{"id":794,"date":"2010-09-17T17:52:11","date_gmt":"2010-09-17T21:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=794"},"modified":"2010-09-17T17:52:11","modified_gmt":"2010-09-17T21:52:11","slug":"friday-crossfire-is-the-expanded-34-game-schedule-for-next-season-a-good-idea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=794","title":{"rendered":"Friday Crossfire: Is the expanded 34-game schedule for next season a good idea?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every Friday, New England Soccer Today will tackle a pressing\u00a0issue in the world of soccer. Each\u00a0topic will be argued by\u00a0a\u00a0different writer each week,\u00a0\u00a0with guest writers periodically\u00a0appearing to add\u00a0some flavor to the mix.<\/em><\/p>\n

This week, our writers debate the following question: “Is the expanded 34-game schedule for the 2011 MLS season a good idea<\/em>?” Arguing in the affirmative <\/strong>is Julian Cardillo<\/strong>, while\u00a0Brian O’Connell<\/strong> presents the dissenting view.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

YES.<\/strong> With the league expanding to 18 teams, the Revolution will have a longer season- the longest in fact in league history.\u00a0 For the Revolution, this is a particularly good thing.\u00a0 From a fan perspective, this change is exciting because it means more Revolution soccer throughout the year.\u00a0 The change sees the season start March 19 and end October 22.<\/p>\n

Secondly, the Revolution will have to find a quicker and more efficient way to prepare for the season with less time in between the start and finish of campaigns.\u00a0 Finding a new system of prepping for the season could result in the Revs playing higher profile friendlies during the off-season to keep bodies and tactics fresh and ready throughout the year.\u00a0Or maybe, Nicol will have to devise a specialized scouting crew as he wont have as much time as before- meaning we get a new perspective on signing talented players from around the world.<\/p>\n

Finally, the Revolution have a longer time to get the message out and bring fans to the game.\u00a0 Change can be good.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

NO. <\/strong>Now, don’t get me wrong: I love soccer. The more, the better, at least in my book.<\/p>\n

But in\u00a0this case,\u00a0I don’t believe it’s wise for MLS, as a business,\u00a0to employ an additional four matches – yet. The league is expanding faster than the universe, which is all daisies and\u00a0lilacs\u00a0right now. However, let’s not forget the larger picture: we’re in a global recession.\u00a0Does\u00a0this really make sense?\u00a0Unless Warren Buffett handed the league a blank check and I don’t know about it, the added games could come back to bite MLS in the butt down the road.<\/p>\n

Moreover, the general consensus is that\u00a0of the byproducts of\u00a0MLS’s rapid expansion\u00a0is the dilution of talent. And I\u00a0suspect the same argument can be made in terms of additional games. A 30-game season is tough enough as it is, especially for many rookies who are used to the\u00a0three-to-four month\u00a0season in NCAA soccer. So I think you’ll see alot of players – not just rookies -hit a wall in August and September, which happens to be a time when playoff races start to simmer and\u00a0the action should be at its sharpest.<\/p>\n

Lastly, with more games, each\u00a0one becomes less critical. Dilution of talent is one thing; the dilution of the regular season matches is another. It’s fair to say that most games from March to June are\u00a0fairly meaningless in the grand scheme of the season (see:\u00a0New England in\u00a02006 New\u00a0York in 2008 and Real Salt Lake in 2009)\u00a0because of the wide-open, eight-team playoff format. And now\u00a0the league’s\u00a0adding four more?<\/p>\n

If\u00a0MLS wants a 34-match schedule, then fine. But make it tougher to attain a playoff spot. Oh,\u00a0and let’s cool the jets on expansion in general so that the talent\u00a0level we saw a few years ago\u00a0can finally start to catch up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every Friday, New England Soccer Today will tackle a pressing\u00a0issue in the world of soccer. Each\u00a0topic will be argued by\u00a0a\u00a0different writer each week,\u00a0\u00a0with guest writers periodically\u00a0appearing to add\u00a0some flavor to the mix. This week, our writers debate the following question: “Is the expanded 34-game schedule for the 2011 MLS season a good idea?” Arguing in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":822,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/nyassi.jpg?fit=490%2C225&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=794"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":823,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794\/revisions\/823"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}