Kimpero Posted November 23, 2010 Share Posted November 23, 2010 I found some time to watch the entire Supporters Summit online today, and thought I'd share some thoughts of mine regarding it. Don Garber is undoubtebly a nice bloke, probably a decently smart guy as well. However, I don't feel he is operating the league in a way that is most beneficial to the sport in North America. - First of all, I feel Mr. Garber isn't doing what is best for the real fans, the actual soccer crowd in Canada and the United States. By creating and upholding these ridiculous artificial "cups", both the ones in the regular season and the playoffs, he's trying to create a false sense of rivalry. Well, that's just not working. Like the TFC-fan in his yellow jersey said at the summit, rivalries can't be created artificially. They create themselves when clubs and fans create history together, and the geographical aspect is obviously the most important. By claiming that winning the "Eastern Conference Championship" or whatever is important for fans and players, he's underestimating their intelligence. I believe every single fan and player is just as proud of their team by "only" moving on to the final, in other words winning a semifinal! You don't need to come up with a way with fireworks and glitter to make that fancier, it's something to be bloody proud of as it is. - Another thing I found disturbing, was the fact that Mr. Garber didn't believe facing your "main rival" only twice a season is good enough to uphold that rivalry. I mean, what the devil? It's about quality, not quantity. Playing 3 or more regular season matches e.g. between Toronto and Montreal, is only killing that rivalry spirit, not making it stronger. Plus, the national cups are the ones where additional confrontations can possibly take place, which make the occasions even bigger. - The third point I've been thinking of is the MLS Cup Final. Why not host it at one of the final team's home pitch? Obviously it should be held on the one's with the better regular season record. By playing the semis a week earlier, visiting supporters would also get more time to arrange their trips to the match. This would also add a lot to the atmosphere on the stadium, because to be honest, it wasn't that thrilling this Sunday... Just thought I'd share this with you as an over the seas follower. And thumbs up to all the fans at the summit, especially the TFC-guy in his yellow jersey! That was some good stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kimpero Posted November 23, 2010 Author Share Posted November 23, 2010 Obviously, I would enjoy a single table league without playoffs much more than the current one. Unfortunately, I can't see the playoffs go away anytime soon. Hopefully they come to their senses about the conferences, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmcmurph Posted November 23, 2010 Share Posted November 23, 2010 Kimpero for commish!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tuscan Posted November 24, 2010 Share Posted November 24, 2010 I think we can all agree on here that the conferences are not needed and only create problems rather than add value to the league. Kimpero what are your thoughts towards the league moving to a more "traditional" calendar and running from later summer to late spring? Also, any thoughts on which league from Europe MLS would match up closest to quality-wise? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BringBackTheBlizzard Posted November 24, 2010 Share Posted November 24, 2010 Another thing I found disturbing, was the fact that Mr. Garber didn't believe facing your "main rival" only twice a season is good enough to uphold that rivalry. Strange comment given his NFL background. He has been talking in terms of having a 24 team league recently so I guess the future probably revolves around having two conferences with three divisions if he is talking in terms of teams playing their main rivals more than twice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kimpero Posted November 24, 2010 Author Share Posted November 24, 2010 I think we can all agree on here that the conferences are not needed and only create problems rather than add value to the league. Kimpero what are your thoughts towards the league moving to a more "traditional" calendar and running from later summer to late spring? Also, any thoughts on which league from Europe MLS would match up closest to quality-wise? Well, that depends, and we've had the same discussion in my home country. I think the main problem with a league running from late summer to late spring is the winter break. It can't be too long, but at the same time you can't expect your average Joe to show up at a match in Toronto when it's -15 celsius either. One thing I find good about the MLS, is that you probably have what it takes to get everything in order even in the wintery months. That is not the case in Finland, where the money invested in football is next to nothing. So I guess a "traditional" calendar would be a good thing. The problem is pretty much solved if e.g. Toronto gets to play away in warmer areas around the coldest months. Quality-wise I think the MLS is about the same as Allsvenskan, Sweden's premier division. Probably better than the Czech and Finnish leagues, since there are many competitive clubs in the MLS (but no real flag ships). So I'd say Sweden, while Norway and Denmark might still be a bit ahead. At least when it comes to the top clubs (FC Copenhagen and Rosenborg would probably be the best teams in the MLS). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RS Posted November 24, 2010 Share Posted November 24, 2010 The problem is pretty much solved if e.g. Toronto gets to play away in warmer areas around the coldest months. That's an awful solution, IMO. It puts Toronto (and other northern cities) at a distinct disadvantage as extended road trips are never good results-wise in MLS. How long are we talking here? Six games? Seven? Eight? That represents a huge chunk of the schedule, and with hom field advantage being what it is, I don;'t see how that's fair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kimpero Posted November 24, 2010 Author Share Posted November 24, 2010 That's an awful solution, IMO. It puts Toronto (and other northern cities) at a distinct disadvantage as extended road trips are never good results-wise in MLS. How long are we talking here? Six games? Seven? Eight? That represents a huge chunk of the schedule, and with hom field advantage being what it is, I don;'t see how that's fair. By no means that many games. I mean, you could probably play home games at BMO still in November, while maybe needing to arrange road trips for the last part of the fall season (being December). Then again in February, maybe the first few games away, and from March onwards you'd be able to play at BMO again. This is how they do in the Czech Republic, for instance. They just started their break yesterday, and will resume play again in February. I don't think this long of a break would even be needed in North America, since you have the possibility of playing a few games in a row away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tuscan Posted November 25, 2010 Share Posted November 25, 2010 MLS will never move to a winter schedule unless Philly, NE, Columbus, and any other northern teams move to basically indoor stadia like NYRB (I know it isn't indoor, but it's closed in enough I think they'd be able to at least sustain some level of heating in it). As for TFC, I'd hope they'd fight tooth and nail against a winter schedule. I've only been to a few games at BMO, and it's great there with beautiful summer weather. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free kick Posted November 25, 2010 Share Posted November 25, 2010 Conferences and divsions are a byproduct of the unique geographical realities of any professional league in North America. Anywhere in Europe, fans (and teams within any country) can travel to away games and be back home on the same day for a tiny fraction of the costs that Northamericans would incurr on travel to most away games. Consider what happened this year with a balance schedule. There were very few away trip opportunities for fans as result of fewer games against rivals in traveling proximity and scheduling that pitted some of these games in mid week rather than on weekends. Fewer traveling fans mean fewer tickets bought overall, which drives down sales for the league. But I gotta agree with Kimpero about all these fake cups (ie.: Trilium cup) and contrived rivalries. And about playing the final in a neutral site. The mls cup is just not the super bowl or the grey cup and has a long way to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viruk42 Posted November 25, 2010 Share Posted November 25, 2010 But I gotta agree with Kimpero about all these fake cups (ie.: Trilium cup) and contrived rivalries. The Columbus-Toronto rivalry was contrived, but both teams supporters seem pretty passionate about it, so is it bad? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TFCRegina Posted November 25, 2010 Share Posted November 25, 2010 The Columbus-Toronto rivalry was contrived, but both teams supporters seem pretty passionate about it, so is it bad? I would argue the Trillium Cup isn't what started the rivalry. It was the fact that TFC supporters invaded Columbus by the thousands that started the real rivalry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.