Anyone else see that MLS is looking to go to a format of 5 divisions of 6:

Northeast
Southeast
Midwest
Southwest (essentially Texas & SoCal)
Northwest

Any strong opinions on this either way soccer fans?

(12-20-2025 10:49 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  Anyone else see that MLS is looking to go to a format of 5 divisions of 6:

Northeast
Southeast
Midwest
Southwest (essentially Texas & SoCal)
Northwest

Any strong opinions on this either way soccer fans?

The primary reason this is going to happen is that MLS plays a 34-game schedule. I have a hard time seeing San Jose split from the California teams (mainly LA Galaxy), but at least they would play once annually.

MLS realignment is going to get really nasty when it expands to 32 given how many natural groupings of three (Cascadia, Texas) and five (the Boston to DC corridor).

I would rather see this alignment:

Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Jose, LAFC, LA Galaxy
San Diego, Colorado, Utah, Austin, Dallas, Houston
Kansas City, Saint Louis, Minnesota, Chicago, Columbus, Cincinnati
Miami, Orlando, Atlanta, Charlotte, Toronto, Montreal
NY City, NY Red Bulls, New England, Philadelphia, DC, Nashville

The two eastern divisions are a bit of a mess, but this keeps the establish rivals together (i.e. Toronto/Montreal, Hell is Real, Orlando/Miami, Atlanta/Charlotte, the I-95 quintet). This also gives the northern teams somewhat of a reprieve from the cold weather by mixing in some southern teams in their divisions.

When MLS expands to 32, expect another western team to allow for the seven West Coast teams land in two divisions. There will be no good answers for the eastern teams.

Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Jose
LA Galaxy, LAFC, San Diego, Phoenix
Colorado, Utah, Austin, Houston
Dallas, Saint Louis, Kansas City, Minneosta
Chicago, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Columbus
Atlanta, Orlando, Miami, Nashville
Toronto, Montreal, NY City, NY Red Bulls
New England, DC, Philadelphia, Charlotte

MLS might legitimately contemplate expanding to 33 or 35 and play a true round-robin.

(12-21-2025 05:13 AM)chargeradio Wrote:  

(12-20-2025 10:49 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  Anyone else see that MLS is looking to go to a format of 5 divisions of 6:

Northeast
Southeast
Midwest
Southwest (essentially Texas & SoCal)
Northwest

Any strong opinions on this either way soccer fans?

The primary reason this is going to happen is that MLS plays a 34-game schedule. I have a hard time seeing San Jose split from the California teams (mainly LA Galaxy), but at least they would play once annually.

MLS realignment is going to get really nasty when it expands to 32 given how many natural groupings of three (Cascadia, Texas) and five (the Boston to DC corridor).

I would rather see this alignment:

Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Jose, LAFC, LA Galaxy
San Diego, Colorado, Utah, Austin, Dallas, Houston
Kansas City, Saint Louis, Minnesota, Chicago, Columbus, Cincinnati
Miami, Orlando, Atlanta, Charlotte, Toronto, Montreal
NY City, NY Red Bulls, New England, Philadelphia, DC, Nashville

The two eastern divisions are a bit of a mess, but this keeps the establish rivals together (i.e. Toronto/Montreal, Hell is Real, Orlando/Miami, Atlanta/Charlotte, the I-95 quintet). This also gives the northern teams somewhat of a reprieve from the cold weather by mixing in some southern teams in their divisions.

When MLS expands to 32, expect another western team to allow for the seven West Coast teams land in two divisions. There will be no good answers for the eastern teams.

Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Jose
LA Galaxy, LAFC, San Diego, Phoenix
Colorado, Utah, Austin, Houston
Dallas, Saint Louis, Kansas City, Minneosta
Chicago, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Columbus
Atlanta, Orlando, Miami, Nashville
Toronto, Montreal, NY City, NY Red Bulls
New England, DC, Philadelphia, Charlotte

MLS might legitimately contemplate expanding to 33 or 35 and play a true round-robin.

MLS is more likely to expand with Las Vegas rather than Indianapolis. Las Vegas and Phoenix are the only two cities with ongoing expansion bids.

(12-20-2025 10:49 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  Anyone else see that MLS is looking to go to a format of 5 divisions of 6:

Northeast
Southeast
Midwest
Southwest (essentially Texas & SoCal)
Northwest

Any strong opinions on this either way soccer fans?

I can't say I'm a soccer fan, but I think MLS's plan could be improved slightly. The supposed plan is below. I'm using purely location-based team names, no FC or SC or Real or whatever.

[Northeast]: Montreal, New England, New York, New York, Philadelphia, Toronto
[Southeast]: Atlanta, Charlotte, DC, Miami, Nashville, Orlando
[Central]: Chicago, Cincinnati, Columbus, Kansas City, Minnesota, St. Louis
[Northwest]: Colorado, Portland, Salt Lake, San Jose, Seattle, Vancouver
[Southwest]: Austin, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, San Diego

I'd rearrange the western teams like so:

[Pacific]: Los Angeles, Los Angeles, Portland, San Jose, Seattle, Vancouver
[Southwest]: Austin, Colorado, Dallas, Houston, Salt Lake, San Diego

Again, not perfect, but San Diego is a new team and presumably hasn't established rivalries that San Jose may have with one or both LA teams.

DC being separated from the other Northeast teams is unfortunate, but with a 5x6 geographic alignment, they're the odd one out.

I’m curious if this structure change is an indication that MLS intends to pause and stay at 30 for some time. This new model doesn’t lend itself well to expansion and is ideal for a 34 game schedule. If the plan was continue to add teams in pairs every couple years it would make more sense to keep the 2 conferences.

The alternative could have been 4 divisions of 7 or 8:

Pacific: VAN, SEA, POR, SJ, LAG, LAFC, SD
Central: SL, COL, KC, STL, MIN, CHI, CIN, CBS
Southeastern: AUS, HOU, DAL, MIA, OLR, ATL, NAS, CLT
Northeast: NE, NYFC, NYRB, MON, TOR, PHI, DC

That’s a set up that works in the present and has room to add 2 more.

(12-21-2025 04:20 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  I’m curious if this structure change is an indication that MLS intends to pause and stay at 30 for some time. This new model doesn’t lend itself well to expansion and is ideal for a 34 game schedule. If the plan was continue to add teams in pairs every couple years it would make more sense to keep the 2 conferences.

Eight groups of four also makes for a 34-game schedule.

Eurosnobs love the "single table", so the divisions will only be for scheduling purposes.

MLS will expand to 32 if they can get two competent bids between Sacramento, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Detroit, and Indianapolis. Tampa and Raleigh might even be considered in spite of their proximity to Orlando and Charlotte. MLS is perfectly content to let the USL do their market research for them.

That said expansion is probably going to be difficult in the near term. MLS will want to maximize their return so they want to sell shares of the league when things are at their peak. If USL Division One even halfway works it will be a far cheaper option for investors to get info high-level American soccer.

(12-21-2025 04:30 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  The alternative could have been 4 divisions of 7 or 8:

Pacific: VAN, SEA, POR, SJ, LAG, LAFC, SD
Central: SL, COL, KC, STL, MIN, CHI, CIN, CBS
Southeastern: AUS, HOU, DAL, MIA, OLR, ATL, NAS, CLT
Northeast: NE, NYFC, NYRB, MON, TOR, PHI, DC

That’s a set up that works in the present and has room to add 2 more.

I like that setup. Travel costs wouldn't be a burden, except for maybe the Central Division.

(12-22-2025 10:43 AM)andybible1995 Wrote:  

(12-21-2025 04:30 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  The alternative could have been 4 divisions of 7 or 8:

Pacific: VAN, SEA, POR, SJ, LAG, LAFC, SD
Central: SL, COL, KC, STL, MIN, CHI, CIN, CBS
Southeastern: AUS, HOU, DAL, MIA, OLR, ATL, NAS, CLT
Northeast: NE, NYFC, NYRB, MON, TOR, PHI, DC

That’s a set up that works in the present and has room to add 2 more.

I like that setup. Travel costs wouldn't be a burden, except for maybe the Central Division.

That Central Division isn’t too unlike the NHL division that spans from Utah to Nashville and Winnipeg to Dallas. The only difference is that the MLS division doesn’t have nearly the same N/S spread.

(12-21-2025 04:30 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  The alternative could have been 4 divisions of 7 or 8:

Pacific: VAN, SEA, POR, SJ, LAG, LAFC, SD
Central: SL, COL, KC, STL, MIN, CHI, CIN, CBS
Southeastern: AUS, HOU, DAL, MIA, OLR, ATL, NAS, CLT
Northeast: NE, NYFC, NYRB, MON, TOR, PHI, DC

That’s a set up that works in the present and has room to add 2 more.

I favor a 4-division setup like this for 32 teams:

EAST: DC, Detroit*, Montreal, New England, New York, New York, Philadelphia, Toronto
NORTH: Chicago, Cincinnati, Colorado, Columbus, Kansas City, Minnesota, Salt Lake, St. Louis
SOUTH: Atlanta, Austin, Charlotte, Dallas, Houston, Miami, Nashville, Orlando
WEST: Los Angeles, Los Angeles, Phoenix*, Portland, San Diego, San Jose, Seattle, Vancouver

Same as yours except different division names, plus two expansion teams in the largest markets in the US or Canada without MLS (aside from possibly Tampa Bay, but they had their chance).

(12-28-2025 12:43 PM)Nerdlinger Wrote:  

(12-21-2025 04:30 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  The alternative could have been 4 divisions of 7 or 8:

Pacific: VAN, SEA, POR, SJ, LAG, LAFC, SD
Central: SL, COL, KC, STL, MIN, CHI, CIN, CBS
Southeastern: AUS, HOU, DAL, MIA, OLR, ATL, NAS, CLT
Northeast: NE, NYFC, NYRB, MON, TOR, PHI, DC

That’s a set up that works in the present and has room to add 2 more.

I favor a 4-division setup like this for 32 teams:

EAST: DC, Detroit*, Montreal, New England, New York, New York, Philadelphia, Toronto
NORTH: Chicago, Cincinnati, Colorado, Columbus, Kansas City, Minnesota, Salt Lake, St. Louis
SOUTH: Atlanta, Austin, Charlotte, Dallas, Houston, Miami, Nashville, Orlando
WEST: Los Angeles, Los Angeles, Phoenix*, Portland, San Diego, San Jose, Seattle, Vancouver

Same as yours except different division names, plus two expansion teams in the largest markets in the US or Canada without MLS (aside from possibly Tampa Bay, but they had their chance).

This is really good. I like the idea of pro sports leagues going conference-less with a playoff that isn’t geographically restricted and doing awawith American/National.

Here’s my similar take for MLB with my expansion favorites (Carolina and Nashville):

East: Baltimore, Boston, Detroit, New York, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Toronto
North: Chicago, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Minnesota, St. Louis
South: Atlanta, Carolina, Houston, Miami, Nashville, Tampa Bay, Texas, Washington
West: Arizona, Colorado, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle

For the NFL (due to 17-game seasons, this is 8x4):

Atlantic: Baltimore, Carolina, Philadelphia, Washington
Central: Dallas, Houston, New Orleans, Tennessee
East: Buffalo, New England, New York, New York
Midwest: Cincinnati, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh
North: Chicago, Detroit, Green Bay, Minnesota
Pacific: Los Angeles, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle
South: Atlanta, Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa Bay
West: Arizona, Denver, Kansas City, Las Vegas

The league is perfect as is