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Fixing the broken MLS Playoffs

By Zac Wassink

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The MLS Playoffs as they exist are broken, but the fix is an easy one.

It’s that magical time of the year when the Major League Soccer Playoffs are somewhat put underneath the spotlight, and thus the topic of fixing the MLS Playoffs is again on the minds of some who follow the league.

This is hardly a new topic. It’s one I’ve touched upon for other websites in the past. With MLS on the verge of having a new television partner in FOX Sports, changing only the amount of teams awarded postseason berths shouldn’t cut it for the league or for fans this time around.

Under the system utilized for the 2014 campaign, 10 of 19 teams, five from the Eastern Conference and five from the Western Conference, qualify for the MLS Playoffs. The fourth and fifth seeds in each conference do battle in a Wildcard Round that ultimately sets up No. 1 vs. No. 4/5 home-and-home series. Winners from the conference series compete in another home-and-away match-up to determine the two sides that will face off for the MLS Cup. 2014 is the first year that MLS has adopted the controversial “away goals rule.”

Over half of the teams in MLS competing in a postseason tournament waters down and cheapens the playoff format. “But Zac,” MLS defenders quickly respond, “the league is growing. Multiple expansion clubs will be joining MLS over the next several years!”

So what? The National Football League has 32 franchises. 12 teams, six from each conference, make the postseason, and the NFL is responsible for the best playoff format in sports (that the league is thinking of expanding the playoffs to allow additional teams to qualify for the postseason is borderline criminal).

The Wildcard Round of the MLS Playoffs contains two objectives: It forces lower seeds to have to make longer runs to win MLS Cup, and it theoretically rewards the clubs that won regular season conference titles by giving them match-ups against lesser seeds that had to win a Wildcard match. It’s a cool concept, one that does not require ten playoff teams.

Something must be pointed out before explaining how one would fix the MLS Playoffs: MLS is not going to a single table format. The league wisely wants to showcase regional rivalries by having teams such as the Portland Timbers and Seattle Sounders face off multiple times a year, and thus abandoning the conference structure is illogical.

That out of the way, granting six teams postseason berths, three from each conference, makes for an entertaining playoff structure suitable for determining a MLS champion.

Oct 30, 2014; Harrison, NY, USA; New York Red Bulls forward Bradley Wright-Phillips (99), forward Thierry Henry (14) and midfielder Dax McCarty (11) celebrate their win against the Sporting KC at Red Bull Arena. The Red Bulls defeated the Sporting KC 2-1. Mandatory Credit: Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports

A playoff format with three teams out of the MLS East and three from the MLS West rewards regular season conference winners in that they would get a Bye week. Doing so eliminates the need for midweek games, something that is a plus for everybody involved.

Part of fixing the MLS Playoffs involves killing off those midweek playoff games for good. Those contests do teams and the league no favors. They don’t draw big attendance numbers or monster television ratings, and some of them go ignored by TV companies that instead choose to air other programming.

What else about the current MLS Playoffs that has to go? Sunday games. All of them.

MLS competing for attention versus the NFL is like me competing in a legit fight against Brock Lesner: Sure, maybe I’ll land a cheap blow that gives me some hope, but the ending will be predictable and painful for one of us not named Brock Lesner.

The NFL is obviously Lesner in this scenario.

FOX and ESPN have more than enough stations to air Saturday MLS Playoff games somewhere among their families of networks. Using the 2014 calendar for this simulation, the tournament would look like this:

November 1: No. 2 seeds host No. 3 seeds in knockout match.

November 8: Winners from knockout matches host No. 1 seeds.

November 15: No. 1 seeds host winners from the knockout matches.

November 22: Last two teams standing compete for MLS Cup.

Done and done.

This format for the MLS Playoffs ensures that the best of the best from each conference compete for the league title. It takes away the need for midweek postseason games that people don’t pay to watch in-person and that don’t watch on TV. Just as important is that a shortened format including only six clubs keeps MLS Cup from occurring on the same Saturday that NCAA College Football conference championship games are scheduled.

MLS will always be fighting an uphill battle against more-established sports properties. North American club soccer isn’t yet close to being on the levels of leagues such as the NFL or the NBA as it pertains to national audiences. The league taking steps to make such competitions fairer fights is what is best for MLS.

It’s simple. Don’t put MLS Cup up against Championship Saturday or versus NFL Sunday Night Football.

For those of you who believe that MLS needs to abandon playoffs entirely and instead award the regular season champions as MLS Cup winners: You need to get over it. We are in North America and not Europe. We have postseason tournaments here.

MLS finishing seasons with playoff games isn’t a problem. The format is the problem, and it is a problem that can easily be remedied.

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