Expansion Rumors Megathread

[adam]

I think we could go to a few more games if the season were to start a month or so earlier. That requires having enough warm weather teams to hold a full schedule for a few weeks until things warm up elsewhere.

Let's see where that stands.

Cold Weather (i.e. decent chance of snow in February)
New York
New Jersey
New England
Philadelphia
Montreal (but could use the domed stadium)
Toronto
Chicago
Columbus
Minnesota
Kansas City
Salt Lake City
Denver

Borderline
DC United
Seattle
Portland
Vancouver

Warm Weather
Atlanta
Orlando
Houston
Dallas
LA Galaxy
LA FC
San Jose

You need half the teams to be in warm weather zones or under a dome to play a full schedule in February. These teams would have to host a game each weekend until other cities warm up enough to start hosting. This could work well, as these cities could then host fewer games in summer months.

Right now, there are only 7 teams out of 23 that are capable of hosting a full February schedule. There are another 4 that are borderline - that could maybe host a game or two that month to ease scheduling pressure, but can't and shouldn't be expected to blow 4-5 home games under questionable weather.

Expansion could help with this. Many of the candidates are in warmer weather areas: Miami, Charlotte, Phoenix, San Diego, Tampa, and Sacramento could all host a winter schedule. Plus, any new northern team could build a stadium with a roof. Still, there is a long way to go, with 12 cold weather teams and only 7 warm weather teams.

The possibility of this is reason enough for NYCFC to include a retractable dome in their stadium plans. Aside for the other 101 reasons.

 

[Ulrich]

We can barely squeeze in 34 right now. I highly doubt we add more games, especially a ton of extra games.

For scheduling, the key is whether they want everyone to play everyone. I speculate they will, as they won't want to lose LA v NY games ever.

In that case, their options that include double round robin within groups and once against everyone else are as follows:

28 teams - 4 groups of 7 (33 games + 1 extra rivalry game)
30 teams - 6 groups of 5 (33 games + 1 extra rivalry game)
32 teams - 8 groups of 4 (34 games)

I favor the NBA setup where they have 30 teams in two conferences with three divisions each. The divisions are basically only for scheduling purposes. The division winners are guaranteed a playoff spot, but not a seed. The top 8 from each conference make the playoffs and are seeded based on their record regardless of division.

How does Argentina work it with 28 teams?

 

[sbrylski]

How does Argentina work it with 28 teams?

Everyone plays everyone once. 27 games. Unbalanced H/A split.

 

[sbrylski]

Did you count CLB twice on that map, with a spot there for both Austin and Columbus?

The Ohio team I marked is Cincinnati.

 

[Ulrich]

Everyone plays everyone once. 27 games. Unbalanced H/A split.

Really? That’s a horrible solution- uneven H/A is a big variable and hurts the gate receipts.

 

[KennyD]

That math doesn't add up.
That said, I don't think we need that many games. And I don't think we'll see a home/away with limited teams from the opposite conference over a home/away split across more teams from the opposite conference.

Yup you are right you don't play yourself h/a. My bad on that one. Figured the H/A split would just cut down travel cost in a larger league. But would have no issue with seeing more teams on the schedule.

 

[joe]

20 team MLS West playing a balanced schedule.
20 team MLS East playing a balanced schedule.
Some sort of annual cup/tournament between the two.

Fin.

 

[sbrylski]

20 team MLS West playing a balanced schedule.
20 team MLS East playing a balanced schedule.
Some sort of annual cup/tournament between the two.

Fin.

I don't understand why 20 is some magical number that everyone wants. Because much of Europe does it? So what? Germany doesn't feel the need to have 20.

Regardless, MLS will never (1) expand to 40 teams and (2) won't make marquee matchups between top markets a rarity.

 

[Ulrich]

20 team MLS West playing a balanced schedule.
20 team MLS East playing a balanced schedule.
Some sort of annual cup/tournament between the two.

Fin.

Combine them for a league of 40 and play H/A every 3/4 days, no breaks. Winner of the league is the club with 11 guys that can do more running than walking by the 78th match. Then take 2 months off and repeat. It’ll give new value to the mid-season transfer window

 

[sbrylski]

Combine them for a league of 40 and play H/A every 3/4 days, no breaks. Winner of the league is the club with 11 guys that can do more running than walking by the 78th match. Then take 2 months off and repeat. It’ll give new value to the mid-season transfer window

Unlimited subs. And add a 2-point line for goals beyond 24 yards.

 

[Ulrich]

Unlimited subs. And add a 2-point line for goals beyond 24 yards.

Use the GPS to track distance covered and any team that drops more than 1% total per game loses 1 goal. No walking in this league!

 

[adam]

Unlimited subs. And add a 2-point line for goals beyond 24 yards.

How about allow fighting and a penalty box?

 

[joe]

I don't understand why 20 is some magical number that everyone wants. Because much of Europe does it? So what? Germany doesn't feel the need to have 20.

Regardless, MLS will never (1) expand to 40 teams and (2) won't make marquee matchups between top markets a rarity.

Can't speak for others, but for me it's more "placeholder number that allows each league to expand/fill in geography and provides manageable number of games with a balanced schedule."

 

[Ulrich]

How about allow fighting and a penalty box?

Sub on the fly?

 

[adam]

Sub on the fly?

It would sure end those lazy walks off the field when there's a sub done in the current format. You could even try to ping the extra guy with the ball to create a penalty.

 

[mgarbowski]

Gator posted those Das tweets a couple days ago suggesting they release a tiger on the field if the game gets too boring.

 

[Gotham Gator]

Gator posted those Das tweets a couple days ago suggesting they release a tiger on the field if the game gets too boring.

Remember, you don't have to be faster than the tiger. You just have to be faster than one other player.

 

[adam]

Remember, you don't have to be faster than the tiger. You just have to be faster than one other player.

So who gets eaten, Tummy or Pirlo?

 

[mgarbowski]

So who gets eaten, Tummy or Pirlo?

Sweat. He still won't run hard.

 

[Ulrich]

Sweat. He still won't run hard.

He has the very nice move inside that fakes out the tiger. He’s good.