FCE welcomes NASL format change, just don’t dare call it “playoffs”

FC Edmonton welcomes the NASL’s decision to abort its current two-team championship format and double the number of teams that will make the post-season in 2014.

On Thursday morning Edmonton time, the league announced that it would amend its split-season format. Instead of the winner of the spring season hosting the winner of the fall season — as was the case in 2013 — there will be four playoff teams.

Oops. “Championship” teams. The NASL does not want anyone using the term, “playoffs.” The post-season is called “The Championship” and the Soccer Bowl goes to the winner of “The Championship Final.” (The game isn’t supposed to be called the Soccer Bowl — that’s the name of the trophy).

Now that we’ve got the semantics straight, how does it work? The winners of each of the spring and fall seasons are guaranteed the top two seeds. Of the two, the team with the best overall record over both seasons gets the No. 1 seed and home advantage throughout the play… er… championship.

So, this way, the league will avoid a situation like 2013, when Atlanta, winners of the spring season, faltered through the fall season as the club had already clinched home advantage in the final and had nothing to play for in the second half.

If the same team wins both spring and fall titles, it will take the No. 1 spot and the No. 2 seed will go the team with the next best overall record in the league.

If there are separate spring and fall champions, the teams with the two next best overall records in the league will be seeded No. 3 and No. 4. The No. 4 team will visit the No. 1 team in the first round, while No. 2 hosts No. 3. The winners of the two games will meet in the Soccer Bo… er… Championship Final, which is staged at the highest seed’s park. Of course, if the same team wins the spring and fall seasons, the teams with the three next-best overall records will grab the remaining post-season spots.

“Relief is the best way to describe our reaction to the news,” said FC Edmonton coach Colin Miller. “We all supported it when it was introduced at the coaches’ meeting. It keeps more teams in the mix, it’s not a two-team race.”

“We have a vision for how we want to be structured when we reach 18 clubs,” said NASL Commissioner Bill Peterson in a release issued by the league. “The Championship is an integral part of that vision and the fan feedback we received overwhelmingly supported the decision. The already fierce competition in NASL just got tougher.”

While NASL introduced a split season last season, there was far more controversy in 2014. That’s because, to accommodate a World Cup break, NASL created two very distinct “seasons.” In spring, each of the 10 teams is to play a nine-game season. Of course, that means five of the teams play one more home game than road game — and vice versa for the other five clubs. As Edmonton was looking at a four-game home sked in the 2014 spring campaign, Miller was relieved to learn the hosting of the final will no longer depend on who does best in the nine-match sprint.

“It’s a bit of an equalizer.”

The teams will each play 18-game schedules in the fall.

The public sensed changed was coming last week. Through a third-party pollster, NASL released a survey to supporters groups asking what they thought about the playoff format, and the four-team system was one of the choices on the list.

And those supporters were asked to respond to the survey as quickly as possible, which showed the Board of Governors wanted to have some results when they met this week.

The one interesting thing is that the play… er… championship will push back the Soccer Bo… er… Championship Final to the middle of November. And that means it will be all that much more colder in venues such as Ottawa, Edmonton or the Twin Cities, if either of those teams win the right to host the big game.

Miller was happy that the size of Edmonton’s home-field advantage got just that much bigger.

“It wouldn’t be short-sleeve weather, that’s for sure. It’s likely to be snowy and cold in mid-November in Edmonton. And we’ll welcome whoever plays us with open arms.”

Of course, the NASL-haters will laugh and giggle about a league deciding to tweak its competition format just a little more than a month before the start of the season. And the NASL-defenders will no doubt praise the league for responding to the wishes of its supporters and teams. This is for sure: Let the message-board and Twitter wars begin. Trolls, get a move on — you’ve got work to do.