tmcmurph Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 Ugh... While I see what you mean, having grown up in the NA market of sports leagues and their conferences and divisions, it drives me crazy for soccer. Just my opinion of course, but I hope it's not the case. One table, like everyone else. We can still have one table eventually but there will be 2 of them. 16-18 teams in the east and west "leagues" with full home and home within their league. Both league champions play for the cup. Think MLB/NFL. If they can sell 30+ franchises at 50-100 million a pop you bet they will. The only way to do that is to have 2 separate leagues (except for playoffs). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oranje Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 Ugh... While I see what you mean, having grown up in the NA market of sports leagues and their conferences and divisions, it drives me crazy for soccer. Just my opinion of course, but I hope it's not the case. One table, like everyone else. That's a blast from the past. I want to agree with you on so many levels, but the fact of the matter is we are not everyone else. Look at the 2nd biggest country in the world's 1st division, the longest travel distance (via road) is Yekaterinburg to Grozny at 2662 km, there is no direct flight between the two cities so between that I could see so Yekaterinburg to St Petersburg is just shy of 4 hrs. To contrast, It's 5.75 hrs from LA to NYC, let alone the 8.5 hrs for when Vancouver visit South Beach. Just like Promotion/Relegation, it unfortunately won't happen in the NA market. Queue Grizzly... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grizzly Posted September 24, 2014 Author Share Posted September 24, 2014 That's a blast from the past. I want to agree with you on so many levels, but the fact of the matter is we are not everyone else. Look at the 2nd biggest country in the world's 1st division, the longest travel distance (via road) is Yekaterinburg to Grozny at 2662 km, there is no direct flight between the two cities so between that I could see so Yekaterinburg to St Petersburg is just shy of 4 hrs. To contrast, It's 5.75 hrs from LA to NYC, let alone the 8.5 hrs for when Vancouver visit South Beach. Just like Promotion/Relegation, it unfortunately won't happen in the NA market. Queue Grizzly... Ok I am queued. 2nd biggest country in the world? I think you need to look at a map! :-) The Russian Premiership distances vary from year to year depending on which teams relegate and promote. This year it is relatively small distance wise after the Siberian team Tomsk relegated last season which halved the distance from the farthest two teams. When one of the far east teams is in the RPL then the distance is about 4 times the current distance though that has not happened since 2008 when Vladivostok was in the RPL. The 2nd tier Russian National League is considered the largest geographical league in the world and this year is even bigger than usual as not only are the usual far east teams of Vladivostok and Khabarovsk there but the even more eastern team FC Sakhalin from one of the far East islands promoted last year. Plus Baltica Kaliningrad is in this league which is far the western enclave of Russia with no land connection to Russia proper. The distance between the two is 7500 km. Both leagues are single table leagues although I don't think there is much alternative to that in Russia given the east is sparsely populated with only a small number of big cities with large distances between them instead of two populated coasts with many cities in between like in North America. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madmonte Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 Yes but you ARE aware of the massive complaints of the first tier teams from 2008 the last year they WERE in the prime division? 2nd tier teams aren't happy either. It's actually a point of dispute that has had some Russian players in the past ASKING for a split division similar to what MLS has. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grizzly Posted September 24, 2014 Author Share Posted September 24, 2014 Yes but you ARE aware of the massive complaints of the first tier teams from 2008 the last year they WERE in the prime division? 2nd tier teams aren't happy either. It's actually a point of dispute that has had some Russian players in the past ASKING for a split division similar to what MLS has. I am not aware of massive complaints though it would not surprise me given the distances are huge. Do you have any links to info about this? I don't think a split division is really practical given that the large population centres are too spread out in the east, ie. if you are travelling 3000 km for a lot of your matches is it really that much worse to travel 5000 to play in Moscow? For national unity I think it is really important for Russia to have single table leagues. In the city I go to Yaroslavl, the only time you really think about Vladivostok or Khabarovsk is when the soccer or hockey team play there. It is very hard though for the teams in the 2nd tier with smaller crowd sizes and not so lucrative sponsors to travel so far to play. Also while the 2nd tier soccer division is the largest geographical league in one country, the KHL is slightly larger geographically now with the addition of teams in Scandanavia and Eastern Europe. Zagreb to Vladivostok/Khabarovsk would be the longest distance. The KHL does play a system similar to NHL with more games within the conferences but they do play each team in the league as well. And the conferences show the geographic problem for Russia with the eastern conferences having teams like Kazan that are not really in the east but merely to the east of other western Russian teams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oranje Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 Ok I am queued. 2nd biggest country in the world? I think you need to look at a map! :-) The Russian Premiership distances vary from year to year depending on which teams relegate and promote. This year it is relatively small distance wise after the Siberian team Tomsk relegated last season which halved the distance from the farthest two teams. When one of the far east teams is in the RPL then the distance is about 4 times the current distance though that has not happened since 2008 when Vladivostok was in the RPL. The 2nd tier Russian National League is considered the largest geographical league in the world and this year is even bigger than usual as not only are the usual far east teams of Vladivostok and Khabarovsk there but the even more eastern team FC Sakhalin from one of the far East islands promoted last year. Plus Baltica Kaliningrad is in this league which is far the western enclave of Russia with no land connection to Russia proper. The distance between the two is 7500 km. Both leagues are single table leagues although I don't think there is much alternative to that in Russia given the east is sparsely populated with only a small number of big cities with large distances between them instead of two populated coasts with many cities in between like in North America. Hahaha definitely could have phrased that better, I meant "the next largest league according to land size." Either way, the crux remains the same; MLS cannot use the single table and stay financially viable, unless the Oracle of Omaha floats the travel bills Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msilverstein47 Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 http://www.socceramerica.com/article/60793/las-vegas-developers-handed-another-lifeline.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msilverstein47 Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 http://www.local10.com/sports/miamidade-commissioners-vote-to-offer-stadium-site-to-david-beckham/31587442 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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