Even before MLS Cup was played last night, attention had already been turned to the format changes for the 2012 season, which will welcome the Montreal Impact as the league’s 19th team – yes, there’s still a 20th set for New York, whenever there’s another stadium built there.
For now, here’s the deal with the regular season and the playoffs through the eyes of D.C. United. First, the Impact joins D.C. as the 10th team in the Eastern Conference. With MLS refocusing the league on regional/conference rivalries in an effort to reduce overall travel, United will play 25 of its 34 games next season against conference opponents, seven teams three times and twice for the other two. As a guess, I’d bet D.C. plays Kansas City and Houston only twice, based purely on geography.
The catch, of course, is that D.C. will only play the nine teams in the Western Conference once each, via some combination of five home games and four away, or vice versa. The biggest attractions to RFK? Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, Vancouver and Real Salt Lake. Of course, the trip that D.C. United would probably rather put off would be to Colorado.
While regional rivalries are important, an international city like D.C. loses something by not having every Western Conference team visit each season. But it would have been worse if D.C. didn’t play every team at least once. That was the fear before the changes were announced.
MLS also tweaked its playoff format, most notably moving MLS Cup from a predetermined site to that of the finalist with the highest number of regular season points. That means aside from the 10th of 10 teams to make the playoffs – five from each conference, therefore eliminating the senseless switching that landed New York in the West in 2008 and this year and Real Salt Lake in the East in 2009 – every team in the playoffs has at least some chance of hosting MLS Cup, with the Supporters’ Shield winner knowing its theirs, thus adding a reward for finishing with the best regular season record. Of course, with the conference final extended to a two-game series, the same as the conference semifinals, much of that advantage for higher-seeded teams goes away.
Perhaps the best thing about the 2012 schedule is that its release could be just a few weeks away, and the season is supposed to start in early March. For now, here are the specifics from the league’s announcement if what I’ve explained doesn’t make sense:
CONFERENCES:
- The Montreal Impact begins its inaugural MLS season as the League’s 19th team and will be the 10th team in the Eastern Conference. The Western Conference will consist of the same nine clubs as in 2011.
REGULAR SEASON:
- Each of the 19 MLS clubs will play 34 games, 17 at home and 17 away.
o All clubs will play an equal schedule within their respective conference.
Western Conference – 24 in-conference + 10 out-of-conference games:
- Western Conference clubs will play each West opponent 3 times (24 games):
o West clubs will play 4 conference opponents twice at home and once away
o They will play the other 4 conference opponents once at home and twice away.
o The home and away games will be reversed in 2013.
- Western Conference clubs will play each East opponent once each (10 games):
o 5 of these will be at home and 5 will be away.
o The East opponents each team faces at home and away will be reversed in 2013.
Eastern Conference – 25 in-conference + 9 out-of-conference games:
- Eastern Conference clubs will play 25 games against other East clubs:
o East teams will play 7 conference opponents three times each (21 games) and
o 2 conference opponents twice each (4 games).
- Eastern Conference clubs will play each West opponent once each (9 games):
o Some will play 4 at home and 5 away while others will play 5 at home and 4 away.
o The West opponents each team faces at home and away will be reversed in 2013.
MLS CUP PLAYOFFS:
- 10 clubs will qualify for the MLS Cup Playoffs – the top five in points from each conference at the end of the regular season.
o The 4th- and 5th– place teams will play a single knockout game, the winner of which will advance to the Conference Semifinals and face the 1st-place team in the conference.
o The Conference Semifinals will be decided by a two-game, aggregate-goal format (same as 2011).
o The Conference Championships will be decided by a two-game, aggregate-goal format (change from recent years).
o MLS Cup will be hosted by the finalist that finished the regular season with the most points in the standings.
