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SBI Live Q&A (Nov. 23rd Edition)

 

It's that time again. Time for the latest SBI Live Q&A.

If you have some soccer-related questions, get ready to throw them my way. Want to talk MLS Cup? U.S. national team? European soccer? Whatever it is, let's talk about it.

Send your questions my way (Q&A is after the jump):

 

Comments

  1. Gosh, i wish the world cup could be this coming summer!!! it really looks like we are going to be stronger than ever once we get some of the new talent settled in…

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  2. Just now getting to read over the comments-

    Bob Bradley’s seriously considering the 4-2-3-1?!!!
    Holy Cow that would bring the sickiness!!!
    Altidore
    Donovan-Holden-Dempsey
    Jones-Edu/Bradley
    Boca-Onyewu-Demerit-Dolo
    Howard

    that 2nd line is AMAZING

    (I know demerit doesn’t seem to play with the nats anymore, but i just can’t accept it. also i know the backline is kind of a toss up now with the new guys coming in and lichaj looking good, just throwing the world cup one out there for these purposes…super pumped about our midfield!!!! Hope that the forward spot ends up being a toss up with more competition and new guys like the backline, and maybe a charlie davies comeback…)

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  3. Like I said “MLS loves playoffs”. Of course, I am aware of the weighted lottery concept. The best way to ensure success in a weighed lottery is to come in last which is tantamount to rewarding failure, but the lottery concept introduces a razor thin chance that complete failure will not be rewarded. Why not make teams play? You will see some motivated games.

    I do not really care, but I feel MLS has added more playoff teams in the wrong way. Imagine if the NFL made teams play for the number one pick and teams could earn the home field advantage by having a better regular season record. The NFL would sell tickets and teams would be motivated. I know, apples and oranges.

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  4. Or, actually, the conference record could decide the playoff standings (top 6 from each conference with 1 & 2 getting byes) to get stronger playoff representation, and the divisions would only exist to determine the rotation between non-conference teams.

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  5. I like it. The current in-conference games are only marginally more meaningful than non-conference games. I played around with your idea, and yeah, it’s tough to do without some imbalance, a la the three games, etc.

    One possible solution is to go to an NFL style schedule, where you rotate the other divisions that you play each year.

    For example, you could play each team in your conference home & away (18 games) and then one non-conference division home & away (10 games) and then the 4th division just 2 teams, home & away, (4 games) for a 32-game, balanced home-away schedule with the divisional records deciding the playoff teams, and the conference record being a tie-breaker.

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  6. On a similar note, the European market (~300 million people) is about the same size as the U.S. and supports 100 or more “first division” teams. I can very easily foresee that the U.S. can support more first division teams than the current MLS 20.

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  7. A lot of us would love promotion/relegation in Americans sports, but the problem is no owner wants to pay a $40 million MLS franchise fee and then risk being relegated to some second-tier, small market league. Nope, they just want to keep their crappy product in the big market.

    Personally, I think there’s a better chance that something like the NASL, with teams in good markets like Miami, St. Louis, etc. becomes good enough to compete with the MLS, then some sort of AFL-NFL merger or MLS – NASL conference system could be set up. I’m not saying this would happen in the near future, totally depends on how well NASL develops its league.

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  8. Why not just do a weighted lottery like the NBA? Your system would likely leave the worst team with the 4th pick. How does that make sense?

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  9. Interesting point about Schelotto — though Ives is convinced the Crew will miss him, I read the team was 7-0 when he didn’t play.

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  10. Trade DC and Toronto and your east works. Need the two Canadian teams in same division and DC needs to keep rivalries with NY and Philly.

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  11. The playoff idea would keep teams at the bottom from knowing they get the number one pick by coming in last. It should be an incentive to win.

    In other US sports leagues there is always discussion among fans about whether or not their team should win their last few games when losing could result in the top pick.

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  12. and IVES! what do you think? looking it over it kind of seems cool (still id prefer a single table). But this seems to actually look like cool divisions. maybe the top 2 from each division make the playoffs.

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  13. I don’t like unbalanced schedules, but what you guys think of this idea once we get to 20 teams and assuming the league must have an unbalanced schedule? lets assume new york is the 20th team…
    TWO conferences- East and West
    Four Divisions
    West 1- LA, Chivas, San Jose, Dallas, Houston
    West 2- Portland,Seattle, Vancouver, RSL, Colorado
    East 1- Chicago, Columbus, DC, KC, Toronto
    East 2- RBNY, NY 2, Montreal, Philly, New England

    Total of 32 games for each team.
    LA for example would play each team in their division 3 times, the teams in the other western division 2 times, and the teams in the east 1 time. Each year would flip flop who you played home or away.

    My issue with my divisions- how to split up the east?

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  14. Parity is great, but at the end of the day it’s a little annoying that the season doesn’t seem to count for much once the playoff start (if you look at the last few seasons anyway)

    Do you ever think a promotion/relegation system could work for MLS?

    Also, why not make the MLS cup an open format like Copa del Rey or Carling Cup. Bracket all comers to make you all american Cinderlla story lines.

    Would it ever happen?

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  15. Ives, Here is an idea to make the MLS season more relevant for teams “at the bottom of the table”. My idea is to have the four teams with the fewest points have a playoff for the the top 4 draft picks. There would be four teams. Next year it would be 18 @ 15 and 17 @ 16. The winners play for the top pick at team with the lowest remaining seed. This might encourage teams at the bottom to play for home field advantage in the draft playoffs. What do you think? MLS loves playoffs.

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