MLS Changes Playoff Format, Regular Season Schedule, and More

Written by Matthew Spitz on 22 November 2011.

The MLS announced a couple of rule and scheduling changes on Sunday that will be in place for the 2012 season. Here is a breakdown of the new rules...

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1. The MLS Cup final will no longer be a neutral-site game at a location predetermined before the season started, instead the match will be played at the home venue of the participating team with a higher regular season point total.

2. The top 5 teams in each conference will qualify for the post-season without wild card spots. This year, the top 3 teams from each conference qualified for the post-season plus an additional 4 wild card spots that could have came from either conference. Thus, the #4 and #5 seeds will play one match for the right to play the #1 seed in the Conference Semi-Finals.

3. Just like the Conference Semi-Finals, the Conference Championships will involve a two-leg series instead of a single game. This season the playoff format shifted from a two leg Conference Semi-Finals to a one game elimination match in the Conference Finals.

Learn about the new regular season scheduling after the jump....

4. Conference-Based Regular Season Scheduling: unbalanced scheduled with the West having 9 clubs and the East having 10 clubs

   a. Western Conference Teams will play each other 3 times each (total of 24 matches)
   b. Eastern Conference Teams will play 7 of their conference opponents 3 times and the remaining 2 opponents twice (total 25 matches)
   c. Every team in the East and the West will ONLY play each other one time, which could be either home or away

Love all the rule changes. This is definitely a step in the right direction. The playoff format is finally something an average sports fan can understand. It didn't make any sense when a Western Conference team could win the Eastern Conference, which was possible under the old system. Now, like a normal sports league 5 teams from each conference make the playoffs.

Also, having a 2 leg series for both the conference semis and the conference finals adds even more stability to the playoff structure. Flip flopping between a 2 leg series and a single elimination game not only did not make any sense but it was confusing to the fan.

Here is the official announcement made by MLS Executive Vice President, Nelson Rodriguez

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