Playoffs, playoffs, playoffs

Everyone loves a good tournament, as Concacaf's top leagues reminded us this week.

How long do you think it’s been since the last time someone wrote about playoffs and didn’t reference Jim Mora?

I mean, fair enough. It’s press conference gold. The then-NFL coach is so incredulous at the idea of his garbage team making the playoffs, and his voice sounds so funny that it has all the makings of a viral clip, even if it took place before some of today’s best creators of viral content were born.

Like moth to a flame or sportswriters to a Mora reference, leagues are drawn to the excitement of tournament play.

That may be true in no sport like it is in soccer. We had a Cup Winners' Cup to see which winner of a cup would be able to beat more other winners of a cup and ultimately lift…another cup.

There’s a reason we all love the World Cup and regional competitions like the Gold Cup or Copa America. It’s not an accident that the Concacaf Champions League hit its stride when it went to the current format, which goes straight to knockout play rather than doing groups. It’s not hard to understand why interest in college basketball rockets in late February for conference tournaments and then March Madness that follows it.

Tournaments are pretty damn fun.

Is it the best way to pick a champion? Not really. You can point to all sorts of champions who were pretty clearly not the very best team heading into the competition but won it all. Teams play week-in, week-out in a league format to see who the best team is over time. The top team at the end of all that may be the most deserving of a title, but in this region we generally make them prove it.

That’s why Costa Rica’s format is so brilliant.

Saprissa won the regular season crown, so they’ll get a chance to defend their title no matter what happens in their two-legged semifinal tie against Cartaginés on Sunday and Wednesday - or even if they lose in the final against the winner of the Alajuelense-Herediano on the other side of the bracket.

A Saprissa defeat in the playoffs triggers a ‘grand final’ with two more games against the postseason winner. If Saprissa is to be denied the title, it will only be after they’ve had every opportunity to claim it.

You could argue Liga MX’s announcement this week that it will bring back ‘wild card’ type games as it expands the playoff field gives the top teams in the regular season a reward. Already the team with a better regular season finish advanced in playoff series in which teams were tied both on aggregate and away goals, now the top four will move on while teams 5 through 12 meet in a one-off game. That definitely adds a level of chance into proceedings, with most playoffs two-legged affairs. But it gives owners another game to sell - introducing the potential for playoffs for more than half the league. Fans will tune in, people will fill the stadium (when it’s safe to do so again - or, judging from many strategies in North America, before that), and the games will generate revenue.

We’ll see if that’s the case for Major League Soccer, which officially announced its MLS Is Back tournament this week. Even without the element of ‘We’ve got to pull this off during a pandemic,’ MLS also is looking to draw interest to something it essentially invented this spring and do so in balmy Orlando, with some kickoffs at 9 a.m. ET/6 a.m. PT.

The winner goes to the 2021 Concacaf Champions League, which adds some intrigue for the hardcore fans (and also brings up the question of how the heck the 2020 CCL is going to get finished and if a one-site tournament like the one MLS is putting on could potentially provide the answer). That said, those fans already were tuning in. Maybe something is better than nothing, and the opportunity is there to draw in the casual fan.

That’s definitely true for the NWSL, which will be the first major league team sport to play matches in the United States after the pandemic pause when it kicks off June 27. With 25 games, a partnership with a major broadcaster in CBS and the novelty of being back, the Challenge Cup could put more eyeballs on the NWSL than ever before.

In past newsletters, we talked about how unlikely it was for a league like the one in Nicaragua or the K-League to convert long-term fans simply by being the only option. People want the leagues they like to come back, not just any sport. That said, the tournament format makes it easy to pop in and out without having to get up to speed. With an added regional tie for a U.S.-based league, there could be some added interest.

I’ll tune in, and others will too. Why not? Tournaments are fun. Leagues are hoping, at least, we’ll be drawn in by the magic of a cup.