MLS to unveil unbalanced 2012 schedule with “rivalry focus” By Steven Sandor Posted on November 10, 2011 3 0 607 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Philip F. Anschutz Trophy. PHOTO: German Alegria/MLSsoccer.com Major League Soccer is very close to unveiling a new playoff system and a new way to award the MLS Cup game. In a state-of-the MLS conference call Thursday, commissioner Don Garber said that the league’s competition committee — which includes Vancouver Whitecaps’ partner Greg Kerfoot — is very close to finalizing a new format for the 2012 season. With Montreal joining MLS next season — increasing the league’s roster of teams to 19 — a 36-game schedule would be needed to ensure each team met every other club in the league home and away during the season. Garber confirmed that this would not happen — the league will keep a 34-game slate, which means an unbalanced schedule. Garber wouldn’t say exactly what the new format will be, but it will have a “rivalry” focus. So, expect to see more Cascadia games for the Whitecaps. More Colorado vs. Real Salt Lake. More Chivas vs. Los Angeles Galaxy. And Toronto and Montreal could face each other more than twice next season. Garber said that the discrepancy between some teams in terms of their travel schedules was an issue for the league. Interesting that he used the Whitecaps, who traveled 60,000 miles this season, as the team with the toughest time dealing with travel. He compared that to some other clubs in the East, who only traveled half that distance. Simply put, he said you can’t try to replicate the formats of small European leagues, where players bus everywhere and go home every night, to the challenge of traveling across the U.S. and Canada. “We live here in the United States, and there are certain restrictions and facts of life we have to adhere to.” What Garber didn’t get a chance to address in the call was if the schedule would address long-distance rivalries, such as Montreal and Vancouver (a good one that dates back to Div. 2 and Nutrilite Canadian Championship matches) or Los Angeles and New York. But you have to assume that TSN, the national broadcast partner for MLS in Canada, would want to see as many games between Toronto FC, the Whitecaps and Impact as possible. In a follow-up call, league spokesman Will Kuhns said there is a strong likelihood that each team is still guaranteed to face each other at least once in the season, and there is a recognition on MLS part of the strong rivalries and markets within Canada. Does that mean Montreal and Vancouver will play twice in a season? No answer on that, yet. But having more games between regional rivals is good for the atmosphere — and box offices — at stadiums throughout the league. “More games between teams that are closer to each other means more travelling fans going to games, and that’s good for the league,” he said. As well, the committee is looking very closely at scrapping the awarding of MLS Cup to a neutral-site venue. The committee is closer than ever to approving a measure that would see the team with the best record of the two finalists host the big game. And, the playoff format will be re-evaluated. This year, there was widespread criticism of the new 10-team tournament, which saw the bottom four teams whittled down to two through a pair of play-in games. But, the games happened in midweek after the season ended on a Sunday, and an announced crowd of well less than 10,000 in Colorado and barely 10,000 in Dallas came out the matches. And, having the top three teams in each conference all qualify, and the rest come in on wild cards, created a confusing scenario. New York crossed over and went into the Western Conference playoffs and Colorado crossed over and went into the East. “I was surprised by the strong negative reactions of the play-in games,” said Garber. “I don’t believe it hurt the competitive play on the field — but it made it harder to sell tickets.” MLS will also work with the Canadian Soccer Association and the United States Soccer Federation on “how we can manage officiating aspect of business.” From clear dives that resulted in penalties to some very controversial red cards, the league’s referees have been under fire this season from fans and the media. Garber hinted that, to promote attacking soccer, more changes to the disciplinary system would be introduced in 2012. Already, there was a crackdown initiated by the league in 2011, and it likely influenced some very, shall we say, interesting calls made by officials this year. And, even though the refs are under fire, Garber maintained that, for the most part, they do very good jobs. He said MLS has access to better camera angles than fans get at home, and that in reviewing some controversial calls, the refs are proven to be right. “Our officiating is a hell of a lot better than people give us credit for. It’s a difference of perception vs. reality… the officiating isn’t as bad as some people across the country feel it is.”
