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MLS Commissioner Don Garber gave his annual State of the League Address on Monday and covered a wide range of topics, from expansion to the Collective Bargaining Agreement to the Designated Player rule.
Here are some of the highlights:
Garber downplayed talk about a potential player's strike or lockout, but was also clear in stating that MLS wasn't going to cave in its CBA negotiations simply to avoid a work stoppage.
"We, the league, will not agree to a CBA that will negatively impact our ability to continue to grow this sport in the United States and Canada," Garber said. "We've been very committed to doing that and quite successfully, I might add, for the last 14 years and we're not going to compromise any of the key issues that we're discussing confidentially within this agreement in order to avoid a stoppage."
Garber also revealed that MLS was in talks with Montreal about becoming the league's 19th team.
"We've had productive conversations with Montreal to be our 19th team," Garber said. "We have not put a timetable as to when that team would join the league if we're able to reach agreement with them. We do not have any active discussions going on of note for the 20th team and certainly don't have any timetable for the 20th team."
Garber revealed that MLS is considering having the host the MLS Cup Final be determined by regular season record.
"There's support here in the league to really strongly consider moving MLS Cup away from a designated site and into a market where the team that earns the right to host it does so," Garber said. "We obviously have a lot of logistical challenges we're working through to figure out if we're able to pull it off."
Garber also touched on topics such as the Designated Player (MLS is happy with it, though he wouldn't say whether a second DP slot per team was happening), the CONCACAF Champions League (Garber stated that MLS teams need to start winning the tournament) and single table (MLS won't be going to it in 2010).
What did you think of Garber's comments? Like the idea of a top seed hosting an MLS Cup Final? Disappointed that Single Table isn't coming? See Montreal being a successful 19th MLS team?
Share your thoughts below.
you couldnt pay me to watch a raiders v chiefs game. that’s probably why half their home games are blacked out. some rivalries.
if your team sucks, they suck whether the schedule is divisional or single table. a raiders fan knows this. conferences dont keep bad teams’ fans interested or create more money. bad teams have bad attendance because fans only pay to see a good product. if a team blows, the only reason fans pay to see their games is if the opponent is a great team. single table is better for that, because it guarantees every team plays every other.
Are u serious? The old afc west (oak, sd, kc, den, sea) and the current is full of rivalries. Go to a any game between those teams and I guarentee u will feel differently even if one or both teams are down. Your comment is shortsided.
I wasn’t just referring to those matches I was talking about matches played at Gillette and RFK period, as in all of them.
That wasn’t the point anyway, I was just pulling Wolfgang’s card for not knowing what he was talking about.
that sonics comment is so timely. the sonics didn’t move cause they couldn’t sell tickets. stay classy johnny utah.
how is that the way it is supposed to be? the champions league final is in a neutral site…cup finals are at neutral sites…what makes that way the way it is supposed to be? Its not really a final at that point its a one game playoff with the “better” team having home field advantage, with the crowd being 90% in favor of one team. doesn’t make for an interesting game.
RMP
I agree with most of your rival assessment. Try not to take you eye off the ball. IT all leads back to $. The conferences were set up in NFL, NHL and MLS for $. Let me explain. IF your team sucks in a single table set up no one willl come, nothing to write about, no interest. However by creating conferences and division will keep your team involved to make the playoffs. This will keep each city involved in MLS iof their team still has a chance to make the playoffs at the end of the year. Interest will have more fans at the game and more people watching TV games.
single table is the way to go. everyone plays everyone twice, home and away, best 8 make the playoffs. it is the simplest, it is the fairest, it is the best.
the arguments in favor of conferences are bunk. regional rivalries would still exist in a single table format, if anything the games would be more important, more intense, because there’d only be the two meetings between rivals each season.
but actually the main reason the conferences argument is silly is that most “regional rivalries” are BORING. i live in the bay area, so i’m unfortunately a niner fan. do you think the NFC west and it’s “rivalries” excites me? SF v SEA, STL, or ARI? all ugly matchups. the same is true of the AFC west. what would i rather watch? NE v IND, like any NFL fan. not because it is a “regional rivalry” which it obviously isn’t but because those are the best teams. THE BEST RIVALRIES DEVELOP BETWEEN THE BEST TEAMS, REGARDLESS OF LOCATION OR CONFERENCE. when the niners were good in the 80s and 90s their biggest rivals were the packers and the cowboys, not because they were close by, but because they were the other great teams, most frequently battling for the championship, so the games with them meant the most. it’s the same in the epl or la liga. man utd v chelsea is a big rivalry not because manchester is near london, it’s not, but because for the last 5 seasons they’ve been the best. real madrid v barca is big not because they’re neighbors, they aren’t, but because they’re perennially title contenders.
a single table assures that you see every team each season. every club will have a history against every other club. that actually means MORE rivalries will develop.
Whiney much? StubHub, eBay, Craigslist…
How did SRL do in their first season? 5th in west and missed the playoffs? Good start!
Seattle still has more NBA championships as Salt Lake City.
if Garber wants teams to win the Champions League, they should award each team a point for every match they play in the CCL. That will encourage them to try to win
Three regional conferences of 6 sounds good.
The majority of players playing in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Bundesliga 2, League One, etc., are playing there because the pay is better, not because the play is better.
With a higher salary cap and being able to offer the guys a COMPETITIVE WAGE, we can compete with those leagues and maintaining our current talent pool and improving our chances of keeping the top college soccer talent from opting into contracts over seas initially.
dude, that makes no sense. Each team is still playing each other twice next year no matter what. A single table would just simplify things, and wouldn’t affect who plays where or fan support at all
95% of the Russian Premier league is in 15% of the country (like much of Russia’s population) with an absurd amount of teams coming from Moscow.
Brazil is single table…once the teams play in the state championships to determine who is in the ‘main tournament’ which usually results in a large number of teams from Rio and Sao Paolo as well.
So ‘yes and no’ is the answer to whether larger nations have single table.
Ok, you got me here, but allow me to note that attendance is only one issue. The idea of hosting the final at the highest remaining seed raises a number of major question ie.conflicting schedules with other teams/events using the facility, unsightly gridiron lines, advertising, etc.
Another cool aspect of the single table is the ability to be relegated. Not that MLS has a 2nd division to move teams too though. All teams play till the end. It doesn’t come down to half the teams playing for a playoff spot. You would have the bottom teams playing to stay alive!
That’s the way it’s suppose to be. This ain’t the NFL. The only reason they don’t do it is because no one is going to Buffalo when it’s -10 and snowing out.
I did not realize opinions are wrong but I hope that make you feel better by telling me I am. “Essentially” is still not a true or total single table so next year we will not have a single table. My point is, whether or not you have playoffs, a “true single” ( not essentially)table will not exist until you have a relegation. I actually like the current format, except when a western conference team is hold holding up eastern conference champion trophy. In next years format, will that change? Doubt it!
Hey Sounders fan… We don’t need attendance smack from you- We’re in the finals, you’re not. Scoreboard. Now go and enjoy the game.
We’ll see how it is when your team is as bad as RSL was for the first four years of it’s existence. RSL does just fine for what they are and the marketing that they put into it. BTW, how’s that Sonics attendance going for you?