MLS play against the top 2 or 3 teams from other leagues in a non exhibition format and see where the quality is.
 
Ginormousthumbs said:
Yes, just the change in format. I believe they tried that before and it didn’t stick.

I don’t really understand the hate. The league has made great strides in a country that wasn’t supposed to care about the sport at all.

I’d love to see top 2 or 3 teams from the MLS play against the top 2 or 3 teams from other leagues in a non exhibition format and see where the quality is.
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I don’t hate the MLS, I have a vague ambivalence towards it to be honest. It’s far away and hasn’t convinced me quality wise from what I have seen. I don’t particularly like the franchise model with no promotion or relegation either but that’s likely cultural.

I do hate the idea of play offs to determine a league. It just feels like a mish mash. But you know I grew up in a culture where the league determines the best team in the country and the cup often determines tue best cup teams who can find those one off performances but often aren’t good enough to do it consistently.
 
Joe Mac said:
I don’t hate the MLS, I have a vague ambivalence towards it to be honest. It’s far away and hasn’t convinced me quality wise from what I have seen. I don’t particularly like the franchise model with no promotion or relegation either but that’s likely cultural.

I do hate the idea of play offs to determine a league. It just feels like a mish mash. But you know I grew up in a culture where the league determines the best team in the country and the cup often determines tue best cup teams who can find those one off performances but often aren’t good enough to do it consistently.
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Being a long time American sports fan and how the systems works here, I would love to see promotion/relegation with MLS but I don’t know if that would ever work here or if the powers that be would allow that.
That’s one of the things I found refreshing with the Premier League.
Some have floated the idea that it MLS were to expand to a 40 team league, that maybe p/r could be a thing but who knows.
 
And for those that have Apple TV, I’ve been really impressed with the free content that has been available. I’m looking forward to this weekend’s matches and presentations.
I know it’s really early but if the MLS would have had this kind of dedicated space 10 years ago a la NBC and PL, they’d be in a better space.
 
Ginormousthumbs said:
Here’s a snippet from an Athletic article. I won’t link it because it’s behind a paywall.

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It sounds very much like the Premier League around its launch in 92 when British clubs were suffering a bit after the European ban following Hysel. Beyond the odd Cup Winners Cup triumph it took United 5 or 6 years to catch up again and the rest of England maybe another 4 or 5 years. Bear in mind most of that was only 1, and latterly 2, teams qualifying for the European Cup.

I don’t think it’s quite even at that level yet, there was some serious quality back then and England had good national teams, but then you don’t have the same football culture. The MLS really does remind me probably most of the Scottish Premier League outside the Old Firm or lower Championship. The pace of improvement over the last 10 years in particular is impressive.
 
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To be clear, I really want MLS to succeed.
However, with 9 of 15 teams in each conference making the playoffs it renders the regular season almost meaningless. Then there is a one game wild card round followed by a best of 3 for one round!
It just seems so gimmicky. New and casual viewers are not going to understand what's going on.
Of course promotion and relegation plus a cup comp would be ideal but playoffs done right can be dramatic. One and done like the NFL should be the way to go.
 
Ginormousthumbs said:
And for those that have Apple TV, I’ve been really impressed with the free content that has been available. I’m looking forward to this weekend’s matches and presentations.
I know it’s really early but if the MLS would have had this kind of dedicated space 10 years ago a la NBC and PL, they’d be in a better space.
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I’m kinda hoping this is a forerunner/trial for apple or one of the others to go in big for the premier league. The cost over here is just ridiculous and the idea of an online platform globally on a subscription price could really drive down what I’m currently paying.

Likely won’t though, far too cozy a deal with sky, could see them continuing to rip uk & Ireland off and sell that kind of package for everywhere else.
 
Englishbob said:
To be clear, I really want MLS to succeed.
However, with 9 of 15 teams in each conference making the playoffs it renders the regular season almost meaningless. Then there is a one game wild card round followed by a best of 3 for one round!
It just seems so gimmicky. New and casual viewers are not going to understand what's going on.
Of course promotion and relegation plus a cup comp would be ideal but playoffs done right can be dramatic. One and done like the NFL should be the way to go.
Click to expand...

If you’re doing one off, to get away from home advantage might something like the European trophies did during Covid work to get away from home advantage.

So pick a couple of stadiums in a big city, or a couple of big cities near to each other, and do a sort of short length neutral tournament?

I get two legs to counteract home advantage but best of 3 does seem gimmicky and drawn out.
 
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