In traditional American sports “the postseason customarily means entire cities or states whipped into white towel frenzy … and capacity playoff crowds,” writes Nick Green. But in MLS “the playoffs generate little discernible interest, let alone excitement, beyond hardcore fans, low-scoring games between roughly comparable teams and attendances that are actually lower than for largely meaningless regular-season games.”
An average of just 10,475 spectators attended the first four playoff games, way below the regular season average of 16,460. Despite just five goals in four games, the games “weren’t bad,” says Green, “but generally the defensive, low-scoring nature of the games was such that most soccer nuts would be hard-pressed to recommend them to a casual sports fan.”
As no one can conclusively prove whether playing home or away first in the two-game Conference semifinals is an advantage, the league “needs to overhaul its playoff structure to generate more excitement. Two shorter, more meaningful regular seasons (an Apertura and Clausura like that seen in virtually all Latin American nations) that would yield four playoff teams is one option. And so is a one-off game at the higher seeds’ home stadium.
With a combined 41,903 fans bothering to attend four postseason games that yielded five goals something must be done to ensure the MLS season ends with a bang rather than a damp squib.”