would a NFL conference style system work for the a-league?

[twentydollarnote]

I know these ideas usually get shot down but would there be any reason why a conference system couldnt work well here? Soccer seems to work best based on local rivalries and a conference system would enhance that, the only danger would be whether it’s overkill because you'd probably have to end up playing home and away twice against each team in your conference to make up the right amount of games.

The positives are you would see less of sides like wellington, newcastle, ccm, etc and it would reduce the amount of dead rubber games for teams with nothing to play for like avoiding relegation/european spots which they have overseas.

 

[Chops18]

Not enough teams for it to work if we had say 20 teams it could work but there is no need to Americanize the game. The system we have now is fine for the amount of teams we have i would still like to see us have a competition with 2 divisions and have relegation and so forth because there is something to play for even if you have a poor season your fighting for survival.

 

[muesli]

Chops is right, not enough teams. For a conference system in soccer you would need quite a few teams.
If the A League had 20 teams, its only 38 games a season to play home & away, thus a conference system is unnecerssay as in football thats a standard season. Where as in NFL they only play 16 regular games a season & it's not possible to play every team.

 

[Bouvet_Island]

The NSL tried a conference system in the past.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Soccer_League_1984
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Soccer_League_1985
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Soccer_League_1986


Personally, my opinion is BLURG to conference systems in general. Putting all the logistical issues aside, if the A-League managed to get to the point where it had 20 viable teams, I'd rather see 2 10-team divisions with promotion/relegation rather than 2 conferences with a East/West or North/South split.

 

[Dimenhydrinate]

If the A-League can successfully expand, it could be inevitable. I mean, you could potentially have a 16, 18, 20 club league in a few decades.

 

[twentydollarnote]

Not enough teams for it to work if we had say 20 teams it could work but there is no need to Americanize the game. The system we have now is fine for the amount of teams we have i would still like to see us have a competition with 2 divisions and have relegation and so forth because there is something to play for even if you have a poor season your fighting for survival.

At the moment there is not enough teams but it could be something they work towards in the future. I don’t think two divisions would be possible for soccer ever, even the AFL with ten times the support would struggle to pull it off wiht our small population.

 

[twentydollarnote]

Chops is right, not enough teams. For a conference system in soccer you would need quite a few teams.
If the A League had 20 teams, its only 38 games a season to play home & away, thus a conference system is unnecerssay as in football thats a standard season. Where as in NFL they only play 16 regular games a season & it's not possible to play every team.

If you get to 20 teams its the same problem as now, lots of teams with nothing to play for with a large part of the season remaining.

The amount of games that need to be played would be the only thing stopping it, as i said each team would probably need to play each other twice home and away which might be overkill + then some interconference games.

 

[twentydollarnote]

If the A-League can successfully expand, it could be inevitable. I mean, you could potentially have a 16, 18, 20 club league in a few decades.

I'm not sure about FIFA's rules or if they can intervene, i’d tell them to farrk off, but what about having conferences for new zealand (with a few insignificant teams like Tassie or a pacific island team thrown in to make up the numbers) and a conference for Indonesia.

Keeping them in separate conferences would play on local rivalries and reduce travelling but add spice come finals/playoff's times and increase the TV revenue for the league.

 

[Dimenhydrinate]

I'm not sure about FIFA's rules or if they can intervene, i’d tell them to farrk off, but what about having conferences for new zealand (with a few insignificant teams like Tassie or a pacific island team thrown in to make up the numbers) and a conference for Indonesia.

Keeping them in separate conferences would play on local rivalries and reduce travelling but add spice come finals/playoff's times and increase the TV revenue for the league.

Nah, NZ and the Pacific islands aren't in the AFC. Indonesia is doable, but they have their own league.

The league has a capacity for at least 16 clubs, IMO. The current 11, plus Western Sydney, South Coast, Canberra, Tasmania and one more. In the long term, it could get to as many as 20, with potential locales as Auckland, NZ south island/Christchurch, Darwin/NT, Fremantle and Geelong.

I'd prefer a US-like conference system, rather than making it geographic.

 

[ashley12]

I think the fact that right now we are playing teams 3 times each is a sign that conferences could be applicable right now, or more importantly when we get to 12 teams.

For the sake of the 12th team, Im am going to pretend that the 12th side is from Tasmania. Its where I think the next team should be from but anyway, my idea for the two "conferences"

SOUTHERN
Perth
Adelaide
Tasmania
Wellington
Heart
Victory

NORTHERN
Brisbane
Nth Qld
Gold Coast
CCM
Newcastle
Sydney

The teams from the other conferences you would play twice home and away (12 games). The teams within your conference you would play 4 times, twice home and away (20 games) giving a season of 32 games, 16 at home and 16 away.

The finals will be top 2 seeds from each conference and then two "wildcards" the best two from outside that top 4. The top from each conference would get a bye staight through to the last 4, the two 2nd place teams and two wildcards would play one leg qualfiers away to the 2nd place teams. Those teams would then play a home and away semi final vs the conference winners and then a Grand Final at the team with the best regular season record between the two winners.

When we get to 16 teams plus then a standard regular season would be 30 games which is enough when you add in the potential for the FFA Cup and assuming we still have finals. At the moment I think the playing each team 3 times is a bit stupid and playing twice isnt enough and 4 times too much, so this is a decent setup. I would like it a lot more if Nth Qld were to be ejected from the league and we had 10 teams for a time, where it would be 10 inter-conference and 16 intra-conference games, so 26 matches plus finals.

 

[twentydollarnote]

Nah, NZ and the Pacific islands aren't in the AFC. Indonesia is doable, but they have their own league.

The league has a capacity for at least 16 clubs, IMO. The current 11, plus Western Sydney, South Coast, Canberra, Tasmania and one more. In the long term, it could get to as many as 20, with potential locales as Auckland, NZ south island/Christchurch, Darwin/NT, Fremantle and Geelong.

I'd prefer a US-like conference system, rather than making it geographic.

The NZ thing i'm sure could be overcome but even it wasnt its not a big deal because you probably only need a maximum of 2 teams from there to get the majority of their potential market.

All those other teams you mentioned joining would support a conference system because they dont really add anything to a national competition. Once start you diluting the state v state system the local rivalries will be more important.

The NFL system had pre-existing rivalries or history behind it, a geographic conference system would be the most logical one for us i think, unless you can think of any other rivalries we have to go on....

 

[twentydollarnote]

I think the fact that right now we are playing teams 3 times each is a sign that conferences could be applicable right now, or more importantly when we get to 12 teams.

For the sake of the 12th team, Im am going to pretend that the 12th side is from Tasmania. Its where I think the next team should be from but anyway, my idea for the two "conferences"

SOUTHERN
Perth
Adelaide
Tasmania
Wellington
Heart
Victory

NORTHERN
Brisbane
Nth Qld
Gold Coast
CCM
Newcastle
Sydney

The teams from the other conferences you would play twice home and away (12 games). The teams within your conference you would play 4 times, twice home and away (20 games) giving a season of 32 games, 16 at home and 16 away.

The finals will be top 2 seeds from each conference and then two "wildcards" the best two from outside that top 4. The top from each conference would get a bye staight through to the last 4, the two 2nd place teams and two wildcards would play one leg qualfiers away to the 2nd place teams. Those teams would then play a home and away semi final vs the conference winners and then a Grand Final at the team with the best regular season record between the two winners.

When we get to 16 teams plus then a standard regular season would be 30 games which is enough when you add in the potential for the FFA Cup and assuming we still have finals. At the moment I think the playing each team 3 times is a bit stupid and playing twice isnt enough and 4 times too much, so this is a decent setup. I would like it a lot more if Nth Qld were to be ejected from the league and we had 10 teams for a time, where it would be 10 inter-conference and 16 intra-conference games, so 26 matches plus finals.

Well thoughtout although i would think that maybe NSW could support more teams, but what about a conference from indonesia or new zealand if the possible?

Watching some of the asian cup games the big barrier is you have no idea (or even care that much) about who most of these players actually are, with an asian influence there might be a bit more of a connection. Or maybe there just isn’t enough of a natural rivalry with that part of the world to pull it off?

 

[Dimenhydrinate]

The NFL system had pre-existing rivalries or history behind it, a geographic conference system would be the most logical one for us i think, unless you can think of any other rivalries we have to go on....

The NFL keeps the local rivals apart, i.e. Giants and Jets, Cowboys and Texans.

 

[twentydollarnote]

lol yeah but as we dont have two comps coming together with pre-existing rivalries, how would it work here? The only rivalries we have are state v state which i would have kept, but as it looks as though they are doing away with that then the next step is intra-state eg heart v victory is now bigger than sydney or adelaide v victory.

 

[Dimenhydrinate]

lol yeah but as we dont have two comps coming together with pre-existing rivalries, how would it work here? The only rivalries we have are state v state which i would have kept, but as it looks as though they are doing away with that then the next step is intra-state eg heart v victory is now bigger than sydney or adelaide v victory.

Heart-Victory isn't bigger than the other two games. It just looks bigger, but the fact is that 80+% of supporters at the derby as Victory supporters.

 

[Chops18]

Heart-Victory isn't bigger than the other two games. It just looks bigger, but the fact is that 80+% of supporters at the derby as Victory supporters.

This. Heart haven't been around long enough to really have a big rival. Maybe in 3 or so years time once people decide who they will go for Victory or Heart you will see a Man Utd Man City style rivalry. Too me though Adelaide Utd v Victory will always be each others biggest rivals for the pure hate between the states.

 

[Seriously]

This. Heart haven't been around long enough to really have a big rival. Maybe in 3 or so years time once people decide who they will go for Victory or Heart you will see a Man Utd Man City style rivalry. Too me though Adelaide Utd v Victory will always be each others biggest rivals for the pure hate between the states.

This