Lucky 13

Well that's that! A season that began in Columbus, ends with them as the 2008 champs in the 13th edition of the Cup Final. As much as I hate to say it, Schelotto played an amazing game and that last flick to seal it was all class, and he deserved to win the MVP game trophy (aka a flower vase wtf?!). I think many people breathed a sigh of relief that Columbus won, as this playoff format most certainly has been under scrutiny given that the teams who finished strongest fell by the wayside to a NY team that barely made into the playoffs ahead of TFC. There have been many suggestions as to how to remedy this situation, especially considering there is no incentive or real reward to finish at the top during the regular season. It reminds me of years back in the NHL the top team of the 3 divisions get the top 3 seeds and we were seeing the likes of Carolina or Tampa Bay who would really be seeded 7th or 8th winning the 3rd spot. I like the idea, if it stays in a playoff format, reducing it perhaps to the top 2 teams in each conference, playing a home and away round then the winners straight to the finals. I've never been a fan of the whole, "you have to appeal to the American sports fan" and that's why there's playoffs. I think one of the poor marketing schemes that MLS has used is the "we have to win new fans" without realizing there are markets in the US and Canada that have existing football fans. So win over the existing demographic and work on bringing in the new ones, instead of cheesy giveaways, cheerleaders and half-time freak shows thinking this is what people will come to see.

Don Garber laid out an interesting state of the league address with a few small changes, most importantly for TFC is the recognition of some FIFA dates. But really the big news this weekend was that Montreal is no longer up for an expansion franchise.


When this story first came out, it was said they withdrew, but now it has come out that the league decided to not retain it's bid. We will hear the whole story tomorrow as the Saputos have said they don't want to say anything until after the Grey Cup weekend. There are several reasons as to why I can think of why this happened. First thing that comes to my mind is that first and foremost this is BUSINESS. Add up the costs and economic factors of today and I do have to say it really makes no sense for existing USL teams to come into the MLS. Think of this - the cost of the team is $40 million (some saying at the end of the day the cost is really more like $50), when 3-4 years ago TFC got a team for $10 million. Not to mention, Montreal would also have the added expense of stadium expansion to meet MLS requirements. Why would Montreal, when they are probably doing very well financially and on the field, spend over $50 million dollars to join a league that the vast majority of the teams operate in the red? The way MLS is set up, it appears that it does not favour the clubs making large profits - everything runs through the head office - you sell a player abroad for $5 millions (Maurice Edu) and end up with less than half of that after the league takes their share. Let's be straight, Montreal probably was the best market of the teams on the expansion list, some suggesting that if Philadelphia fails to secure finances on their new stadium, they would have gone straight into the league. If I had to guess, the Saputos knew that MLS needs them more than they need MLS and may have asked for some of the requirements (stadium size, expansion fee) to be amended or put off given the current economic scare - seriously, from a business standpoint, what is their incentive to join? It's disappointing because I would have loved to have this rivalry in the league. The Voyageurs cup game in Toronto is what football needs in Canada and MLS as well. I don't think any two teams can match that right now in North America. All this talk may be long winded and waaaaay off the mark in 24hrs but these are my thoughts tonight.