MLS Restart Tourney Will Also Be at Disney World
Maybe it's a good thing no fans are gonna be allowed at Disney World in July.
There won't be any room for them.
The NBA has already decided to bubble up in Orlando's largest tourist attraction.
Now, Major League Soccer's apparently done the social distancing math and decided there's enough room remaining in this 43-square-mile Mouse megaplex for yet another restart bubble.
The MLS season was only two weeks along when Covid-19 did its disruption thing, so in essence, it's back to Square One in building momentum for the campaign.
In times like these, the league may be well-served by looking to Animal House for inspiration.
That's what 25 of their 26 clubs are doing, gathering in Orlando to stage the MLS Is Back tournament.
There's something on the line, too. The winner's gonna earn a berth in 2021's edition of the 16-team Concacaf Champions League.
Great incentive, serving to ensure match intensity as opposed to an exhibition-like kick-around.
This isn't all that's on the line. The clubs are divided by conference because results will count in the regular-season standings.
After establishing top seeds -- listed first -- for six groups, the draw produced these results:
Pool play will be round-robin with the exception of Group A, where the three-match schedules are arranged so that results will have a measure of correlation that the top two clubs will likely have deserved their promotion to the Round of 16.
Here's the calendar:
- Pool play ... 8-23 Jul
- Round of 16 ... 25-28 Jul
- Quarterfinals ... 30 Jul-1 Aug
- Semifinals ... 5-6 Aug
- Final ... 11 Aug
The knockout stages will feature shootouts to determine a winner. There'll be no extra time because those may cause broadcast-scheduled starts to bleed into one another, and with no fans, it's media rights that are gonna feed the MLS bulldog.
As leagues are doing all over the globe, MLS will take advantage of FIFA's temporary rules to account for the season's circumstances:
- They'll allow 12 substitutes on the bench instead of the usual 7, and
- They'll allow five substitutes during the first 90 minutes, while keeping
- Three stoppages per match to make them.
There's also gonna be a $1.1million prize pool doling out bonuses for deserving players. What makes them so deserving will apparently be specified at a later date.
Just like nailing down the pool play schedule will be specified at a later date.
Of course, plans are to test each member of each entourage up the ying-yang.
Suffice to say they'll stop at nothing to keep the Covid-19 away.
After this sorta PR boost, MLS will then resume its normal schedule -- with some revisions, of course -- sending its squads to their home stadiums and more pandemic-related empty seats.
Until then, players, coaches, staff and whoever else has been bubbled can return to their quarters, find a screen, and watch what's happening in the other Disney bubble.
The tournament oughta be a charge, but other than that, this new normal's gonna take some getting used to.
Beats the hell outta dying, though.