2024 Leagues Cup
- Thread starter LionNYC
- Start date
Not sure what kind of crowd they are expecting, but I believe all the Seattle supporters accumulate in Occidental Square just north of the stadium before they do their march, which is fun to see.
At least, that is where they gathered when I went to a game back in 2012 and then again for the USMNT Copa America game against Ecuador back in 2016 or whenever that was.
Taylor Shellfish Oyster Bar in Occidental Square has excellent seafood and a decent whiskey selection at the bar. It's just north of the stadium in the area
SoupInNYC mentioned. I should say I went there on a random weeknight when nothing was happening at either stadium so I have no idea how hard it will be to get in on a game day. When I was there about 2 years ago Occidental Square in general had a bunch of bars and restaurants, many of which had Sounders flags in the windows. seemed like it would be a fun spot on game day.
Through tonight, Leagues Cup will have given us the novelty of extra games against the team NYCFC has played more than any other in its history (RB), both teams tied for second most played (Revs and Toronto), and 11th most (Cincy). The LIGA MX opponents featured the excitement of a rematch against one of just 2 LIGA MX teams NYCFC had already played, plus another against the worst team in LMX, who managed to score 0 goals in 2 games and was responsible for rendering the match between Cincinnatti and NYCFC meaningless enough that neither team started more than 4-5 of its preferred 11.
And for this we destroyed the best playoff format MLS ever had.
And for this we destroyed the best playoff format MLS ever had.
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Also, attendance seems thin and the LigaMX teams have had terrible results mostly
Rather, attendance seems thin in some markets and breaks records in others. But the record breaking attendance is driven by LigaMx fans, and their teams are going down in droves
I do like it in theory, but what they really need to do is the following:
- Ok, you want all eyeballs on this, I get it, but the massive break is bad for both leagues. Take the week and a half long break for the group stage and you'll get all the attention on it during that span.
- For the knockout rounds, have them as midweek games and schedule your corresponding league games so that midweek is open for a little bit so there aren't any scheduling conflicts.
- With a group stage being in a short span, you may have to keep a regional "hosting" sites as they are doing now, but for knockouts, open it up to travel in Mexico. Alternate group states being hosted in US and Mexico each year.
- Cut the crap with fucking with the USOC. Team's can decide themselves if they don't want to run out competitive teams and just use it to give younger guys more minutes. Expand the rosters to allow for that.
- And on the USOC front, MLS owners complain about how expensive it is to operate stadiums for these games that aren't well attended. Just agree to play games on the road if it's against a lower division team. Commit to finding more affordable stadium options if you are hosting (ie Belson).
Agreed, the break has to go. Without the break there's plenty of time to get these games in as midweek matches between end of July and the end of the MLS regular season.
Since they want these games to have premier attention, maybe add a few MLS midweek games and then play these on the weekends. We won't necessarily like it, but they'd probably prefer to have Leagues Cup on weekends.
I wish there were a way to solve the issue that you tend to play the same MLS teams as you normally do. Our situation is a bit of extreme bad luck in playing all of RB, TFC and the Revs, instead of Nashville or Charlotte for example. But unless you want cross-continental travel you're still mostly playing teams you play twice every year no matter what.
The Atlas rematch pissed me off because it was not bad luck. The group assignments were not random in 2023. There were "rules" but it was the first year of the format and they could make any rules they wanted and they picked that result for us. Someone decided to have a Campeones rematch. I thought the Atlas fans were nice and all, but maybe some other fans are cool also. It would be nice to get more variety rather than less.
I like the idea of a shorter break. I like it a lot. Same with staying in the USOC. If you want to put half of NYCFC II in NYCFC One kits for those games, great.
And play in Mexico. Everyone knows the purpose of the tournament is to market to Mexican American fans. Fans in Mexico are afterthoughts, as are the rest of the USA. But without games in Mexico it's a bit of a farce, and a lot less interesting.
What the hell was the reason behind scheduling R32 with 2 games Wednesday, 4 yesterday, and 10 tonight, with 6 starting at the same time? I'm not watching anybody but us in this tournament anyway, but I thought one of the benefits last year was not having all the games on simultaneously. As you said, they want eyeballs. Eyeballs can't really watch 6 games at once, even with multiview.
just like how we only certain opposite conference teams each season, they could do the same and select a certain number of teams from each conference to relocate to the other coast to play in a particular region for the group stage. it's good enough for ligaMX teams, why not for MLS? that way you're mixing up opponents a bit more.
I like this idea. Maybe make all the teams who missed the playoffs the prior year switch cross country.
at least out of the teams remaining, chances of philly getting a 3rd place finish are pretty slim. they can be hypothetical 3rd place finishers.
They still will have to get by Columbus, LAFC or maybe America for that spot.
Still plenty of chances for lots of whining,
The only point at which any MLS team is guaranteed to play at least one LigaMX team is group stage. The Crew skipped group stage as MLS Cup champs. Their path so far has included Kansas City, Miami, and NYCFC. There are no LigaMX teams left. The Crew can win Leagues Cup facing no LigaMX opponents.
