Why? Promotion/relegation can be nice by making a few games at the end of the season more exciting and allowing a city like Des Moines to get an MLS team. It can also solidify a few teams at the top, destroy rivalries, and could kill the league.
For starters soccer is not a game of man to man defense. If you want it to become that then eliminate offside.
This makes sense, although I personally think it would more often lead to a higher number of goals being scored than playing keep away. Having never actually played the game outside of one or two gym classes could be impacting my reasoning though lol
Because there's literally nothing to play for. Half the league makes a "playoff" to win the league. It's dumb. The entire world laughs at it.
How is a stationary line more exciting than a dynamic line? The defensive strategy of keeping your line, the risk/reward of having a high line vs. a deep line etc., and the offensive strategy of timing runs and through balls is pretty great.
Because the dynamic line makes everyone hold. If you had like a 20-30 yd offensive zone there would be more movement and scoring. Defense in soccer is boring as ****.
Have you ever watched the last ten minutes or so of games where a team is trying to defend a lead? Often they have little interest in scoring. They delay on every throw-in, free kick, corner kick, goal kick or ball in the keeper's hands; feign injury or milk the clock on a legitimate injury; argue with the Center on inconsequential calls; take their old sweet time substituting; make as many substitutions as possible; pass the ball around between defenders in their own half; and if they do happen to get the ball down around the corner - shield the ball in the corner for as long as possible letting the clock tick down. Often in those situations they have much more interest in controlling the ball then taking a shot on goal unless they get a free shot due to a defensive breakdown.
How is there “literally nothing to play for?” You have the MLS title and spots in the CONCACAF champions cup to play for.
What's the incentive for the team that finishes last? The owners don't care, they're still getting the money from the league. They're not risking losing money by getting sent to a lower league, therefore they don't care. It's all a money grab exhibition league.
I can see that being someone's position, but you don't have the same issue with getting into watching Iowa State sports, or the Steelers, even though they don't have promotion and relegation?
No, because that's how those sports were originally set up, however it think it would make those sports more interesting if they did have promotion and relegation.
The sport wasn't set up that way, people played soccer long before the English pyramid system was created. Even the first few years of the top tier of English soccer didn't have automatic relegation.
I guess I don't mind watching a game for the game's sake. Just because not every game has huge playoff implications doesn't make it "unwatchable."
