Read the previous blog post
here. Not really necessary.
Not realizing my first attempt at filling Major League
Soccer’s SIXTEEN consecutive weeks of naught, also known as the offseason, or
more accurately known as THE INSIGNIFICANT BLACK HOLE OF INSIGNIFICANCE, would
be so popular, I’ve decided to sequalize.
Disclaimer: While this learned article is worthy of
publication in The Journal of Online
Soccer FunWishery and strictly adheres to the unimpeachable, universally
agreed upon, totally copacetic and infinitely adequate standards set forth in
the Journal’s Guide to Writing FunWishery,
I hereby state unequivocally and without preposterousness that, regardless of
your or anyone else’s opinion, my opinion, contrived, arrived at and singly
contemplated using the above unim…blah, blah, blah…standards found in The Journal of Online Soccer FunWishery’s
Guide to Writing FunWishery, the Major League Soccer regular season should
start in early August, flow through approximately December 20th,
take a break for something close to three weeks, or maybe twenty one days,
whichever comes first, and then all teams should gather in a city, or two cities, possessing
substantial winter warmth and string bikinis for perhaps fourteen days plus
seven days, or maybe seven plus seven plus seven days, where all Major League Soccer
players will run, jog, walk, juggle, kick and generally move about for the
edification of team paraphernalia wearing, Guinness and Whiskey drinking,
blabbering, blogging, twittering and instapicturing Fan-Bobslobberer’s, before
recommencing the Major League Soccer regular season in early February, or any
other month of the year that starts with the letter “F” and ends with the
letter “WHY?.” Thus and then, the Major League Futsocbol season will “Spring”
to life, erupting in all its fan-glorious Futsocbol hormonal glee, before
climaxing in late May, or perhaps early June if it can continue sawing away
like a lumberjack cutting deeper and deeper into virgin forest.
Today’s installment will seek to compare and contrast the
pros and cons of a potential Fall to Spring (F-S) Major League Soccer season
with the current Spring to Fall (S-F) version.
The first order of business is the making of the dreaded
list of applicable “stuff” which is common to both the F-S and S-F narratives
of Major League Soccer. The second component of this astonishing Helltown Beer
blog post is the insightful evaluation of the “stuff’s” influence on Major
League Soccer’s rate of growth/success.
List of “Stuff” (in
no particular order and non-exhaustive, though, I’m exhausted)
Weather
Business Concerns
Media
Length of Breaks in Schedule
Other Revenue Seeking Teams, Competition, Sports
Let’s start with number one (what a clever idea).
1.Weather:
The current season format, S-F, has two weather related
issues. The MLS Cup, due to being held at the home of the participating team
with the best regular season record, could end up in a very cold, snowy
climate. Cold and snow are not much of an issue other than the final, though
there is the possibility of some earlier playoff rounds being affected in this
manor. Cold and snow should not be an issue at the beginning of the season as
more Southern based teams join MLS. The first couple weeks of the season could
be played at the home of clubs situated in warmer climates. The middle of the
season, the summer months, can be brutally hot in some locales. Scheduling of
games in the hottest climates could be moved to later in the evening, but this
could pose a problem flexibility wise and for Television.
The F-S format would avoid the heat issues by playing the
first couple weekends in the league’s more Northerly cities. The winter issues
would be solved, again, by playing the last couple weeks of the fall and first
few weeks of Spring down south.
Conclusion: There are ways Major League Soccer can lessen
the impact of weather regardless of the season running F-S or S-F. Weather
should not be a serious factor.
2. Business Concerns:
This is a potentially very broad topic. Let’s try to keep it
simple. The current format poses some significant issues in regards to player
movement, as some of the better leagues around the globe play F-S, making
buying and selling players from and to those leagues problematic. I will
profess to know little about such things, and so, will leave it at that.
Conclusion: I do believe changing to the F-S format would
help expedite player movement in and out of MLS, which should, in theory, lead
to MLS teams improving at a faster pace. This is factor of some impact.
3&5. Media/Other Revenue
Seeking Soccer Competitions, Teams:
S-F format has a number of serious issues, in regards to
media/other, when compared to F-S format. The summer months find the mainstream
media, and the soccer media, focusing on things like the World Cup, EUFA
Championship, high profile teams (Barcelona, Manchester United, etc.)
travelling to the States, Gold Cup and other competitions. These competitions
draw an inordinate amount of attention away from Major League Soccer at precisely
the time the S-F regular season should expect to enjoy the most attention.
Without promotion and relegation, the playoffs and cup final,
arguably the part of any professional sports season that should really ignite
the media fires, run head-to-head with the most exciting bit of the College football
season.
F-S would have regular season games going up against College
and Professional Football, not the playoffs. F-S would also bypass the issues
of trying to compete with the biggest soccer competitions in the world.
Conclusion: These things are a HUGE issue. They, especially
the summer, are a large portion of the season.
4. Length of Breaks:
For most of the teams and players in Major League Soccer the
S-F offseason is ridiculously long (see the above description of a black hole).
From the first week of November to the beginning of March there are NO regular
season games! I repeat, for SIXTEEN weeks there is not a single meaningful game
for most Major League Soccer teams.
A F-S season allows ALL teams to play more games during what
is typically the best soccer weather in the States, Fall. F-S easily cuts the
winter break down to only eight weeks, maybe less, and creates a natural period
of time to develop a truly delightful winter tradition. The F-S format also
makes for a seven to eight week summer break.
Overall Conclusion: The F-S format keeps Major League Soccer
in the public conscious on a virtually year round basis. F-S allows MLS fans
the chance to, during the summer months, focus for a few weeks on other
competitions and not have those competitions dim the view of their league.
While many S-F devotees laud the summer months, I believe the summer months
seriously harm the growth of the league in terms of perception, attention, and
potential profit. F-S allows for easier movement of players. F-S keeps the
penultimate weeks of the Major League Soccer season away from the most popular
sport in the United States. As I mentioned in my previous post, MLS playoffs
going up against the first few rounds of the NBA and NHL playoffs is vastly
superior to what they compete with currently.
This is not an exhaustive look at this issue. I
think it’s a good start. Would like to hear differing opinions with some
specifics to back them up.
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