Watching MLS Commissioner Don Garber try to answer questions about the league's competition format on Monday night's Fox Football Fone-in felt like watching an art teacher give painting lessons to the color blind.To his credit, Garber maintained his composure as hosts Nick Webster and Eric Wynalda and a few inarticulate callers threw out terms like "single table" and "European calendar" without ever explaining what it was they were after. Every year at this time, MLS faces cliched criticism from "hard core" fans who insist "our" league should be just like those in Europe, without ever explaining how or why. The truth, however, is this (and Garber knows it): Playoffs are the fairest and most exciting way to determine a champion, and this year's MLS Cup tournament promises to be one of the most balanced in some time.
Although nobody on Fox Soccer Channel was able to present a coherent argument or actually define what "single table" means -- it seems to mean something different to everybody -- let's go ahead and assume it centers on a criticism of the use of playoffs. It could just as easily refer to an elimination of the parallel conference structure without dropping the playoff, but no "single table" advocate seems to want to clarify this. Garber apparently was anticipating the anti-playoff sentiment, however, and began his appearance Monday night by stressing that a playoff system allows MLS to avoid an anticlimactic conclusion.
"I'm just not quite getting it," Garber said of the movement against playoffs. "Columbus would have won 10 days before the end of the season. They would have been celebrating the championship at a game where they lost."
He continued: "I understand the heritage and tradition that people enjoy with a single table. But somebody would have to explain to me how that would be better than what we have now, because I'm not getting it."
The fact is, nobody can explain it. Those who argue against them do so simply because they think "European football" is so much more "authentic." Please. Playoffs are better, and the popularity of events like the World Cup, Champions League, Super Bowl, NCAA Tournament, World Series, etc. prove it. The increasing push for a college football playoff proves it. Europe's slow adoption of the system for promotion and in some cases, UEFA competition places, proves it. Sports is entertainment. Nearly all of our lingering sports memories center on playoff games. Legends are built when elimination is on the line.
Leagues in Europe that self-hating American soccer fans want so desperately to emulate don't have playoffs because that's their tradition. It's been like that forever. That's the only reason. It was easier to run a league that way in 1908. A "single table" isn't inherently better, and one could argue easily that failing to test teams and players in climactic games against comparable opponents that demand more both physically and mentally is a significant oversight. I have played in leagues that have playoffs and leagues that determine their champions through regular season record, and elimination games simply are played at a higher level. This is irrefutable.
Let's put it this way. If having each team play the other the same amount of times without ever testing them in an elimination situation is the fairest and most exciting way to determine a champion, then FIFA needs to remodel the World Cup. It could use its national team rankings to determine a division structure, and over the course of each four-year cycle each country would play the others home and away. When it's over, the gold trophy is handed to the team clinching the best record, whenever that occurs.
How exciting! Instead of the tedium of the World Cup finals and the uninteresting things that always happen there, we could simply watch Germany clinch the championship with a scoreless tie in Seoul or Helsinki at a game that's one of several dozen played on a given Wednesday night. I can't wait.
As Garber said on Monday, MLS was correct to abandon the regular-season shootout, overtime and the other gimmicks that actually changed the way the game was played on the field from the rest of the world. But the league also is right to use playoffs. The regular season tests a team's consistency. The postseason tests its ability to master the moment. That is how you determine a true champion, and the MLS Cup climax helps the nascent league attract fans and sponsors and gives it a moment in the spotlight.
"I think we need to be the best American soccer league that we can," Garber said. "Not just making a decision so we can satisfy some identity that's not going to really deliver value for our fans."
The myopic devotion to all things "European" must end. Soccer is the most popular sport there, but that's not because they run their leagues a certain way. It's cultural, and occurs despite the way they run their leagues, which are, for the most part, horribly predictable, boring and anticlimactic. A couple of the same dozen teams can afford the best players, and they're clear of the pretenders by Christmas year after year. There's no need for playoffs when a league is so noncompetitive. American soccer fans should consider this next time they demand changes in MLS.
The abbreviated MLS playoff format clearly needs to change, and that's something we'll explore in a later column. But for now, let's be glad we'll have the opportunity to see the best teams in American soccer face off against each other when everything is on the line for all.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-27-2009 @ 3:25PM
Willmore2000 said...
Because playing an uneven schedule against stacked opponents with a playoff system that benefits teams that get hot at the end of the season is a very fair way of determining who was the best team over the course of an entire season.
The leagues in europe have the best system because every team plays every other team twice, once at home and once away and at the end of the season, the team with the most points wins. How much simpler and fairer is it possible?
The only place the playoff system is needed is in international competitions but not for the benefit of fairness but simply time. If it were possible to play a league in World Cup play, they would, but it would take an entire year to do that, not the month it takes, same thing for Champions League. If the 16 teams that made the playoffs were to play a league it would take 30 match days.
MLS doesn't have time constraints, the only reason it wants a playoff is to appease the American belief that playoffs are the end all of all competitive sports. The reason the playoffs are popular is because of Football, teams can't play 30-40 game seasons, so they devised this cockamamie scheme to make it look fair.
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10-28-2009 @ 4:15AM
Michael said...
Let's see. We want a single table. Then we want to play a home-and-away with every team, even after the next few expansions will leave us with more teams than any European division.
As far as playoffs, people have to really not be thinking to miss the English playoffs - they're called the League (or Carling) Cup and the winner is held in every bit as high esteem as the Premiership title winner. And every team in the league gets to play! And that's in addition to the FA Cup. They have bigger playoffs than we do!
It gets really tiring to hear a constant parade of fans who think it's "better" to do things the European way. They do things the way they do not because it's necessarily the best way, but because it's the way it was always done.
We have limitations in America, and MLS has done an awesome job of making the game attractive in America while not giving in to the people who want a countdown clock, 35-yard offside line and no tie games. A single table won't raise ESPN ratings, nor will elevating the Supporters Shield to top prize. Ditching the playoffs will harm viewership AND attendance (if you think Chicago draws 17,000 on a rainy cold night without a playoff spot to root for, you're nuts).
The changes the "purists" are proposing are neither helpful nor actually pure, and some of it comes out of ignorance of the structure and history of the European leagues, which is not even close to that in the U.S.
And, might I add, ignorance of the huge problems many "pure" English clubs are facing now that relegation means a huge loss of revenue. The U.S. is fortunate that we can build a system that avoids that. Because it's the way it's always been done in England, they suffer for it.
10-27-2009 @ 4:06PM
JMB said...
I gotta say this article really lacks substance. While you argue that those who dislike the playoff system for a single-table system don't provide any support for their idea, you fall in the same trap.
Many people see playoffs as a bit unfortunate in that they don't reward the team that had the best season. They reward a team that has the best last few weeks of the season. Also, and I think this is why it works in Europe and the BPL, there are staggered rewards for finishing in different levels of play - and penalties for doing poorly.
Take the BPL. First four teams at the end of season get rewarded by going to UEFA CL - more exposure, more money, more prestige. Then you have the teams that get the Euro Cup. After that are the teams that fall in the middle (in a playoff system they'd be done anyway, so camparrison is similar). Finally, the bottom teams go down.
This sounds horrible to knock teams down a level, but have you seen the emotion that teams at the bottom go through? The emotion and joy and pain their fans go through? Last season, when Hull stayed up, it was as if they had won the title. What teams in the NFL, MLB, or NBA who have losing seasons can claim that same fervor of their fans?
There is a reason that the BPL is the most lucartive league in sports.
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10-27-2009 @ 4:26PM
Roehl Sybing said...
"Soccer is the most popular sport there, but that's not because they run their leagues a certain way."
The best line in the article.
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10-28-2009 @ 9:38AM
Nick said...
I couldn't agree more about that being the best line in the article. I haven't had time to read all of the comments, but I think the biggest reason that people are clamoring for a single table is the balanced schedule, which MLS will be doing next season. Other than that, the only reason I could think of a single table being beneficial for competitive reasons is that the top 8 teams regardless of conference or division would make it into the playoffs.
Another thought, is that the single table format is easier for implementing promotion and relegation, but that's something to figure out in the next 25 years.
My two cents, go to the single table eventually, but never get rid of the playoffs, it's who we are as American sports (and I'm somewhat of a Eurosnob when it comes to soccer/football).
10-27-2009 @ 9:00PM
Cj said...
What a load of bollocks. the difference is that in europe they have domestic cup competitions like the league and cups. They provide the playoff like excitement, where as the true test of form and endurance comes from the league. In Europe they realize that adding an arbitrary playoff system is stupid in the top leagues and have the cup competitions seperate. Do some research.
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10-27-2009 @ 10:32PM
ericdread said...
Mr Straus is as articulate as the fans he described who called in to the Fox phone-in show.
He failed to mentioned that in the European leagues, it is not simply the winner at the top of the table who gets the "prize", the top 4 or 3 gets to move on to a continental competition, then the next few and so on.
The stragglers are punished ( relegated) for not keeping pace throughout the entire season, instead of somehow slipping into a playoff and getting lucky.
On the contrary, the stragglers in the US sports are rewarded by getting the "first pick" of the next batch. The idea of a draft is another subject that winds me up, but thats for another day.
The comparison the WC is also laughable becuase the WC is a tournament,not a league! Just about all tournaments have group stages and then the knockout phase - not a playoff as he seems to think.
I think the difference stems mainly from the parochial nature of US sports.
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10-28-2009 @ 4:41AM
Michael said...
Talk to some owners of English teams who have gone into receivership because of relegation. The difference between the payoff of the Premier League and that of the Championship is enormous - so much so that the EPL had to agree to make payments to recently relegated clubs.
And yes, the successful are rewarded - the same four teams are rewarded almost every year, then reaping the additional monetary rewards of Euro play and perpetuating the cycle. Do you see Stoke City or even Tottenham filling the Rose Bowl for an exhibition? Not in a million years. It's all about Man U, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal.
And many relegated teams play yo-yo between the upper and lower league for years - woah, THAT must be exciting. Ask any Sunderland fan.
When the USL teams start averaging 10,000 in modern stadiums - hell, when the USL has 15 halfway stable teams - start talking about relegation and promotion. Until then, all you seem to be arguing for is giving 4-5 teams a lot more money than the others, then letting the rest fight it out.
10-27-2009 @ 11:02PM
Ian Pidduck said...
The single table would serve a purpose if there was promotion and relegation in the American system, but there's not so it doesn't matter.
However, the best possible solution would be for the MLS and USL to merge and create a system of relegation and promotion and utilize a single table. (For those of you too dense to understand what that means it's one table with all the teams of a certain level of play represented on it). Moving right along.
The MLS could put more emphasis on the U.S. Open Cup, which should be the highest domestic championship anyway and already includes a climactic playoff because that's exactly what it is, and then abandon their pathetic MLS Cup.
If the MLS really wants to put itself in the international spotlight they should really consider abandoning the MLS Cup and put some of that emphasis on the CONCACAF Champion's league and win the damned thing!
By the way, I think CONCACAF should change their name too, sounds like a military acronym and probably alienates people.
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10-28-2009 @ 11:05AM
MarcB said...
A single division and balanced schedule is difficult in the US because of travel expenses. No two teams in the EPL are farther apart than LA is from San Francisco. The playoff format could be better, but it can be replaced.
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10-28-2009 @ 11:18AM
David Rice said...
There is no clear answer to all of this. Garber made some good points about the obstacles surrounding travel on a continent this big so the conferences made it easier and blah blah. At the same time it sucks. MLS Playoffs are ridiculous for the simple reason that last year New York made the title game after a mediocre season where they squeek into the playoffs and win a conference title for a conference they don't play in. Everyone knew Columbus would win that game and if we're being honest, the final wasn't much more climactic than if Columbus would have won the title ten days before the season ended.
Thing is, I respect this league and the commissioner for what they've done. They've done well to create a brand of American soccer that is enjoyable to watch in my view, but they still clearly have a lot of work to do. Everything I'm going to say here is not changes that should be made to the American game immediately but over a long span of time as the game garners a fan base sufficient enough to support these types of changes.
Call it pretentious if you want, but I enjoy what I see in Europe and I think its the intensity of the title race and the fact that every game matters for everybody top to bottom that has created the soccer culture over there that so many people are in love with. Relegation, titles, chances at European competition, etc. These battles stimulate rivalries and changes in club ownership that motivate clubs to get better and drive up the quality of the product on the field. Here we have a Kansas City Wizards team that will battle the Kansas City Royals for who can go on sucking the longest. Will the Wizards ever have to adapt their thinking. Nope. They'll always have their shot to host a league game with stars and fill the seats they couldn't fill on their own if they were hosting Charleston. Do teams in the lower leagues not deserve the shot to grow and become bigger clubs playing in MLS because they were created as a USL team? I think promotion and relegation is fair and drives soccer organizations towards constant improvement. Isn't America all about competition? What is more cut throat competitive than losing your spot for being the worst and rewarding the best guy below you with a shot at your spot? Would Kansas City lose fans? Today yes, but in ten or fifteen years their loyalty may go deeper than a Claudio Lopez jersey, in the way that Derby County supporters pack their stadium with 30,000 despite the worst Premiere League season ever and not getting a whiff of winning the championship and getting back since.
I agree with those before me who stated that the competition overseas ends with the team who had the most endurance. Soccer is in itself a game of endurance and should give some reward to those who possess more of it than anyone else.
The folks who fear the same teams competing for the title every year can settle down cause the playoffs don't change that too much. Look at the last few years, you consistently have seen Houston, Chivas, Chicago, and New England in the playoffs. All of which are in there again this year. L.A., D.C. and Columbus are pretty common too. This year, we could have a final week of the season yet to come if you replace the playoffs with another few weeks of regular season play, where L.A., Columbus, Seattle, and Houston could all have a shot at the title. That wouldn't be exciting? Instead we face the possibility of Real Salt Lake in a title game where they would most likely run out of a steam after an overachieving playoff run the same way NY did last year.
I hear people say that its always the same four teams at the top of the Premier League. True except for Everton sneeking in above rivals Liverpool in '04. But, isn't it usually the Yankees and Red Sox battling it out for best team from the A.L. in baseball. Do the Dodgers not spend a ton more than the Rockies? The Lakers and Celtics win more than the Grizzlies or Jazz don't they? Playoffs don't effect the end result as much as we'd like to think. Cup competitions like the F.A. Cup or U.S. Open cup can provide those wild card teams with a shot. Look at Portsmouth a few years back winning the FA Cup. Imagine if baseball had something that gave the Tigers a realistic shot at a trophy.
Look at Liverpool, United, and Arsenal. All extremely old, with really deep fan bases in major cities and histories of success that date back to before the implementation of the Premiership or the Champions League. Sunderland wasn't that great back then either and the fact of the matter is in every sport, there will be the big clubs that dominate both the standings and the money. What makes it worth watching is when Valencia beats out Madrid and Barcelona once in a while to shock the world the way they did 03. Look at the table that year and tell me that there weren't surprises. Besides, there isn't going to be a concentration of money in this league on that scale for a long time so it really isn't something you have to worry about for a long time to come. Teams like Real Salt Lake don't have to worry about losing all their players to bigger clubs because not even L.A. has enough money to buy up its talent and leave it on the bench.
The U.S. Open Cup should provide the playoff format and it would be nice to see that tournament get a bit of attention. If it were talked about like F.A. Cup is, it would be worth every bit as much as the playoffs except it would be much better since every team in the country has a shot at it.
The playoffs have helped get the league to where it is and in the end, I'm not saying we should necessarily do away with them right away, but eventually when the league gets up to twenty teams, is forced by FIFA to change its schedule to something that is more conducive to transfer markets and international competition, a single table and emphasis on cup competitions like the CONCACAF Champions League and U.S. Open Cup needs to follow and some day you get to the destruction of the playoffs.
This is way too long winded already so I apologize to anyone reading it but I'm bored and putting off work. Honestly, our biggest problem is the lack of unity within the American soccer community. Whether its club ball vs high school, USL vs. MLS, All American soccer vs. Euro style lovers no one in U.S. soccer is united on anything and we just go in circles. So at least unite behind this league and get interested in the playoffs or we may as well give up the idea of this sport progressing in America right now.
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10-28-2009 @ 12:15PM
Simon Heseltine said...
"they're called the League (or Carling) Cup and the winner is held in every bit as high esteem as the Premiership title winner"
Absolutely not. The league cup is a Mickey Mouse tournament. The top teams in the EPL use that competition almost as a reserve competition, Arsenal in particular. With the big 4 you only really see them pulling out the 1st team when they play another big 4 team.
As far as the FA Cup, it was devalued by Man Utds decision to not compete in it several years ago. It is still a great tournament, but it doesn't hold the prestige of winning the league.
If you want playoffs in England, they're there. Each of the leagues below the Premier has a playoff system at the end of the season to determine the winner of the final promotion spot. For example, in the Championship the top 2 teams get automatic promotion, with the teams finishing 3rd - 6th playing off with a 2 legged semi-final and a final at Wembley (that's how Hull City AFC got there last year).
When the playoffs were originally implemented they actually incorporated the top 3 non-automatic promotion teams, and the team finishing 18h in the Premier, which meant that you may have only seen 2 teams switch divisions. That didn't last for long.
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10-28-2009 @ 6:30PM
Michael said...
EPL teams only want to win the league so they can get the extra money in the UEFA CL. Let's say you're God. Put the money in the FA Cup and take it out of the CL and watch the Big Four start complaining about "fixture congestion" and pulling out of THAT, while playing their full starting XI against Conference teams in the FA Cup.
10-31-2009 @ 6:45PM
mghhootowl said...
Simon, as I understood it, Manchester United WANTED to play BOTH in the FA Cup and the (now-) World Club Cup in Brazil, but higher-ups in the FA trying to get the World Cup for England in 2006 put pressure on the FA, who then put pressure on Man.United, who felt they had no choice but not defend and go to Brazil.
10-28-2009 @ 3:48PM
dcu1996 said...
No, it's not simply better or worse. Depends on the situation and the environment, it can be more appropriate and proper format.
When we have unbalanced schedule and multiple tables, playoff format is appropriate and proper format. If you have perfectly balanced schedule, then playoffs really mean much much less, and feels like unnecessary side show as a mean to determine the champion.
Champions league and the World Cup is based upon multiple tables and unbalanced schedule
(EPL, LaLiga, BundesLiga, etc.. UEFA, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, etc.), hence playoffs like format.
Having said that I think two table system is good for MLS considering the size, hence naturally we need the playoffs system.
(But no more than two)
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10-28-2009 @ 6:34PM
Michael said...
Final word:
We DO play every team home-and-away right now.
We DO have an award for the team who wins the overall league - The Supporters Shield.
It seemed like the Crew were pretty happy to be raising it over their heads last weekend. It also gets them one of two automatic berths to the CCL group stage.
How much "prestige" is attached to that is up to the FANS.
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10-30-2009 @ 10:16PM
jediavlnchfan said...
The way the playoffs were explained last night duringf the Sounders playoff match was that "road Goals" will not count, only Home goals. That being said let's put a hypothetical out there: Let's say the Sounders actually won last night 1-0, instead of a 0-0 tie; Sunday in Houston they win again with a score of 3-2. So even though they would have won both games, they had less homes goals so they get eliminated. Even if they won in houston 1-0, they would still have to go to overtime/shootout to determine a winner beings they would be tied for home goals. THAT IS THE BIGGEST B.S. I've ever heard and needs to be changed.
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10-31-2009 @ 6:48PM
mghhootowl said...
Jediavinchfan, that should have been corrected on-air: Unlike in most home-and-home playoffs around the world (except South America), away goals do not count DOUBLE to break ties in the MLS playoffs. THere is no need to change anything--the announcers simply left out the word "double".
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10-31-2009 @ 6:54PM
mghhootowl said...
Michael, not quite the "final word":
Next year as I understand, MLS will play a balanced schedule like most leagues; they didn't this year as they played multiple games against the other teams in your conference and only home-and-home against the other conference.
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