Talk:Major League Soccer

Note incorrect

I have no problem with MLS being described as a US league with some teams based in Canada. However, the note saying that the CSA has no involvement in MLS is incorrect. According to [1], "All referees in MLS are either USSF (United States Soccer Federation) or CSA (Canadian Soccer Association) National Referees. All MLS games played in the United States will be assigned by USSF and all games played in Canada will be assigned by CSA." KitHutch (talk) 14:56, 26 November 2011 (UTC)

I fully agree. I think the meaning is that CSA doesn't have any responsibilities in sanctioning the teams. How to change the note? --Walter Görlitz (talk) 16:10, 26 November 2011 (UTC)

The change should be the note totally being removed. I'm going to delete it but if someone feels this is too bold, feel free to revert and discuss further. Aside from the note being 100% factually wrong, does anyone have any problems with the article's lead? The only thing controversial that gets brought up now and then is what "based in the United States" implies. To some people, it degrades the importance of Canadian involvement. But MLS itself[2] as well as many other authorities in the sport describe it as being a United States league. Canadian soccer is incredibly important to MLS but it does not define its identity beyond it being an American league that happens to have some Canadian teams (and refs). Somewhere under the "Organization" section, the CSA should be mentioned with the link KitHutch provided. Canadian soccer should get its fair shake but it shouldn't be blown out of proportion. --Blackbox77 (talk) 02:51, 27 November 2011 (UTC)

It may have been too bold, but the lede has been acceptable until Spinerod added the note the other day. Let's see if he has a comment on it. --Walter Görlitz (talk) 03:39, 27 November 2011 (UTC)

I think the intent of "no CSA involvement" is in reference to the league itself. Yes, Canadian teams have shown themselves to be valuable assets to the league, but beyond providing refs for games in Canada, the CSA is not involved in anyway to my knowledge, in the organization or running of the league in the way the USSF is. I think these distinctions are important, mostly stemming from my time on soccer forums, where there seems to be a huge amount of confusion about this, specifically amongst Canadian posters. I'm not going to add it in, but I think further discussion on how to address the designation of the influence or lack of the USSF and CSA exert is very relevant. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Triplehelix76 (talk • contribs) 02:02, 9 February 2012 (UTC)

Roster format

I have started a discussion at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Football#Roster format regarding a proposed change to all club roster pages that would honour WP:MOSFLAG. Please see the discussion started there and the original discussion at Talk:Vancouver Whitecaps FC#New squad format for Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps FC. --Walter Görlitz (talk) 20:48, 15 December 2011 (UTC)

League Template

What are people's thoughts on the current state of the league template at the bottom of most MLS pages? I feel like I tried to do something similar a few years ago and it got met with some backlash.

Current state:

Previous state:

--Blackbox77 (talk) 01:03, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

I think it would benefit from the league articles on the bottom being categorized, but either the current format or the previous one are pretty decent. --Fifty7 (talk) 01:50, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

It looks more standard and less like eye candy. --Walter Görlitz (talk) 02:00, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

I like the current version having a cleaner organization of teams and sharing the style set by other major US sports league templates. But I also like the older version for being less cluttered, highlighting individual seasons, and following the Wikipedia soccer template format. I'd agree the current definitely can be accused of being eye candy. Red and blue aren't even MLS conference colors. --Blackbox77 (talk) 02:19, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

"Criticism" in re: Playoff Structure

Given that the Playoff Structure has changed for this year, should the criticisms about it be removed, or reworded to explain to former criticism? Achowat (talk) 15:59, 6 February 2012 (UTC)

Re-written but not removed. The problem is not the structure of the playoffs but rather their existence. --Walter Görlitz (talk) 17:02, 6 February 2012 (UTC)

Well, that's not what the article currently says. The Arguments brough up in regards to the Cup playoffs are the West/East crossover and the Playoffs reducing the importance of the regular season. Do you have a source that there is significant criticism on the idea of playoffs at all? Achowat (talk) 17:05, 6 February 2012 (UTC)

Just a quick explanation of why I removed "and creation of unbalanced scheduling" from the wording:

1. MLS has had 14 seasons of unbalanced schedule in the 16 seasons proceeding this season, so there is nothing "created" about this unbalanced schedule.
2. The unbalanced schedule is not why they stopped using the cross-over wildcards, or at least, it was not the deciding factor. For 2007 and 2008, they had the cross-over wild cards and an unbalanced schedule.

All in all, it is enough to say that the playoff format was changed in 2012 to eliminate the cross-over wildcard spots. --Bobblehead ^(rants) 18:53, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Just a quick explanation of why I restored it: last season it was balanced and so they're creating an unbalanced schedule again. --Walter Görlitz (talk) 19:28, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

There should be some comment put in about the schedule (balanced or not; I'm sure there's verifiable criticism to be found, but Bob L. Head is right, the way the sentence reads with that included would lead most readers to assume the norm had been Balanced Scheduling. Achowat (talk) 19:18, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

As an example, here's the quote included in the MLS announcement of the change:

“The MLS Cup Playoff format in 2012 gives increased reward to clubs that fare well in the regular season and removes the possibility of clubs winning the opposite conference championship”[3]

I think it is fair to include that they eliminated the cross-over wildcard seeding in 2012, but not that it was because of the change back to the unbalanced schedule. --Bobblehead ^(rants) 19:32, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Major League Soccer on television

Come pick apart Major League Soccer on television and help expand if you'd like. --Blackbox77 (talk) 09:24, 22 February 2012 (UTC)