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Health & Fitness

Why Major League Soccer is Backwards

Major League Soccer is the US's top professional soccer league. It's totally different from any other soccer league in the world.

Almost all of the other countries' leagues consist of about 20 teams who play every other team once home, and once away. The MLS consists of 19 teams that play 34 games each, and teams are grouped in 2 conferences, so the teams play in their own conference more than the other one. This creates an uneven schedule, so some teams will have easier games than other teams.

The season runs from March to October while most other countries' leagues run from August to May, except for places like Norway where the climate forces the league to take a Winter break. Why? Well the NFL runs from September to February, and the MLS bends around it so there is no viewing competition. This causes problems with international tournaments like the World Cup and Gold Cup, as they take place in the summer, which is the off-season for all other countries.

Another major difference in the MLS is playoffs. Playoffs are games that some teams qualify for, and the previous 34 games of the regular season are thrown out the window. If you lose, your season is over. Why playoffs? The other major sports leagues in America (NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL) all have playoffs deciding the winner. In these high action sports, playoffs are an exciting way to end the season, but it doesn't work as well in soccer. No other soccer leagues use playoffs to decide first place, so that the best team wins. 

The MLS lacks relegation. Relegation is an exciting system in which the 3 or 4 worst teams drop into a lower league, and are replaced by the 3 or 4 best teams from the lower league. This gives the bad teams something to play for. Since the MLS franchises that finish last are guaranteed to play again next year they do not improve and consistently stay in the lower spots. Since only some teams make the playoffs, finishing last is just as good as 6th.

Jurgen Klinsmann, the US national team coach has called for changes to the MLS for the last couple of years. If nothing changes, Major League Soccer will be the same wannabee NBA or NHL scavenging for old famous players (Thierry Henry, David Beckham, Robbie Keane) like it is today.



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