[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

I see your points, but unfortunately MLS is in an American audience, and Americans are used to and familiar with things like seeding, play-offs, divisions, and conferences. Further, while seeding might not necessarily be that impacting now, MLS is only a few decades old, give it a minute. In the 1980s there were really only 5 great NBA teams, and the rest were fodder. Now? Seeding is everything. If MLS continues to advance and develop, those things like seeding or division rivalries might start to bear more classically American weight. MLS wants to be American soccer, not necessarily European football, and I can dig it, sort of, at least because of my being raised on similar formatted leagues like the NFL and the NBA. It helps make MLS more readily accessible, and that above all else is critical for MLS to grow. Nobody is fooling themselves, MLS doesn't think it can lure away European and South American audiences from those leagues, but perhaps a lot of casual American Euro-futbol fans might switch back as MLS gains weight. I'm not sure the restructuring you mentioned will do that, even if it will get MLS more aligned with the more elite style of leagues elsewhere..

Also that was a genius article which more or less agreed with both of us, in that the things you've suggested might work for MLS, but the things I've talked about are just the obvious realities of the American sports market, particularly where MLS is lucky to rank third in live audience. That MLS in live-audience ranked above the NBA is misleading, there are over 1200 games played total each year, so the NBA PURPOSEFULLY has smaller seating than it could to keep the market moving. Following the averages about 21,000,000 attend a live NBA game at some point during the season. MLS has a way to go to make that