MLS league structure, 2011 and beyond
by Jake Shapiro on Jul 6, 2025 2:39 PM EDT
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PrintWith Vancouver and Portland joining Major League Soccer in 2011, Montreal joining in 2012, and a presumed 20th team joining in 2012/13, the league will once again have to shuffle the conference deck. In 2010, we've got perfect equilibrium: two conferences of eight teams each, with every club playing a home-and-home with every other club. But it won't last. Where do we go from here?
For discussion's sake, let's assume the 20th team will be in the East--almost all potential sites for the new club are east of Kansas City.
KEEPING THE TWO-CONFERENCE SYSTEM
If MLS doesn't change its structure, two Western teams will join MLS next season, with two Eastern teams following shortly after. But a problem arises: the transitional year of 2011, where we'll have 8 teams in the West and 6 teams in the East. There are a few options for next year:
- Make no changes: We could just deal with lopsided conferences for one season, and let it even out as Montreal and Team 20 come into the league later. But this isn't ideal; a conference difference of two teams significantly hurts Western teams in the hunt for playoff spots.
- Move Colorado to the East for one year: To create even conferences of 9 teams each in 2011, one Western team would go to the East. No one wants to split the two Texan teams, so the easternmost remaining team in the West is Colorado, who would return to the West once Montreal has joined. I'm not sure how happy Rapids fans would be about this, though.
- Use a three-division structure for one year: Some B&RU commenters suggested switching to a 3-division system of 6 teams each for 2011. The divisions would be West (VAN, SEA, POR, SJ, LA, CHV), Central (RSL, COL, KC, DAL, HOU, CHI), and East (TOR, CLB, NE, NY, PHI, DC). Once the two new teams join, the league would move back to an even two-conference structure.
DISSOLVE THE CONFERENCE SYSTEM
Personally, I love 2010's perfectly even, "home-and-home with every team" structure. Our last option is to get rid of conferences altogether, use this even home-and-home system, and have the top 8 teams qualify for the playoffs, regardless of geography or how many teams are in the league. It's fair to every team--the only downside would be a slight increase in league travel expenses. North American pro sports fans are unfamiliar with a conferenceless league structure, but most soccer leagues around the world are this way. One could argue this discourages regional rivalries, but I think Arsenal and Tottenham keep up their derby just fine. Plus, as D.C. United fans, we've got a burgeoning trans-continental rivalry with the nice folks in Seattle.
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A pure balanced schedule would require more games to be played
I am not a Supporter | I am not a Fan | I am a Sounder
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by Dave Clark on Jul 6, 2025 9:26 PM EDT reply actions
Would you be against more games played? It’d amount to 38 league games per team, the same as the EPL.
"My face is my mask."
by Jake Shapiro on Jul 6, 2025 9:54 PM EDT up reply actions
I’m honored my FanPost has made the B&RU front page!
"My face is my mask."
by Jake Shapiro on Jul 7, 2025 10:48 PM EDT reply actions
The new to the game fan
One thing that needs to be considered when debating this issue is the not so worldly fresh to the game fan. While I am not personally opposed to a single table as is done throughout the world, I am nervous that a new soccer fan may view this as “foreign” and turn away. I do not believe such a fan would like to hear that this is how it’s done elsewhere as the likely retort will be that’s not how we do it here. Further, I do not believe that the traditional American sports fan would accept a league that does not have playoffs. Playoffs are imbedded in the expectation of the American sports fan and ultimately MLS needs to get the more traditional fan onboard, particularly the young ones. For an example of this mentality one needs to look no further than the Washington Capitals. Look how the locals disdained their President’s Trophy success before and after their Stanley Cup playoff disaster.
by Croftonpost on Jul 8, 2025 10:13 AM EDT reply actions
You can’t compare them though. Having the best regular season record has never been the most important thing in hockey, whereas it’s always been a part of soccer. Even in MLS, where there are playoffs, the Supporters’ Shield is a bigger deal to teams than the Presidents’ Trophy is to NHL teams.
And college football, the most “American” of sports, seems to do okay without playoffs. They’re exciting, but I can’t imagine anyone realistically saying “I’ve tried getting into soccer, but I can’t get past their lack of playoffs!”
In addition, there would be single-elimination bracket tournaments like we all love: the CONCACAF Champions League, and the U.S. Open Cup. And as I stated before, perhaps getting rid of MLS Cup playoffs would make these tournaments more important to people.
"My face is my mask."
by Jake Shapiro on Jul 8, 2025 11:13 AM EDT up reply actions
You're still looking at it from a soccer point of view
Whether or not it is traditional in the sport is irrelevant. It is whether or not it is traditional in American sports. IMO, your hockey example is actually more relevant than your soccer example. The tradition you speak of is not of our soil, it is abroad. I just polled everyone in my office who are not soccer fans and asked them if they were going to follow soccer and MLS would they want a playoff format or a regular season champion. The answer was unanimous for playoff champion. Excitement was the primary reason.
by Croftonpost on Jul 8, 2025 3:41 PM EDT reply actions
I would say college football has the regular season figured out
it is certainly the most intense regular season out there, every single game matters. Every weekend brings the potential major upsets. The question is, how to capture that energy, because, while they don’t have a playoff, they do have a post season, that should be the question driving the debate. How to maximize excitement in both the regular and post seasons.
"Oh Yeah!" ~ Kool Aid Man
by PDXBuckeye on Jul 11, 2025 5:21 PM EDT reply actions
We could limit the season to 12 games!
Honestly, the short season is the #1 reason why the regular season is so intense in CFB, and such a short and even more unbalanced schedule isn’t really feasible in MLS.
by The AMT on Jul 12, 2025 10:03 AM EDT up reply actions
I don't think it is the only thing
first off, it follows a predictable annual pattern, you essentially know when the big rivalry games are going to happen every year. MLS should look at establishing a few patterns. If I were running the league I would consider something like this in a 20 team league:
2 conferences with 10 teams each with 2 divisions in each conference
30 match season over 30 weeks:
Opening Day games match up teams that finished in the same place in the prior season division standings for example.
1st place team in NW Division (top Western Conference finisher in prior year) plays 1st place winner of SE Division (top Eastern Finisher)
1st place team in SW Division plays 1st place winner NE Division from prior season. Everybody matches up with a same finishing place team from the opposing conference.
The first 10 weeks of the season are all nonconference matches, every body plays everybody from the other conference once.
the next 2 weeks teams finish a home and away series with the nonconference opponents that finished at the same position they did within the divisions. All 1st place nonconference teams finish home and away with the 2 division winners from the other confeence.
Final 18 weeks is conference play with home and aways against all conference teams. Open conference play with natural rivals, say the timbers and Sounder and close conference play with that same matchup. Develop an annual pattern is the point.
Another option would be to have 10 weeks of conference non-division play and finish the season with 8 weeks of division games (you will have to mix in a few matches from conference schdule as there are 5 teams per division but you get the gist here).
Playoff seeding
each division winner hosts opening game of playoffs.
2 other teams with best overall record in the conference round out playoff contenders.
"Oh Yeah!" ~ Kool Aid Man
by PDXBuckeye on Jul 12, 2025 12:57 PM EDT up reply actions
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