Single Table/Playoff Benefits

[RJB]

I'm just curious the benefits of a single table. The Korean league has a single table for the league, however the top six advance into a playoff whereby the title is decided by a championship game. There has been some rumblings here because of the fact that this year there is a real title race between Seongnam and Suwon. Is it better for a league to have teams battling for the top, or teams battling for that last playoff spot. I'm a traditionalist, so I prefer to have the champion as the league winner, however there seems to be many benefits to the playoff system.

K-League, 2007

Pos.Team.......P...W....D...L..F...A ...GD...Pts </u>

1...Seongnam...18..11...5...2..30..11...19...38

2...Suwon......18..11...4...3..30..19...11...37

3...Ulsan......18...7...8...3..21..16....5...29

4...Gyeongnam..18...8...4...6..30..22....8...28

5...Jeonbuk....17...8...3...6..27..21....6...27

6...Pohang.....18...7...5...6..18..20...-2...26

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7...Chunnam....18...6...7...5..20..18....2...25

8...Incheon....18...6...6...6..20..21...-1...24

9...FC Seoul...18...4..11...3..11..11....0...23

10..Daejeon....17...4...7...6..18..18....0...19

11..Jeju.......18...5...4...9..15..24...-9...19

12..Daegu......18...4...4..10..23..31...-8...16

13..Busan......18...3...5..10..16..26..-10...14

14..Gwangju....18...2...5..11...9..30..-21...11

Is there any chance that MLS will ditch the MLS Cup and go straight to a single table championship? I ask this because with the possiblity of Vancouver in the league, a Toronto vs. Vancouver MLS Cup may not be the best for the league.

[Elias]

quote:Originally posted by RJB

I'm just curious the benefits of a single table. Is it better for a league to have teams battling for the top, or teams battling for that last playoff spot. I'm a traditionalist, so I prefer to have the champion as the league winner, however there seems to be many benefits to the playoff system.

Playoffs offer excitement (and $$) that having just a single-table league champion can't. There has been talk in Greece about a playoff system for the Greek league. I think you are going to start seeing more playoffs in Euro soccer leagues because of the aforementioned dollars, er, I mean excitement.

quote:Is there any chance that MLS will ditch the MLS Cup and go straight to a single table championship?

Absolutely zero chance.

quote: I ask this because with the possiblity of Vancouver in the league, a Toronto vs. Vancouver MLS Cup may not be the best for the league.

Well, having Toronto and Vancouver finish 1-2 wouldn't be good either. I don't see how a single table changes anything.