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MLS Cup 2006
Houston beat New England in a penalty kick shoot-out. I'm not so sure that this final won over many Americans to the sport of soccer. Houston came out strong but then both sides settled into rather lackluster play. The two goals in extra time were exciting but I think that confused Americans as well (what, no sudden death?). Ending in a tie and going to penalty kicks didn't help things either.
Beckham Rule
Next season MLS teams will be entitled to have one player who's salary is not included in the salary cap. A team may trade this entitlement to another team however no team will be able to have more than two such players on their roster. I sure hope this improves the quality of play in the league.
Expansion
Toronto FC will enter MLS next season, this means next season's schedule will have to be modified (see below). The league would like to expand to 16 teams in the near future and here are the cities commissioner Don Garber recently mentioned as candidates for a team: Atlanta, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Rochester, San Diego, San Jose, St. Louis and Seattle and New York.
The aim should be to have as many of the 16 teams as possible in the top 25 media markets and spread out geographically as possible. So why no team on the west coast north of Los Angeles? Why two teams in Los Angeles? Why consider another team for New York when the current one isn't selling a lot of tickets?
Next Season's Schedule
Toronto FC's addition to MLS gives the league an odd number of teams and necessitates a change of schedule. The league is cutting the number of games played by two, teams will play a 30 game schedule next season. Also schedules will be heavily weighted to conference play. For example eastern conference teams will each other four times and western conference teams just once. I like this, it should help develop rivalries. I also hope it means fewer meaningless games during the season.
Next Season's Play-offs
The top two teams in the conference standings will qualify for the play-offs. The remaining four teams will be determined by over-all record regardless of conference. The format of the play-offs will be the same as this year. The first round will be two games and whichever team has the most aggregate goals moves on (no away goal rule). The semi-finals will be one game only, the team with the higher seed gets the home game. The final will be played at a neutral site. This sounds good to me, I have no problems with the format.
Youth Development Teams
Commissioner Don Garber recently announced that each MLS team will have several youth development teams. After a player has played for a year on one of these teams then the MLS team can sign him to the senior club without going through the Super Draft.
This is a step in the right direction, I hope that they are serious about this. Are there enough qualified coaches for all of these youth teams? Will youth teams play enough meaningful games or will they just be a baby-sitting service?
Television Deals
Starting next season TV networks will be paying to broadcast MLS games (previously ESPN aired MLS games in exchange for World Cup broadcast rights). ESPN will air a Thursday night game of the week and ABC will have the kick-off game, all-star game and some play-off games. Fox Soccer Channel (FSC) is also paying for games. These deals run for seven years. The last that I checked, MLS Direct Kick is up to $70 per season, but I wouldn't be surprised to see an increase for next season.
Soccer Specific Stadiums
If you want an MLS team then you must have a plan for a soccer specific stadium (SSS). Why? According to MLS, teams with such a stadium owned and controlled by the league are profitable.
I understand that, the league wants to make money. But why can't teams that share a stadium with an NFL team get the gridiron lines off the field for soccer games? It looks horrible.
Single Table
A single table (standings without conference divisions and no play-offs) is not going to happen any time soon in MLS, so stop whining for one. Yes, it works in the Premier League but it's not appropriate in MLS. With a single table in MLS you will find yourself mid-way through the season with just a few teams able to win the league title. The rest of the teams will be playing meaningless games - and that doesn't sound like fun to me. Furthermore I'm sure the TV contracts with ABC/ESPN and FSC require play-offs, not to mention that the American sports fan has been conditioned over the last several decades for the "need" of play-offs.
International Calendar
Commissioner Don Garber has mentioned the difficulty of MLS playing games after Labor Day with the competition from baseball's play-offs and the NFL season but MLS is not going to switch to follow the international calendar anytime soon. Why? Those TV contracts again.
In Conclusion
Well, that's it for now. I could ramble on about other things (US Open Cup, US Men's National Team) but I'll leave it here. In general I feel good about the future of MLS and American soccer, certainly better than I felt a year ago.
