Why no playoffs?

[triggs]

 

 

Hate the current state of the PL as much as the next person, but there has been over 100 years of perfectly good league football in numerous countries. We have cups for the knockout based japes.

 

To compare football to pony American sports and the MLS. Metaphorically hockling all over the beautiful game.

 

On its current trajectory, MLS will be on par quality-wise with the PL in 20 years. Easy. Playoffs, mascots, hokey logos and team names n' all.

 

And NFL's gonna have a permanent team in London within the next few years. We're coming.

 

You taking the piss with the first paragraph?

 

As someone who follows both the PL and MLS intently, nope. It's fact.

You need loads of domestic players of decent quality to have a good domestic league. You'll also have to change the rules on only allowing teams to have 3 designated players. Also the draft system will have to move into academies for different teams rather than drafts which would be a big change in America I would imagine. That's without even getting into loads of other stuff like trying to coax ambitious European players in their prime into moving to America

[Astroblack]

Plus any quality players the MLS gets will just want to move to Europe to have a chance of getting into the CL.

 

 

[Mike]

Plus any quality players the MLS gets will just want to move to Europe to have a chance of getting into the CL.

 

 

 

God damn their playoffs seeking black hearts.

[Kaizero]

 

 

Hate the current state of the PL as much as the next person, but there has been over 100 years of perfectly good league football in numerous countries. We have cups for the knockout based japes.

 

To compare football to pony American sports and the MLS. Metaphorically hockling all over the beautiful game.

 

On its current trajectory, MLS will be on par quality-wise with the PL in 20 years. Easy. Playoffs, mascots, hokey logos and team names n' all.

 

And NFL's gonna have a permanent team in London within the next few years. We're coming.

 

You taking the piss with the first paragraph?

 

As someone who follows both the PL and MLS intently, nope. It's fact.

You need loads of domestic players of decent quality to have a good domestic league. You'll also have to change the rules on only allowing teams to have 3 designated players. Also the draft system will have to move into academies for different teams rather than drafts which would be a big change in America I would imagine. That's without even getting into loads of other stuff like trying to coax ambitious European players in their prime into moving to America

 

Ah yes, like the whopping 35% domestic talent in the Premier League, known for their fantastic escapades and world cup wins for their national team.

[Hanshithispantz]

And there'll never be an NFL finish as thrilling as 2012. It is shit when it peters out to a 10 point lead like it has a coupke of times in recent years, but then you still have the FA Cup, League Cup and Champions League (Euros/World Cup every other year too). No need to cheapen the league by adding forced tension to it imo, which is all play-offs are.

 

 

 

A season that crowns a champ on the final day in dramatic fashion? There's been a handful of those in the NFL, tbh.

it was a completely ridiculous moment that you'll never see in any other format man. I had goosebumps and I pretty much despise everything about Man City post-Arab money. The beauty of it was down to it's uniqueness - the fact it was so ridiculously unlikely - Joey Barton kicking lads up the arse. Just an amazing story.

 

I'd prefer not to lose seasons like that for the sake of ensuring EVERY season goes down to the wire, I just don't think that's all that exiting, especially when there's another 4 competitions PL clubs can be involved in essentially doing exactly that alongside the league.

 

I get the point of it being an equalizer but I'd prefer we sorted that out in a way that made the financial disparity between clubs less of a factor, and prevented knob ends like Ashley taking the piss.

[Dave]

Freddy Adu says hi.

[Mike]

I get the point of it being an equalizer but I'd prefer we sorted that out in a way that made the financial disparity between clubs less of a factor, and prevented knob ends like Ashley taking the piss.

 

But this is never going to happen. That's the thing. There will always be super rich teams and teams that spend no money in the same league. Playoffs are the only thing that keeps a league like that from becoming the plaything of the rich teams.

[triggs]

 

 

Hate the current state of the PL as much as the next person, but there has been over 100 years of perfectly good league football in numerous countries. We have cups for the knockout based japes.

 

To compare football to pony American sports and the MLS. Metaphorically hockling all over the beautiful game.

 

On its current trajectory, MLS will be on par quality-wise with the PL in 20 years. Easy. Playoffs, mascots, hokey logos and team names n' all.

 

And NFL's gonna have a permanent team in London within the next few years. We're coming.

 

You taking the piss with the first paragraph?

 

As someone who follows both the PL and MLS intently, nope. It's fact.

You need loads of domestic players of decent quality to have a good domestic league. You'll also have to change the rules on only allowing teams to have 3 designated players. Also the draft system will have to move into academies for different teams rather than drafts which would be a big change in America I would imagine. That's without even getting into loads of other stuff like trying to coax ambitious European players in their prime into moving to America

 

Ah yes, like the whopping 35% domestic talent in the Premier League, known for their fantastic escapades and world cup wins for their national team.

You can't just buy hundreds of quality players in one season, you need a decent American player base. Let's say someone like Wijnaldum, gets approached to play for New York City, he's not going to go there if he looks at the rest of the squad and they're all shite. What you have to do is to get loads of good or at least decent American players there first and then foreign players might go. For example, I wasn't alive at the time but I've heard of guys like Ossie Ardiles going to Spurs back years ago when that wasn't the norm in England. Would be have stayed there if there wasn't English players like Glenn Hoddle there at the same time with similar quality?

[oldtype]

I think league parity is much more of an issue than drama. There's plenty of drama to be had in the league even when the title is sown up what with Champions League spots and relegation.

 

While wage caps will be forever impossible due to the existence of big-money leagues outside of UEFA, I'd like to see some sort of draft implemented for English clubs at least.

 

Draft occurs when each academy class hits age 18. Each team is allowed to "protect" 2~3 of their prospects, and the rest are put up for draft. Using protections forfeits the same number of draft picks. (For example, assuming a three-round draft, a team that protects two of its players would only draft in the third round.)

 

All professional football clubs who operate academies above a certain level are permitted to participate in the draft. The club with the lowest league placing picks first.

 

All undrafted players are returned to their original academy. Each team which has lost players is compensated for the cost of development with a pre-set fee.

 

Specifics can be tweaked to change incentives accordingly.

 

That said, parity in the league is admittedly a lot better than it has ever been in recent memory. It looks like the PL TV money becoming so obscenely large has mitigated a good chunk of the advantage from CL money/being a "big club." It's just a shame that NUFC is so shit going into an era where any ambitious/well run club has a chance to be reasonably successful.

[Kaizero]

 

 

Hate the current state of the PL as much as the next person, but there has been over 100 years of perfectly good league football in numerous countries. We have cups for the knockout based japes.

 

To compare football to pony American sports and the MLS. Metaphorically hockling all over the beautiful game.

 

On its current trajectory, MLS will be on par quality-wise with the PL in 20 years. Easy. Playoffs, mascots, hokey logos and team names n' all.

 

And NFL's gonna have a permanent team in London within the next few years. We're coming.

 

You taking the piss with the first paragraph?

 

As someone who follows both the PL and MLS intently, nope. It's fact.

You need loads of domestic players of decent quality to have a good domestic league. You'll also have to change the rules on only allowing teams to have 3 designated players. Also the draft system will have to move into academies for different teams rather than drafts which would be a big change in America I would imagine. That's without even getting into loads of other stuff like trying to coax ambitious European players in their prime into moving to America

 

Ah yes, like the whopping 35% domestic talent in the Premier League, known for their fantastic escapades and world cup wins for their national team.

You can't just buy hundreds of quality players in one season, you need a decent American player base. Let's say someone like Wijnaldum, gets approached to play for New York City, he's not going to go there if he looks at the rest of the squad and they're all shite. What you have to do is to get loads of good or at least decent American players there first and then foreign players might go. For example, I wasn't alive at the time but I've heard of guys like Ossie Ardiles going to Spurs back years ago when that wasn't the norm in England. Would be have stayed there if there wasn't English players like Glenn Hoddle there at the same time with similar quality?

 

They're clearly improving though. I have no issues with thinking the US will be a powerhouse within football by 2035. The quality of the homegrown MLS players have increased massively in just the past five years.

[triggs]

 

 

Hate the current state of the PL as much as the next person, but there has been over 100 years of perfectly good league football in numerous countries. We have cups for the knockout based japes.

 

To compare football to pony American sports and the MLS. Metaphorically hockling all over the beautiful game.

 

On its current trajectory, MLS will be on par quality-wise with the PL in 20 years. Easy. Playoffs, mascots, hokey logos and team names n' all.

 

And NFL's gonna have a permanent team in London within the next few years. We're coming.

 

You taking the piss with the first paragraph?

 

As someone who follows both the PL and MLS intently, nope. It's fact.

You need loads of domestic players of decent quality to have a good domestic league. You'll also have to change the rules on only allowing teams to have 3 designated players. Also the draft system will have to move into academies for different teams rather than drafts which would be a big change in America I would imagine. That's without even getting into loads of other stuff like trying to coax ambitious European players in their prime into moving to America

 

Ah yes, like the whopping 35% domestic talent in the Premier League, known for their fantastic escapades and world cup wins for their national team.

You can't just buy hundreds of quality players in one season, you need a decent American player base. Let's say someone like Wijnaldum, gets approached to play for New York City, he's not going to go there if he looks at the rest of the squad and they're all shite. What you have to do is to get loads of good or at least decent American players there first and then foreign players might go. For example, I wasn't alive at the time but I've heard of guys like Ossie Ardiles going to Spurs back years ago when that wasn't the norm in England. Would be have stayed there if there wasn't English players like Glenn Hoddle there at the same time with similar quality?

 

They're clearly improving though. I have no issues with thinking the US will be a powerhouse within football by 2035. The quality of the homegrown MLS players have increased massively in just the past five years.

Aye well you'd know more than me about the quality of MLS but they still have a long way to go judging by how Robbie Keane seems to take the piss over there. 20 years isn't that long though to go from a poor league to a very good one but I guess we'll see in time who is correct

[oldtype]

 

 

Hate the current state of the PL as much as the next person, but there has been over 100 years of perfectly good league football in numerous countries. We have cups for the knockout based japes.

 

To compare football to pony American sports and the MLS. Metaphorically hockling all over the beautiful game.

 

On its current trajectory, MLS will be on par quality-wise with the PL in 20 years. Easy. Playoffs, mascots, hokey logos and team names n' all.

 

And NFL's gonna have a permanent team in London within the next few years. We're coming.

 

You taking the piss with the first paragraph?

 

As someone who follows both the PL and MLS intently, nope. It's fact.

You need loads of domestic players of decent quality to have a good domestic league. You'll also have to change the rules on only allowing teams to have 3 designated players. Also the draft system will have to move into academies for different teams rather than drafts which would be a big change in America I would imagine. That's without even getting into loads of other stuff like trying to coax ambitious European players in their prime into moving to America

 

Ah yes, like the whopping 35% domestic talent in the Premier League, known for their fantastic escapades and world cup wins for their national team.

You can't just buy hundreds of quality players in one season, you need a decent American player base. Let's say someone like Wijnaldum, gets approached to play for New York City, he's not going to go there if he looks at the rest of the squad and they're all shite. What you have to do is to get loads of good or at least decent American players there first and then foreign players might go. For example, I wasn't alive at the time but I've heard of guys like Ossie Ardiles going to Spurs back years ago when that wasn't the norm in England. Would be have stayed there if there wasn't English players like Glenn Hoddle there at the same time with similar quality?

 

They're clearly improving though. I have no issues with thinking the US will be a powerhouse within football by 2035. The quality of the homegrown MLS players have increased massively in just the past five years.

Aye well you'd know more than me about the quality of MLS but they still have a long way to go judging by how Robbie Keane seems to take the piss over there. 20 years isn't that long though to go from a poor league to a very good one but I guess we'll see in time who is correct

 

As recently as fifteen years ago we weren't even sure if MLS would stay in business, never mind become what it is today. I wouldn't be surprised to see the likes of MLS and maybe even the Chinese Superleague be at the level of some of the second-tier European leagues in the very near future.

 

Things change slowly, but still faster than we think.

[Ndegwa]

 

 

Hate the current state of the PL as much as the next person, but there has been over 100 years of perfectly good league football in numerous countries. We have cups for the knockout based japes.

 

To compare football to pony American sports and the MLS. Metaphorically hockling all over the beautiful game.

 

On its current trajectory, MLS will be on par quality-wise with the PL in 20 years. Easy. Playoffs, mascots, hokey logos and team names n' all.

 

And NFL's gonna have a permanent team in London within the next few years. We're coming.

 

You taking the p*ss with the first paragraph?

 

As someone who follows both the PL and MLS intently, nope. It's fact.

 

:lol:

 

Fucking love Americans. Just...brilliant.

[Disco]

Hate the current state of the PL as much as the next person, but there has been over 100 years of perfectly good league football in numerous countries. We have cups for the knockout based japes.

 

To compare football to pony American sports and the MLS. Metaphorically hockling all over the beautiful game.

 

On its current trajectory, MLS will be on par quality-wise with the PL in 20 years. Easy. Playoffs, mascots, hokey logos and team names n' all.

 

And NFL's gonna have a permanent team in London within the next few years. We're coming.

 

Hope the Sillynannies Clive Allen back as the kick boy.

[timeEd32]

20 years is a long time, the world's best players then are in diapers or unborn.

 

It's probably fairly unlikely the US isn't quite a bit better by then.

 

However, MLS has a number of things against it:

 

1) Current rules including DPs and transfer structure. This can be changed, but it will take time and needs to be done carefully so as not to disrupt the parity or create vastly different classes of teams (what you're complaining about with the PL)

 

2) The summer format is not conducive to being a top tier league. It conflicts with the sport's biggest events (Qatar notwithstanding). Most of the stadium conflicts are gone and be others could be sorted out, so this needs to change. The summer calendar is advantageous since it's the quietest season for US sports, although I'd also argue it's the hardest to get people to care and seek out games (baseball is on every day and has been for a century, the MLS schedule is erratic).

 

3) Moving to the traditional calendar means it's up against the behemoth that is the NFL, college football, MLB playoffs, and the entirety of the NBA and NHL seasons. As long as MLS is the outside of the top four sports the TV revenue will pale in comparison to the others and, ultimately, that will limit the caliber of player it can attract.

 

So the big question is where will it be in 20 years among the other sports. I have some serious questions about (American) football's viability long term, but it is going to take a colossal number of fuck ups for anyone to even make a dent in the NFL. This is likely going to take a lot longer than 20 years.

 

The NBA is riding a huge wave of momentum and is incredibly popular with young people. It also has a lot of room for further international growth.

 

After that I'd say it's up for grabs and if MLS became the country's third most popular sport that would put it in a great spot to become one of the top leagues in the world.

 

The other big question is what does the TV and live sports landscape look like in 20 years. Impossible to say and it may just be that Facebook, Apple and Google are giving billions for rights instead of ESPN and Comcast, but we shall see.

 

If I were a betting man I'd say MLS will be comfortably in the top 6-10 leagues in 20 years but still some distance off the top few.

[B-more Mag]

In the coming years it'll be interesting to see whether the growing brain injury concern about American football results in greater numbers of our top young athletes heading into association football as their main sport. There's still baseball and basketball, which would absorb some of them, but it might result in some uptick for soccer.

[timeEd32]

 

In the coming years it'll be interesting to see whether the growing brain injury concern about American football results in greater numbers of our top young athletes heading into association football as their main sport. There's still baseball and basketball, which would absorb some of them, but it might result in some uptick for soccer.

 

Very possible, but it's only in the last couple years this has gotten some mainstream attention. Meaning 20 years from now is the first time the NFL will see any potential impact from that.

 

Barring multiple on-field deaths combined with PR debacles and other scandals, it will likely be a very long, very gradual decline for the NFL (if it happens at all).

[Disco]

You forgot to mention arguably the most important thing, the shite wages. Mainly the highly shite wages of your bog standard players which you need to pad out teams and are likely going to be the local young players coming through, the ones you need to keep interested in being able to promote to others in to wanting to becoming professional footballers. For these, wages massively pales into insignificance compared with the other sports (and these are ones without natural competition/predators too so that is an additional barrier) so if you had any choice you'd pieing off football asap.

 

http://www.americansocceranalysis.com/home/2015/1/26/visualizingmlssalaries

 

Not that this at all relevant to the PL adoption of playoffs.

[timeEd32]

#1 as well as my whole point about where the league sits in terms of importance impacts wages, transfer fees, and everything else financial. Just not explicitly stated.

[Mike]

In the coming years it'll be interesting to see whether the growing brain injury concern about American football results in greater numbers of our top young athletes heading into association football as their main sport. There's still baseball and basketball, which would absorb some of them, but it might result in some uptick for soccer.

 

Saw what Antwaan Randle El said today?

[Disco]

In the coming years it'll be interesting to see whether the growing brain injury concern about American football results in greater numbers of our top young athletes heading into association football as their main sport. There's still baseball and basketball, which would absorb some of them, but it might result in some uptick for soccer.

 

Saw what Antwaan Randle El said today?

 

Was it 'I'm fucking furious about the horrific state of my fucking name'?

[Mole_Toonfan]

[B-more Mag]

In the coming years it'll be interesting to see whether the growing brain injury concern about American football results in greater numbers of our top young athletes heading into association football as their main sport. There's still baseball and basketball, which would absorb some of them, but it might result in some uptick for soccer.

 

Saw what Antwaan Randle El said today?

Yeah. 36 and can't go up stairs right, forgetting stuff. The money's great if you can handle it, which is tough for young kids to do, but not at the expense of your health for the rest of your life. I'm not sure it will die off as soon as he speculated, but when players are saying they wouldn't play if they had it to do over again, that's something.

[Mike]

In the coming years it'll be interesting to see whether the growing brain injury concern about American football results in greater numbers of our top young athletes heading into association football as their main sport. There's still baseball and basketball, which would absorb some of them, but it might result in some uptick for soccer.

 

Saw what Antwaan Randle El said today?

Yeah. 36 and can't go up stairs right, forgetting stuff. The money's great if you can handle it, which is tough for young kids to do, but not at the expense of your health for the rest of your life. I'm not sure it will die off as soon as he speculated, but when players are saying they wouldn't play if they had it to do over again, that's something.

 

It's a great player saying it too. There's definitely a change coming.

[Kaizero]

To be perfectly honest, there's a lot that can be done to avoid the big hits. Kick off returns should be scrapped, for one.