MLS reserve league en route for 2011; details still being sorted

Significant momentum is rising to resurrect Major League Soccer’s reserve league in 2011. I really believe it will happen, and the league really will be better for it.

The form that league takes, however, is still anyone’s guess. It’s all being sorted out now by the league’s technical and competition committees. Major League Soccer’s board of directors will vote on proposals in November in Toronto, when they gather for MLS Cup.

Here’s what they are trying to reconcile, according to one MLS manager I spoke to earlier this week:

There’s a lot of talk over regionalizing the league, possibly into East, West and Central. There is some pleasant symmetry behind that concept: 18 teams divided into three regions creates a double-round robin schedule of 10 matches each.

But the relatively light volume of contests is the first point of debate; Some officials are pushing for more than 10 games. Of course, each reserve league match adds to the cost, mostly in travel. These aren’t necessarily hard times in MLS (despite the struggling economy) but teams aren’t flush with cash, either.

Playing more than 10 matches probably would require movement beyond the regional concept. After all, how many times would the Chicago Fire reserves want to face the Columbus Crew reserves?

All these looming decisions are also tied into roster sizes and player availability. No one wants to see a repeat of the reserve league follies past, as staff members, assistant coaches and local semi-pros were recruited just to fill out some matches. Much eye-rolling ensued. “This is our ‘reserve league’ ”?

So, all that needs to be hashed out.

Meanwhile, here’s something else the coach told me, and it’s pretty interesting: (click forward for more …)

The league established its official reserve league in 2005. It went away after 2008 amid concerns over costs (remember, the U.S. economy fell apart just as the 2008 season was drawing to a close) and fading interest among clubs.

Plus, reserve league matches were just a big ol’ drag. They were generally played on Sunday mornings following a Saturday night match. That meant players (all of them), managers and staff had to stay around until Sunday night. Instead of traveling home on Sunday morning and having time with family and friends, they weren’t getting back into town until late Sunday night. It evolved into a something of a major bummer.

The time away has changed some tunes, the coach told me. (I’m not naming him because the league owners and high-level GMs prefer to keep these conversations behind closed doors until they get ready to make actual announcements.)

Just like other things in life, we don’t know what we have until they get taken away.

So now, clubs around MLS can better appreciate the full value of reserve matches. They see good, young players languishing on the bench with nowhere to go. The young talent won’t get any better without matches. But the decreasing percentage of teams that qualify for the playoffs means managers will be increasingly reluctant to put the youngsters first-team minutes with so much on the line. So, the young guns are stuck.

Young players need incentive to work harder in practice. If they get games, they’ll get a chance to impress, which means they’ll be pushing the players in front of them.

Everybody wins, because that bumps up the overall quality. And who doesn’t want that?