June 16th - July 18th, The games coming up next for TFC

When MLS action starts back up Toronto will be playing 10 games within the span of about a month. Geebes! That's an average of about 2.5 games/week, and don't forget the travel on top of that! :blink:

The MLS is friggin crazy.

Well the good thing is that by my birthday we should have 21 points or so.

add the Liverpool game and CL games that will start at the end of July and we have 15 between June 16 and August 4th

With the elimination of the qualifying round and the move to three team groups there's a 1 in 3 chance we won't play any CCL games until Matchday 2 (between August 21st to 23rd).

Yes, but people want the league moving away from playing on international breaks whenever possible so this will be the consequence.

Our schedule is further compressed because this is the only stretch where we won't have CCL or ACC commitments. Even if we hadn't won the Voyageur's Cup again the league still had to schedule based on the possiblity we'd be playing in midweek on (four of) six potential dates from early August to late October. Add in a few more international breaks and you're not left with many other places to fit 34 games before the playoffs start.

Will some of the US teams be playing USOC games during this stretch?

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The first five games of the ten will be a real test.

@KC
@Houston
v.NE
@Montreal
v.NY

Two of the best teams in our conference (even if NY are defensively frail), I still rate Houston as better than their record and they're always tough to visit, a "pick 'em" against a rival (away), and a game versus an improving NE who are around the playoff discussion and will look at us as a great chance to pick up a road win. 5-7 points would be a reasonably good return under regular circumstances but wouldn't really help our (remote) playoff chances.

Aron Winter failed my last 5 game evaluation pretty miserably (based on results) but won a trophy and got us into a bigger competition. Would he survive though if things go off the rails (again) during this stretch? We beat Vancouver and won the V-Cup last year in a week and thought we were turning a corner until visits to NY and Houston. As always, it should be interesting.

A lot of travel, given only 4 of those 10 games are at BMO.

Yes, but people want the league moving away from playing on international breaks whenever possible so this will be the consequence.

Our schedule is further compressed because this is the only stretch where we won't have CCL or ACC commitments. Even if we hadn't won the Voyageur's Cup again the league still had to schedule based on the possiblity we'd be playing in midweek on (four of) six potential dates from early August to late October. Add in a few more international breaks and you're not left with many other places to fit 34 games before the playoffs start.

Does the MLS really need to play so many regular season matches? Since we aren't playing a balanced schedule anyway, wouldn't it make more sense just to cut down on regular season games during a season with a long international break?

This post has been edited by Milky on May 30 2012, 05:35 AM

From a sporting perspective... maybe?

From a revenue perspective... no way in hell!

Now that most teams are playing in a stadium where they control ancillary revenues more games equals more money for the league. Obviously mid-week games aren't as successful as weekends but when you're giving up weekend dates to FIFA you're gonna be even less inclined to give up other revenue generating opportunities.

People don't perceive it but MLS painted themselves into a corner. They want a long end of season playoff to be a focal point of their season, add legitimacy to the eventual winner, build excitement towards the final, and help push them across to the mainstream once a year. But that also limits the time they've got to play regular season games. Folks talk about too many "meaningless games" in a single-table round robin tournament but once a team is knocked out of the playoffs (or fails to qualify) that's a entire matchday lost to that team as a revenue opportunity. You make more money playing a "meaningless game" in front of an average or smaller crowd than you do not playing at all!

MLS plays a 34 game league schedule BUT then adds a month long tournament at the end to crown it's champion. It takes a minimum of 39 games, under the new format, to win MLS Cup. That's more than any major league in Europe. And has to be done in less time and with way, way more travel!

indeed.

it's true, Milky - 34 made sense when the 18th team came in and it was balanced. now that it's not, 30 seems like plenty...for all the reasons Mike cites and more...

Woo-hoo! We already got a draw we didn't even know about!

http://www.thestar.com/sports/soccer/artic...bout-toronto-fc

Not gonna try an tea leaf reading on Anselmi's comments.

Four points! Like the Jeffersons we're moving on up!

From a sporting perspective... maybe?

From a revenue perspective... no way in hell!

Now that most teams are playing in a stadium where they control ancillary revenues more games equals more money for the league. Obviously mid-week games aren't as successful as weekends but when you're giving up weekend dates to FIFA you're gonna be even less inclined to give up other revenue generating opportunities.

People don't perceive it but MLS painted themselves into a corner. They want a long end of season playoff to be a focal point of their season, add legitimacy to the eventual winner, build excitement towards the final, and help push them across to the mainstream once a year. But that also limits the time they've got to play regular season games. Folks talk about too many "meaningless games" in a single-table round robin tournament but once a team is knocked out of the playoffs (or fails to qualify) that's a entire matchday lost to that team as a revenue opportunity. You make more money playing a "meaningless game" in front of an average or smaller crowd than you do not playing at all!

MLS plays a 34 game league schedule BUT then adds a month long tournament at the end to crown it's champion. It takes a minimum of 39 games, under the new format, to win MLS Cup. That's more than any major league in Europe. And has to be done in less time and with way, way more travel!

Forget a simply sporting perspective. I would also argue that from a health (and even moral) perspective that the amount of games played this regular season is way too many.