You kinda need money to keep something pushing. Is your dad or mom going to quit work and work for something with less pay to have time for you? No, they need that original money to keep pushing the rent. That's my example.
But it diminishes the regular season. If the regular season IS THE PLAYOFF then every single game in the season counts towards achieving being at the top of the table. Which in turn makes the regular season more valuable, bringing out more fans and higher ticket prices.
@@DynamicUnreal Not true. As soon as you are even VIEWED as being out of the running, fans tune out. Even worse, a table system CAN and DOES result in teams being crowned with multiple games remaining, sometimes WEEKS of games. Now, NOBODY is gonna watch those games. You have to understand that MOST fans in America treat fandom like a quid pro quo deal: I buy your tickets and merch, and you compete for a title. If a team fails to compete for a title. especially in a sport with a TON of other options, those fans are gonna leave and take their eyes/money with them. So you HAVE to keep the fans engaged. And you don't have an infrastructure or a fan support system in place for Pro-Reg (And you likely never will because the US is far too spread out and no owner is going to invest in a team that could be belly up in a single season). The only solution is a traditional playoff format. Does the MLS go overboard with the Playoff? Absolutely, it should be the top 7 teams in each conference (Roughly half the league), with a single game elimination format. But going with a table system only encourages teams at the bottom of the pool to stop watching only a few games into the season. Hell, the only teams who would be watching would be the Top 3-4 depending on how close it is, as the teams in the middle of the table would tune out as well.
@@milkdab6977 i agree with you that the MLS is playoff is stupid i dont get it but he talking about 62% of our teams make playoffs while they have 12 out of 18 in playoffs
@@milkdab6977 and also last year they had teams like Nexaca ,Juarez and San Luis making the playoffs and in the MLS they will end last in either conference
@@Wurfed for me it fine I think it a bizarre way of the playoff of the MLS but I think it brings more excitement to the viewers. I think Fans from around the world would before watching our playoff games than Liga MX LIGUILLA
Playoffs with relegation would be a dream league. Teams will work hard to avoid relegation and it gives a chance for all teams to win championships in playoffs.
@@ultimatechickenhorsesweat2614 u think new owners would pay 500 mill to join the league, ( san diego)and then go down after one yr, that's financial suicide, relegation might happen, but not for at least 10 more yrs,
They care about playoff viewership and money. Less teams in the playoffs means less games. There does come a point of diminishing returns, which they may have hit.
On the positive note, it can create underdog stories and eventually the quality of teams in contention will be similar. The divide in quality of teams playing in La Liga or Serie A is big. Very big
From this logic and explanation leagues like La Liga Bundesliga and Ligue 1 don’t matter because you know that regardless of how terrible they play the same teams end up winning the league title and will automatically be playing champions league football the following season
I mean la liga had 3 different winners in the past 3 years. Also clubs like Sevilla and Valencia were really terrible in La Liga because of competitiveness It is not always a one sided league Also Girona might actually win the league this year
Huh?? Supporters shield, higher seeds host. Also most Americans would consider making a wildcard match making it into playoffs. It’s a shot to make it in.
Toronto Fc win the regular season league in 2017 and ended up winning the MLS Cup… and it was never in doubt who was gonna win. So I think it does provide a gauge, the MLS season, of who the best team is. And the playoffs is just the FA Cup or the League Cup.
Last nba postseason (2023) The Miami heat were the number 8 seed the very last possible seed. They finished the Regular season 44-38. They faced the best team in the NBA in the first round, beat them in 5 games, they made the NBA finals. They ultimately didn’t win but just the fact that they went through all the better teams to get there, shows how important the aspect of having lower teams in the playoffs Everyone loves an underdog story and this take is the worst I’ve ever seen The giants beat the undefeated Tom Brady led New England patriots in the Suoer bowl. They were 9-7 in the regular season.
As a South African that consumes A LOT of American media and content including some of it's sport's, the way the MLS is formatted is not really that surprising.
There's no relegation either, sometimes playing on "survival mode" gets the best of each athlete. Often the competition to avoid relegation is tougher than playing for the title.
The only reason that I think the regular season does matter is home field advantage. I mean the MLS home field advantage is more noticeable than MLB home field advantage, and MLB home field advantage actually changes how the game is played! Being on the road in the MLS is such a disadvantage that placing 3rd or 4th is significantly worse than placing 1st or 2nd in your conference.
It’s better than a season being over half way through because one team is up by 16 points. Playoffs becomes it’s own things. Where the little guys can take out the big guys even after a great season. If not we get a Bayern situation where one team wins it for 10 years.
I was just doing a career mode in mls and realized you get absolutely nothing finishing first lol so my second season once i playoff guaranteed then i will rotate players like a mf
It absolutely does matter. Arguably it matters more than any other league in the world. There are 10 games left in bundesliga for example and all but 6 teams have mathematically been eliminated from contention, and maybe bayern can catch leverkusen but probably not.
Regular season does matter because clubs fight for playoff spots. The playoffs allow those clubs to compete for the silverware in the final part of the season. This means that anyone who worked hard during the regular season has a chance to be crowned. Plus, whoever has the best season record becomes the Supporter Shield winner, which then qualifies them to the CONCACAF Champions Cup. I like that a lot better than crowning the same 2 or 3 clubs each season. That makes the league boring for me and that's what I like about MLS as an AC Milan supporter.
USA is too big to base everything on regular season results. EPL works well when every team in your league lives in a country the size of California. Travel time is ridiculous compared to European leagues, then you add international call ups… it’s insane to decide a team’s success by regular season results alone.
who cares? a lot of us have shitty local teams, let us at least have hopes for a good playoff run. besides the US and its club make hella money off it. I would argue 80%+ of the leagues in the world "dont matter" but soccer is soccer
It doesn’t at all. No other leagues in the world have a playoff system. And for good reason. It’s dumb. In a playoff system sport like American sports. Not every game matters. You can rest your top players, you can simply give up during a game bc it doesn’t hurt your chances of the playoffs. In football around the world every single game matters. The MLS trying to be too American is why it’s a shit league, and will never be a top 10 league in the world.
@@PLC11 No other league in the world? Wow, no idea what world you live in but in the real world, countless of leagues have playoffs. Mexico, most of Central America, Argentina, Colombia, Belgium, Australia, Canada, Scotland. Should I keep going? Playoffs is not just in the U.S. when it comes to football.
@@jldch26 wow you named a bunch of leagues that are shit. Good job. You forget Belgium too btw. Context matters. I know other leagues have a version of playoffs, but none of the top 10-15 leagues in the world that matter. Period. Plus other leagues that have playoffs such as Belgium, have a hybrid system. The league table still matters….. good try kid but I know football. Maybe next time 🤡😂
In sports like hockey and basketball, draft pick and position in playoffs matter although it does encourage teams who don’t have a shot to tank admittedly , mlb does play way too much But with mls, it’s damn near impossible to even make the conference final if you’re not a top 4 seed, definitely won’t be making the finals and have basically 0 shot at winning mls cup Seeding matters And most conferences are still competitive on almost every team until the last 2-3 weeks because the mls draft is okay but not that bad if you miss out on it
the playoff system is strictly a money saving tactic that leagues do in order to reduce travel cost on teams. ik we all know how big usa is so its made sense in nhl and nba bc the how the schedules are structured. in mls, instead of allowing the top 8 teams in the playoffs it should just be maybe the top 4 from each conference so that way its more competitive.
You can throw college football in that mix too. 15 years ago being in the top 10 probably had you playing in the aloha bowl now you have a punchers chance at the national championship
Y'all are playing european football make it like the europeans and get relegation and promotion into the mix, plus make League Cups etc. Wtf is "the playoffs bro" like what even is that. ~ sophisticated european football fan that has never watched any mls games
It was better in the past, with 14 teams making into the playoffs. In that way, teams could also maybe find a schedule to compete in the U.S. Open Cup rather than sending only 8 of them. There are many things MLS could do better and this is one of them.
Playoffs are the only way to truly determine a champion, teams do not have equal schedules, they don't face the same opponents, better that the top teams decided by single elimination or best of 3 face each other in a Final, than pretend winning more games when you are in the weaker conference matters more. Oh and stop with the Non League games, they are pointless.
That's my favorite part of the league. Without the salary cap it would be like Europe where 15/20 teams enter the season KNOWING they won't win a championship. It would be LA and Miami buying all the best players and winning the league and everyone else is just sort of there. Every league in Europe should have a salary cap.
Simple fix Split the 2 conferences COMPLETELY. East teams do not play west teams, they play home & away vs every team in their conference. The east team with the most points plays the west team with the most points at a neutral site for the championship
Nah just split between 3 conferences West San Diego LAFC LA Galaxy San Jose Earthquakes Portland Timbers Real Salt Lake Seattle Colorado Whitecaps Central Houston Dynamo FC Dallas Austin Sporting Kansas City Minnesota United St Louis City Chicago Fire East Orlando Inter Miami Atlanta New England NYCFC NYRB Philadelphia Union Charlotte FC Toronto Montreal
You could say the season doesn't matter for any US league because they all use the playoff system. Heck for leagues like the premiere league you already have an idea who might win because it's usually the same 6 teams who win it every year.
@@qatarworldcupwinnermessiand you know? 😂 Messi was willing to go back to Barcelona if they could pay him what he wanted. Also Saudi league appeared which also tempted him. Coming to MLS wasn't a sure deal. It was the same with Ronaldo. Sporting Kansas City offered a big pay day but nothing close to what Saudi offered him and he chose Saudi league.
Eh, I'm not a huge fan of the current format but you could argue that it makes it matter even more. If 18 out of 29 teams make it into the playoffs and you're not one of them, that's pretty damn pathetic. If only 8 of 29 got in, then some mid-to-bottom-of-the-table teams would turn on cruise control in the last third of the season because finishing outside of that top 8 wouldn't be as embarrassing
Ahhhhhhhhhhh. Regular season helps teams get into rhythm and figuring out the team play style, what they are good or bad at, and other information. I can understand in terms of value that playoffs are more than the regular season. However, the regular season is important.
You just figured this out now? That's a fact with every American league but NFL because they play so little compared to other. The NBA allows 66% of teams in playoff. You don't even have to be mediocre to go through It's also due to the fact that winning the regular season is dismissed as important especially if the best team falters in playoffs. The playoffs second season is more meaningful that regular season. No one says "Who was the best regular season team in 2022?" You asked who was champion. For decades players, teams, media keep pushing the narrative that the regular season doesn't matter.
So I think in the future with more and more teams they won’t change the playoffs. Now other leagues have 30 teams but with football it could easily expand to 50. And I think that the fan base would continue to grow especially considering the World Cup taking place is USA. (And the fact USA team is getting better)
Blame the suits. Every league is expanding the amount of teams that make the playoffs, because playoff games make more money. They're also adding games like making the MLB wild card a best of three series, which I personally loathe. You're a wild card, it coming down to one game whether you get into the DS is far more entertaining than a best of three. More people might watch the regular seasons if they had higher stakes.
I see the playoffs as an extension to the regular season. Yeah if you are bang average you'll make playoffs but you'll have a bad seed. you need to be the best you can in the regular season to have a better route at the finals. Frankly in my opinion its better than the way europe does it, dont come for me on that I just like the excitement of a large playoff format (UCL for example)
They should just lower the amount of teams that go into the playoffs to the top 4 each of conference. It would make for WAY more exciting games. MLS is real mediocre football because of this
Too short. Again, you HAVE to keep fans invested. If you're in 7th place in your format, and 10+ points behind with only 10 games to play, why bother watching? You'd need to outperform 5 TEAMS by that 10+ point margin, and that's not happening. There's no FA Cup to play for, and Pro-Reg is never happening, so fans would just tune out.
It's nothing compared to Argentina and how they structure their league. They have 2 different competitions with the winner of each comp playing for a "champions trophy", 2 super cups (one domestic and one international, why lol?) and a cup competition. Dont get me started on how they do their relegation!! MLS league structure makes a lot more sense lol
Eh, finishing 1st in Europe is great. Where ever you finish 2-4 doesn’t matter. The East and their completion 2-4 this season was more entertaining than teams competing for 4th when realistically it’s one teams to lose. What needs emphasized is conference championships. Make playoffs play the other conference so you win your conference championship during the season and in playoffs it’s ranking from the supporters shield
@@brando7266 It's less to do with the NFL season ending and more to do with the playoff race tightening up at the end of the year. Not a single basketball fan thinks too many teams make the playoffs
But low seeds don't ever win it all; especially with the single elimination format. The lowest seed to ever win MLS Cup is 8th overall on the table. Yeah 18 teams make the playoffs, which everyone agrees is too many. But it's not like all of these teams are actually champions.
Think of the playoffs as the FA Cup. It’s a knockout tournament except you have to qualify for it. 100% of Prem teams make it to the FA Cup. Only 62% of MLS teams make the playoffs. Why is this so hard for people to understand? It’s a knockout competition, the league is the league. You have the league (Supporter’s Shield), you have the playoffs and you have US Open Cup/Canada Championship. The difference is the fans/league/players look at the playoff championship as a greater reward than the Supporter’s Shield. The equivalent would be if fans looked at the FA Cup/Copa del Rey/DFB-Pokal/Coppa Italia as a bigger reward than the league.
Should just put all the teams in 1 league and restructure the lower divisions. 1 team relegated and play off relegation against 2 or 3 in the second division would make the league wayyyy better
It would be impossible. Country is too large, fans are into titles over anything else, and a team that gets relegated would die off in a year. Look at average USL attendance vs MLS. It's night and day. No owner is going to invest in a league where your investment could be belly-up within 3-4 months.
What’s the obsession with playoffs play football like every other country in the entire world and have leagues and have relegation and promotion and in season tournaments
To say the MLB regular season doesn’t matter is hilariously ignorant. Just like the NFL winning the division is very important. Imo the NBA is the worst with this where nobody even cares when a divisional banner goes up n ppl barely even know which teams are in the divisions. The NBA shouldn’t have ten teams in each conference make the playoffs at max it should be 6. Have division winners actually matter with celebrations n create a “wild card” like the other sports. All evidence points to making more money when it’s even advertised that way. Also I could say a vast majority of Global soccer leagues seasons mean nothing because they don’t even have PLAYOFFS… like what 😂
Tell me you just started watching American sports without telling me
Exactly😂😂😂
Like this is literally every american sports format. I dont get why these idiots complain 🤦🏽♂️
@@MrVaDeluxAnd it’s terrible. That’s the point.
@@Kaiserinwell no one is making them watch the MLS.
@@Kaiserin The MLS specificall is terrible. The NFL has a better system, where under half of all teams make playoffs.
More playoff game more money 💰 that's wat its all about its a business
Underrated facts
That's every sport, every league, every tournament
You kinda need money to keep something pushing. Is your dad or mom going to quit work and work for something with less pay to have time for you? No, they need that original money to keep pushing the rent. That's my example.
But it diminishes the regular season. If the regular season IS THE PLAYOFF then every single game in the season counts towards achieving being at the top of the table. Which in turn makes the regular season more valuable, bringing out more fans and higher ticket prices.
@@DynamicUnreal Not true. As soon as you are even VIEWED as being out of the running, fans tune out. Even worse, a table system CAN and DOES result in teams being crowned with multiple games remaining, sometimes WEEKS of games. Now, NOBODY is gonna watch those games. You have to understand that MOST fans in America treat fandom like a quid pro quo deal: I buy your tickets and merch, and you compete for a title. If a team fails to compete for a title. especially in a sport with a TON of other options, those fans are gonna leave and take their eyes/money with them.
So you HAVE to keep the fans engaged. And you don't have an infrastructure or a fan support system in place for Pro-Reg (And you likely never will because the US is far too spread out and no owner is going to invest in a team that could be belly up in a single season). The only solution is a traditional playoff format. Does the MLS go overboard with the Playoff? Absolutely, it should be the top 7 teams in each conference (Roughly half the league), with a single game elimination format. But going with a table system only encourages teams at the bottom of the pool to stop watching only a few games into the season. Hell, the only teams who would be watching would be the Top 3-4 depending on how close it is, as the teams in the middle of the table would tune out as well.
And your Mexican league get 12 out f 18 in the playoffs
Yeah but pro/reg is eventually coming back in 2026. Plus MLS has that weird ass playoff format now with 3 series play off games.
@@milkdab6977 i agree with you that the MLS is playoff is stupid i dont get it but he talking about 62% of our teams make playoffs while they have 12 out of 18 in playoffs
@@milkdab6977 and also last year they had teams like Nexaca ,Juarez and San Luis making the playoffs and in the MLS they will end last in either conference
@@Johan_UrrutiaLiga MX changed it to 10 and in the MLS 18 out of 29 teams qualify(Thats more than half)
@@Wurfed for me it fine I think it a bizarre way of the playoff of the MLS but I think it brings more excitement to the viewers. I think Fans from around the world would before watching our playoff games than Liga MX LIGUILLA
But the thing is, only one team wins it all
Fr
What, you want 2 3 winners? What if Liga MX had 2 or 3 winners in their playoffs.
Idk the regular season seemed pretty important to getting my Crew home field for the Cup! That's nothing to sneeze at.
I’d rather have playoffs than crowning a champion with 6 weeks remaining 🤷🏻♂️
Yeah but with no relegation or punishment for being bad it’s just ass
Playoffs with relegation would be a dream league.
Teams will work hard to avoid relegation and it gives a chance for all teams to win championships in playoffs.
fr
Yeah but with relegation that would be 🔥
@@ultimatechickenhorsesweat2614 u think new owners would pay 500 mill to join the league, ( san diego)and then go down after one yr, that's financial suicide, relegation might happen, but not for at least 10 more yrs,
I hate when people say it doesn't matter. I'm sure every player in the league who's trying to make it thinks the same way this guy does.
at least with the MLS the fight for the playoffs usually last until the last game of the season for the ranking
Fr
They care about playoff viewership and money. Less teams in the playoffs means less games. There does come a point of diminishing returns, which they may have hit.
On the positive note, it can create underdog stories and eventually the quality of teams in contention will be similar.
The divide in quality of teams playing in La Liga or Serie A is big. Very big
Yeah and the fact of the MLS draft and shi.
From this logic and explanation leagues like La Liga Bundesliga and Ligue 1 don’t matter because you know that regardless of how terrible they play the same teams end up winning the league title and will automatically be playing champions league football the following season
I mean la liga had 3 different winners in the past 3 years.
Also clubs like Sevilla and Valencia were really terrible in La Liga because of competitiveness
It is not always a one sided league
Also Girona might actually win the league this year
why just target these 3 leagues? You already who is gonna win PL too
Also Premier League is just getting Farmed by Manchester City
@@justscience8836these people don’t watch la liga 😂😂😂 only overrated prem league where man city beat low table teams 8-0 😂
I mean probably serie a is the most intense league in terms of different winners
Huh??
Supporters shield, higher seeds host.
Also most Americans would consider making a wildcard match making it into playoffs. It’s a shot to make it in.
Toronto Fc win the regular season league in 2017 and ended up winning the MLS Cup… and it was never in doubt who was gonna win. So I think it does provide a gauge, the MLS season, of who the best team is. And the playoffs is just the FA Cup or the League Cup.
Last nba postseason (2023) The Miami heat were the number 8 seed the very last possible seed. They finished the Regular season 44-38. They faced the best team in the NBA in the first round, beat them in 5 games, they made the NBA finals. They ultimately didn’t win but just the fact that they went through all the better teams to get there, shows how important the aspect of having lower teams in the playoffs
Everyone loves an underdog story and this take is the worst I’ve ever seen
The giants beat the undefeated Tom Brady led New England patriots in the Suoer bowl. They were 9-7 in the regular season.
As a South African that consumes A LOT of American media and content including some of it's sport's, the way the MLS is formatted is not really that surprising.
There's no relegation either, sometimes playing on "survival mode" gets the best of each athlete. Often the competition to avoid relegation is tougher than playing for the title.
Naw I love the playoffs, and seeding matters huge
Yeppp🔥🔥🔥
Fr
No it does not.
@@Kaiserinwhen’s the last time a non top 4 seeded mls team won the cup? Or even made the finals ?
@@SV_Slay Couldn’t tell you, I don’t watch burger league. I watch real football.
10,900,000 in Regular Season Attendance says different. Meanwhile, Ligue 1 just dropped from 20 to 18 teams for financial reasons.
The only reason that I think the regular season does matter is home field advantage. I mean the MLS home field advantage is more noticeable than MLB home field advantage, and MLB home field advantage actually changes how the game is played! Being on the road in the MLS is such a disadvantage that placing 3rd or 4th is significantly worse than placing 1st or 2nd in your conference.
As an Earthquakes fan can we make it 100% of teams? 😭
As I Chicago fire fan, I think 62 percent isn’t enough 💀
It’s better than a season being over half way through because one team is up by 16 points. Playoffs becomes it’s own things. Where the little guys can take out the big guys even after a great season. If not we get a Bayern situation where one team wins it for 10 years.
I was just doing a career mode in mls and realized you get absolutely nothing finishing first lol so my second season once i playoff guaranteed then i will rotate players like a mf
Well in the real MLS the number one team in the regular season wins the supporters shield trophy, so that is something
@@TheGoldenApex Not only that they also have home advantage for the playoffs. That's huge, given that the final is only played once.
*Laughs in LA Galaxy*
It absolutely does matter. Arguably it matters more than any other league in the world. There are 10 games left in bundesliga for example and all but 6 teams have mathematically been eliminated from contention, and maybe bayern can catch leverkusen but probably not.
yeah thats how its supposed to be lol, and only the title is decide. the champions league and europa league places are still up for grabs for teams
@@mpownage4806those are other competitions that you have to qualify for… like the MLS Playoffs 🙄
Brooooo it's like the NASCAR playoffs, it doesn't make sense
Regular season does matter because clubs fight for playoff spots. The playoffs allow those clubs to compete for the silverware in the final part of the season. This means that anyone who worked hard during the regular season has a chance to be crowned. Plus, whoever has the best season record becomes the Supporter Shield winner, which then qualifies them to the CONCACAF Champions Cup. I like that a lot better than crowning the same 2 or 3 clubs each season. That makes the league boring for me and that's what I like about MLS as an AC Milan supporter.
USA is too big to base everything on regular season results. EPL works well when every team in your league lives in a country the size of California. Travel time is ridiculous compared to European leagues, then you add international call ups… it’s insane to decide a team’s success by regular season results alone.
They should do 8 teams to playoffs
12
@@mech-x-xavious How would 12 work?
@@Sqidk look at MLB, top 2 seeds in each conference get a bye, while seeds 3-6 have to play an extra round
No, it should be even smaller. Four teams
@@emperorburton nah, 12 is perfect
who cares? a lot of us have shitty local teams, let us at least have hopes for a good playoff run. besides the US and its club make hella money off it. I would argue 80%+ of the leagues in the world "dont matter" but soccer is soccer
Don’t they know the team who has the most points get the supporter shield? Yeah it’s not the MLS Cup but they still have something to work towards
Although in the NHL only the top half make it in. Which I feel makes sense. Over half the teams making it in is too much.
At least it's not a farmer's league like most in Europe.
MLS is a farmers league. Except for a few big teams that get all the retirement guys z
Don't mention USA and NHL without Canada
It does make sense. Thank goodness you do not make the rules.
It doesn’t at all. No other leagues in the world have a playoff system. And for good reason. It’s dumb. In a playoff system sport like American sports. Not every game matters. You can rest your top players, you can simply give up during a game bc it doesn’t hurt your chances of the playoffs. In football around the world every single game matters. The MLS trying to be too American is why it’s a shit league, and will never be a top 10 league in the world.
@@PLC11 No other league in the world? Wow, no idea what world you live in but in the real world, countless of leagues have playoffs. Mexico, most of Central America, Argentina, Colombia, Belgium, Australia, Canada, Scotland. Should I keep going? Playoffs is not just in the U.S. when it comes to football.
@@jldch26 wow you named a bunch of leagues that are shit. Good job. You forget Belgium too btw. Context matters. I know other leagues have a version of playoffs, but none of the top 10-15 leagues in the world that matter. Period. Plus other leagues that have playoffs such as Belgium, have a hybrid system. The league table still matters….. good try kid but I know football. Maybe next time 🤡😂
In sports like hockey and basketball, draft pick and position in playoffs matter although it does encourage teams who don’t have a shot to tank admittedly , mlb does play way too much
But with mls, it’s damn near impossible to even make the conference final if you’re not a top 4 seed, definitely won’t be making the finals and have basically 0 shot at winning mls cup
Seeding matters
And most conferences are still competitive on almost every team until the last 2-3 weeks because the mls draft is okay but not that bad if you miss out on it
the playoff system is strictly a money saving tactic that leagues do in order to reduce travel cost on teams. ik we all know how big usa is so its made sense in nhl and nba bc the how the schedules are structured. in mls, instead of allowing the top 8 teams in the playoffs it should just be maybe the top 4 from each conference so that way its more competitive.
You can throw college football in that mix too. 15 years ago being in the top 10 probably had you playing in the aloha bowl now you have a punchers chance at the national championship
Y'all are playing european football make it like the europeans and get relegation and promotion into the mix, plus make League Cups etc. Wtf is "the playoffs bro" like what even is that.
~ sophisticated european football fan that has never watched any mls games
The red bulls barely scraped by last season it does matter it's been increased more and more still love it
It was better in the past, with 14 teams making into the playoffs. In that way, teams could also maybe find a schedule to compete in the U.S. Open Cup rather than sending only 8 of them.
There are many things MLS could do better and this is one of them.
Playoffs are the only way to truly determine a champion, teams do not have equal schedules, they don't face the same opponents, better that the top teams decided by single elimination or best of 3 face each other in a Final, than pretend winning more games when you are in the weaker conference matters more. Oh and stop with the Non League games, they are pointless.
No promotion or relegation is not something MLS got right .
It's all about the money. The more games the team plays the more money the owner makes. Having more teams in the playoffs means more games played.
It should be 50% maximum
I don't mind that as much as MLS has made spending irrelevant. 12 of the 18 teams that made the playoffs are among the bottom 14 in spending.
That's my favorite part of the league. Without the salary cap it would be like Europe where 15/20 teams enter the season KNOWING they won't win a championship. It would be LA and Miami buying all the best players and winning the league and everyone else is just sort of there. Every league in Europe should have a salary cap.
Simple fix
Split the 2 conferences COMPLETELY. East teams do not play west teams, they play home & away vs every team in their conference. The east team with the most points plays the west team with the most points at a neutral site for the championship
Who let you cook bro
@@Kristof777no, bro actually cooked ong
Nah just split between 3 conferences
West
San Diego
LAFC
LA Galaxy
San Jose Earthquakes
Portland Timbers
Real Salt Lake
Seattle
Colorado
Whitecaps
Central
Houston Dynamo
FC Dallas
Austin
Sporting Kansas City
Minnesota United
St Louis City
Chicago Fire
East
Orlando
Inter Miami
Atlanta
New England
NYCFC
NYRB
Philadelphia Union
Charlotte FC
Toronto
Montreal
@@SubmachineOPman you just deleted Cincinnati
@@lovablelarry2384and columbus
It just started to matter. Home field advantage and a berth into concachampions
You could say the season doesn't matter for any US league because they all use the playoff system. Heck for leagues like the premiere league you already have an idea who might win because it's usually the same 6 teams who win it every year.
Only reason we had a wildcard round this time was cause they wanted Messi in the playoffs lmao
Someone tell bro the playoff format was made before Messi joined😂
Because Apple wanted more games for the money they gave them
@@Sqidkto be fair, you don't know when messi decided to join. He's been chatting with Beckham behind the scenes for some time.
@@qatarworldcupwinnermessiand you know? 😂 Messi was willing to go back to Barcelona if they could pay him what he wanted. Also Saudi league appeared which also tempted him. Coming to MLS wasn't a sure deal. It was the same with Ronaldo. Sporting Kansas City offered a big pay day but nothing close to what Saudi offered him and he chose Saudi league.
@@oyaml1211 but barca was broke, so how can they pay him?
Eh, I'm not a huge fan of the current format but you could argue that it makes it matter even more. If 18 out of 29 teams make it into the playoffs and you're not one of them, that's pretty damn pathetic. If only 8 of 29 got in, then some mid-to-bottom-of-the-table teams would turn on cruise control in the last third of the season because finishing outside of that top 8 wouldn't be as embarrassing
Playoffs = $$ for the owners and more games for Apple. Apple spent $2.5 Billion on MLS rights and they want the maximum amount of games they can get
Hate the fact that the mls is trying to copy the nba with their conferences and set a 3 game playoff game
It's way better like that because an underdog can come out of nowhere and win the whole tournament we don't know what will happen
Ahhhhhhhhhhh. Regular season helps teams get into rhythm and figuring out the team play style, what they are good or bad at, and other information. I can understand in terms of value that playoffs are more than the regular season. However, the regular season is important.
Camisa de CARTAGUITO!! 🇨🇷🇨🇷
You just figured this out now? That's a fact with every American league but NFL because they play so little compared to other. The NBA allows 66% of teams in playoff. You don't even have to be mediocre to go through
It's also due to the fact that winning the regular season is dismissed as important especially if the best team falters in playoffs. The playoffs second season is more meaningful that regular season. No one says "Who was the best regular season team in 2022?" You asked who was champion. For decades players, teams, media keep pushing the narrative that the regular season doesn't matter.
So I think in the future with more and more teams they won’t change the playoffs. Now other leagues have 30 teams but with football it could easily expand to 50. And I think that the fan base would continue to grow especially considering the World Cup taking place is USA. (And the fact USA team is getting better)
NFL and Especially MLB aren’t this bad.
Blame the suits. Every league is expanding the amount of teams that make the playoffs, because playoff games make more money. They're also adding games like making the MLB wild card a best of three series, which I personally loathe. You're a wild card, it coming down to one game whether you get into the DS is far more entertaining than a best of three.
More people might watch the regular seasons if they had higher stakes.
I see the playoffs as an extension to the regular season. Yeah if you are bang average you'll make playoffs but you'll have a bad seed. you need to be the best you can in the regular season to have a better route at the finals.
Frankly in my opinion its better than the way europe does it, dont come for me on that I just like the excitement of a large playoff format (UCL for example)
NHL play 82 games and the best of 7 knock outs with the same amount of teams
He’s right asf
They should just lower the amount of teams that go into the playoffs to the top 4 each of conference. It would make for WAY more exciting games. MLS is real mediocre football because of this
Because Apple paid a billion dollars to MLS for broadcast rights and they want more playoff games to sell advertisements on.
Having a playoff is fine
But do it with 4 teams
2 from each conference
That would be dope
Nah becuz it’s too short
Too short. Again, you HAVE to keep fans invested. If you're in 7th place in your format, and 10+ points behind with only 10 games to play, why bother watching? You'd need to outperform 5 TEAMS by that 10+ point margin, and that's not happening. There's no FA Cup to play for, and Pro-Reg is never happening, so fans would just tune out.
It's nothing compared to Argentina and how they structure their league. They have 2 different competitions with the winner of each comp playing for a "champions trophy", 2 super cups (one domestic and one international, why lol?) and a cup competition. Dont get me started on how they do their relegation!! MLS league structure makes a lot more sense lol
Eh, finishing 1st in Europe is great. Where ever you finish 2-4 doesn’t matter.
The East and their completion 2-4 this season was more entertaining than teams competing for 4th when realistically it’s one teams to lose.
What needs emphasized is conference championships. Make playoffs play the other conference so you win your conference championship during the season and in playoffs it’s ranking from the supporters shield
Thats Why Liga MX changed their Format
In the nba, it's even worse, 20 out of 30, make the playoffs
NBA isn't as bad because 7 game series make it so that the best team wins more often than not
@@thunderkai7272 but u still have too many teams making the playoffs, thats why no one cares about the nba, till after the nfl is over,
@@brando7266 It's less to do with the NFL season ending and more to do with the playoff race tightening up at the end of the year. Not a single basketball fan thinks too many teams make the playoffs
@@thunderkai7272 when more than 50% of the teams,make the playoffs, it makes the regular season more meaningless,
@@brando7266 eh playoff seeding really matters in the nba and most of the regular season is trying to inch out other teams for the better matchups
There is division winner in mlb that make the playoffs with 80 wins
At least every other league plays every team at least once
I mean this is the same with NFL, MLB, NHL ect… playoffs are just a part of American sports
maybe there are too many teams in the playoffs but the playoff system is not bar
What the hell is this guy talking about! Same with NHL and NBA
Let people enjoy their sport
That guy doesn't know anything about soccer lol
Dude really doesn't know what he's talking about about
But low seeds don't ever win it all; especially with the single elimination format. The lowest seed to ever win MLS Cup is 8th overall on the table.
Yeah 18 teams make the playoffs, which everyone agrees is too many. But it's not like all of these teams are actually champions.
Think of the playoffs as the FA Cup. It’s a knockout tournament except you have to qualify for it. 100% of Prem teams make it to the FA Cup. Only 62% of MLS teams make the playoffs.
Why is this so hard for people to understand? It’s a knockout competition, the league is the league.
You have the league (Supporter’s Shield), you have the playoffs and you have US Open Cup/Canada Championship. The difference is the fans/league/players look at the playoff championship as a greater reward than the Supporter’s Shield. The equivalent would be if fans looked at the FA Cup/Copa del Rey/DFB-Pokal/Coppa Italia as a bigger reward than the league.
The supporters shield is the real trophy
No it isn't. We don't play a balanced schedule. No hockey fan has ever said they'd rather win The Presidents' Trophy more than the Stanley Cup.
No it isn't. When everyone starts playing each team at least once, maybe it'll mean something. Right now it means fuck all.
No it’s not 😂
Should just put all the teams in 1 league and restructure the lower divisions. 1 team relegated and play off relegation against 2 or 3 in the second division would make the league wayyyy better
It would be impossible. Country is too large, fans are into titles over anything else, and a team that gets relegated would die off in a year. Look at average USL attendance vs MLS. It's night and day. No owner is going to invest in a league where your investment could be belly-up within 3-4 months.
@@kylewilson2819 ye have laws for that, small teams deserve representation. A commie system ye got
By this point for MLS fans it’s just rage bait
Do you know supporter shield?
What’s the obsession with playoffs play football like every other country in the entire world and have leagues and have relegation and promotion and in season tournaments
“The MLS”
What jersey is that the blue one ??
MLS Does matter ❤
To say the MLB regular season doesn’t matter is hilariously ignorant. Just like the NFL winning the division is very important. Imo the NBA is the worst with this where nobody even cares when a divisional banner goes up n ppl barely even know which teams are in the divisions. The NBA shouldn’t have ten teams in each conference make the playoffs at max it should be 6. Have division winners actually matter with celebrations n create a “wild card” like the other sports. All evidence points to making more money when it’s even advertised that way. Also I could say a vast majority of Global soccer leagues seasons mean nothing because they don’t even have PLAYOFFS… like what 😂
How about you? Just worry about your own country.
It does make sense
History matters
I mean in the nba it’s more than 50% to make the playoffs, to make the playoffs you basically just need a 50% winning record
EVERYTHING RIGHT, yeah they still dont have relegation but aight
I mean if you win the league it’s still an award right?
WRONG. Dead wrong. Look at home field playoff win percentage. Seeding matters a lot.
Nor do the playoffs according to the refs like look at Union vs Cincinnati. How is that not offside
Had to be a Cartaginés fan……
Because there’s like 30 teams…
😂😂😂 this is the guy you stay away from.
Mls. Is great.