Tyrone Mears beats Giovinco in the first half
Photo: Matt Warso
Congratulations to the Seattle Sounders for winning the 2016 MLS Cup! Now on to the next thing.
It only seems like yesterday when the Seattle Sounders were uncorking bottles of champagne at BMO Field, reveling in the glory of finally winning the MLS Cup. It was an an accomplishment that the club had waited nine years for and had a few speed bumps along the way. This was their time to celebrate, to get the big fucking parade, and to stick it to their Cascadia rivals.
Oh, wait it was just yesterday.
With the snap of a finger the Sounders celebration was gone, replaced on by the uncertainty of another offseason. Not long after the team’s thrilling penalty kick victory over Toronto FC were they faced with the same problems of every other side: player free agency, roster cuts, and a ton of fucking drafts. It is a situation that all teams face themselves with: little time to celebrate and a perpetual cycle of roster movement.
On the surface the problem seems to be simple: there is just not enough time in an MLS season to give proper time to have a long break. Although the MLS Cup just finished up the 2017 is nearly upon us. By this time next month the Sounders will be nearly ready to start spring training. In between those two events there are an array of events that need to be taken care of including the Expansion Draft, the Re-Entry Draft (Stages one and two), and the SuperDraft. Each event will likely involve player trades, signings, and roster cuts.
Under the current structure very few of these events can be avoided. But the timing can be. Although very few people will complain about more soccer the schedule seems to be stretched a little thin. With a league season that starts with the CONCACAF Champions League in February and ends with the MLS Cup in December it seems like the league is stretching things to their absolute limit. Even the MLS Cup is extended to its absolute length with a whole week and a half between the Conference Finals and the Finals.
In the end this stretching is only to the detriment of the league. Although Saturday’s match was certainly memorable for Sounders supporters, it was a long drawn-out affair for the casual fan. What anticipation and excitement from two splendid Conference Finals series had all but evaporated. It didn’t feel like a can’t miss game, it just felt like another game.
Part of the reason why MLS has to be so careful with their schedule is that they fear going against a larger sports event. To their credit they did pick a good weekend in terms of having the countries attention. With Army-Navy earlier in the day and the Heisman Trophy that evening there wasn’t really that much competition on the television dial.
If the date of the Cup is that important to the league and their television partners then perhaps the league needs to adjust the start of the regular season. With the CONCACAF Champions League likely to bein moved to later in the season there is very little need to start the offseason window before January. Syncing up the various drafts just before the January transfer window would not cause that much of a disturbance in how MLS conducts their business nor would it really impact player movement.
In the end MLS is stuck in a very difficult position. A December MLS Cup is great in that it gives them a relatively open period to showcase their style of play. But it is lodged in a very cramped period of the football schedule and by placing it close to so many other events it gives very little time for teams to actually celebrate their accomplishment.
