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Around SBN: The Pros and Cons of an 18-game NFL Schedule

LaPorta+Saputo=Garber's 20?

Now, most of my readers might know that I am a fan of the Montreal Impact joining MLS, if not, you are now. The third Canadian club just makes sense. Montreal is a large market, with a built in fanbase and it creates two more drivable derbies.

Garber even seems to indicate that they are as close a lock as they have been, but news from the Galaxy-Barcelona build-up might make things even clearer as to the League's future.

That kind of statement may be why Duane was getting such indications earlier this week.

Also in the above video it would seem that Garber wants to stop/pause at 20 for a significant time. Everyone seems to what city might be #20.

Could it be Barca Miami?

Laporta became familiar with MLS and its subsidiary, Soccer United Marketing (SUM), through negotiations to bring an expansion team to Miami.

Though negotiations failed, "the project is open,'' Laporta said.

"I had a lot of conversations with MLS,'' Laporta said. "In these meetings, I learned a lot of things, especially in marketing. SUM is working very well in this direction.''

The outgoing president, whose term expires next year, also said that he finds the development of American football impressive.

"We are really surprised at the progress of football in the States,'' Laporta said.

Is that the magic 20? Barca still seems to want in, so maybe it was the Brazilian telecom dollars that are gone, but the Catalan club still desires into MLS. Certainly there are a ton of questions as to how it would work, but with news that St Louis is basically done, I reluctantly say that for #20 Miami seems strongest.

"We're trying to get a franchise in MLS and to develop our image with campaigns in merchandising and marketing.''

There are two easy ways to keep matches in the low 30s (rather than single table, which is still a nightmare)

Two Conferences with Home/Away within Conference and half home/half away against the other (this would mean that the Wild Cards must be half of the playoff slots and that playoffs remain valid). There could remain two or four "rivalry" matches.

Four Divisions of Five with 2 home/2 away within the Group (16) + home/away against another Group (10) and each of the other groups either get home or away for 36 matches. This would increase the regionalism cutting travel costs, increase rivalries and TV (Sat night could have two TV matches) and again maintains a playoff system. To see this visually, click here.

It is notable that 9 of the 20 would have mild enough winters to play on March 1 without an orange ball.

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MUCH prefer a team in St. Louis than another one in Canada.

by ACK on Aug 1, 2009 10:05 PM PDT reply actions  

NO thank you, please stop sub dividing the league, we don’t need four divisions of five teams, the E v W is confusing/convoluted enough.

by jed on Aug 2, 2009 1:12 AM PDT reply actions  

ACK, why do you prefer St.Louis over Montreal for the league?

jed, what is confusing about East and West?

by Dave Clark on Aug 2, 2009 8:52 AM PDT up reply actions  

I definitely want Montreal to get in. The MLS can’t claim to be the top league in the US and Canada and only have two teams in Canada. Actually, I will be very disappointed if Montreal doesn’t get in. I like Canada.
Though I guess if Seattle didn’t already have a team, and it was down to us vs. them, I’d have to root against them.
I don’t like unbalanced schedules much, and I don’t really like four divisions, though I do like reduced travel (I know, I know, you really need unbalanced and divisions to have good travel). I think I might make a slightly different configuration than you, if they did go that way. Would they take the top two from each division for the playoffs?

by Cornchops on Aug 2, 2009 9:56 AM PDT reply actions  

I actually think that the more unbalanced a schedule is the more necessary it is for Wild Cards to exist.

The advantage that division play has over Conference is that the mini-cups/supporters cups would carry more meaning if based off of extensive play, then just two meetings. For example the Cascadia Cup would be based off of 12 matches rather than four. Winning that would matter. Rocky Mountain Cup would be 8 instead of two.

by Dave Clark on Aug 2, 2009 10:17 AM PDT reply actions  

Dave, why are you not a fan of Montreal?

by Ben on Aug 2, 2009 11:03 AM PDT reply actions  

I am a fan of the Montreal Impact joining MLS

That’s me quoting me. I love le’Impact for MLS.

by Dave Clark on Aug 2, 2009 11:12 AM PDT up reply actions  

I think Miami would be horrible. The Hispanic market is an illusion for MLS. Yes, Hispanics as a demographic group do tend to like soccer, but they are also largely spoken for in terms of teams to support. In my opinion, the Hispanic population should be subtracted out when evaluating a market’s potential support for MLS. Add in on top of that the fact that the largest Hispanic segment in Miami is Cuban and that Cubans generally prefer baseball to soccer and you’ve got the recipe for rather mediocre support.

by CarlosT on Aug 3, 2009 1:37 AM PDT reply actions  

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