#1 I would say okay we're going to have pro/rel in 5 years. This would give MLS and everybody a timeline to work towards as I dont think it would be fair to just drop it on everyone overnight. If MLS or any other league doesn't want to participate they don't have to, but they will be operating as an unsanctioned league.

We'll just say for our purposes that MLS, NASL, USL, and NPSL all agree to be involved and those are your 4 main leagues in our pyramid, in that order.

#2 I would utilize the Mexico style of a 3 year rolling "score" by which clubs are relegated from a league. I understand that the US is still a "young" soccer country in many ways and I'm not interested in punishing a club over one bad season, which may be more due to bad luck than anything else. Using this system relegates only those clubs that are consistently struggling to compete at their division level. You may even have years where nobody is relegated.

For example. Lets say the Colorado Rapids are relegated and the San Francisco Deltas are promoted. San Francisco would not be "eligible" for relegation until 3 full years in MLS. They they finish bottom in the MLS West those first 2 years then nobody would be relegated as the bottom club in that conference isn't eligible for relegation at that point.

#3 It would have to be regionalized. The US being wayyyyyy bigger than other countries makes a pro/rel system that doesnt take geography into account untenanble. From MLS I would relegate 1 club from each conference down to NASL, which would need to have conferences set up as well. Relegation from NASL to USL and USL to NPSL would probably be even more geographic specific. You'd also probably have to start pro rel between USL and NPSL for a year or two before incorporating it with NASL and then another year or two before bringing in MLS.

This post was edited on 8/3/17 at 9:58 am

2 ...

Report Post

Posted by cwil177

Baton Rouge

Member since Jun 2011

28470 posts

Posted on 8/3/17 at 11:02 am to Draconian Sanctions

quote:

#1 I would say okay we're going to have pro/rel in 5 years. This would give MLS and everybody a timeline to work towards as I dont think it would be fair to just drop it on everyone overnight. If MLS or any other league doesn't want to participate they don't have to, but they will be operating as an unsanctioned league.

We'll just say for our purposes that MLS, NASL, USL, and NPSL all agree to be involved and those are your 4 main leagues in our pyramid, in that order.

#2 I would utilize the Mexico style of a 3 year rolling "score" by which clubs are relegated from a league. I understand that the US is still a "young" soccer country in many ways and I'm not interested in punishing a club over one bad season, which may be more due to bad luck than anything else. Using this system relegates only those clubs that are consistently struggling to compete at their division level. You may even have years where nobody is relegated.

For example. Lets say the Colorado Rapids are relegated and the San Francisco Deltas are promoted. San Francisco would not be "eligible" for relegation until 3 full years in MLS. They they finish bottom in the MLS West those first 2 years then nobody would be relegated as the bottom club in that conference isn't eligible for relegation at that point.

#3 It would have to be regionalized. The US being wayyyyyy bigger than other countries makes a pro/rel system that doesnt take geography into account untenanble. From MLS I would relegate 1 club from each conference down to NASL, which would need to have conferences set up as well. Relegation from NASL to USL and USL to NPSL would probably be even more geographic specific. You'd also probably have to start pro rel between USL and NPSL for a year or two before incorporating it with NASL and then another year or two before bringing in MLS.

I enjoyed this post more than your others because it actually explains what you find feasible and reasonable rather than being another anti MLS diatribe. You may be surprised to hear that I actually agree with your points, for the most part. I would love to see promotion and relegation here but as another poster said, I'm not convinced our burgeoning soccer infrastructure is ready to be turned on its head for it yet. Our league is only 20 years old and has almost collapsed at times. The old NASL collapsed and then we didn't have a domestic league for another twenty years. I don't want something catastrophic like that to happen again because promotion and relegation gets instituted too soon. But overall I thought this was a good post.

That said, USL has been consistently an equal if not better product than NASL for the past few years (at least head to head and in some places based on attendance figures). Not sure NASL should automatically get D2 status in a pro/rel scenario.

2 ...

Report Post

Posted by Hester Carries

Member since Sep 2012

22518 posts

Posted on 8/3/17 at 1:27 pm to Draconian Sanctions

But how are you going to tell the owners that purchased a franchise for millions of dollars that you are going to let others win their way into the league you helped pay for without having to invest.

Would all owners of potential teams outside of MLS be required to pay a franchise fee? That only seems fair.

1 ...

Report Post

Soccer Board - Replies to Post

Return To Board

Page 1

Return To Board