The World Cup finals

[Fishjam]

Here's a wild question.......would the NCAAT be better or worse if they adopted a format like the World Cup with a 4-Team Group Stage before the Knockout Stage?

19 Groups of 4 teams. Winner of each group and 13 Wild Cards with best remaining records advance to 32-Team Knockout stage, 4 Regions of 8 Teams each. What do you think?

Pros

• More Games = More Action = More TV = More Attendance = More Money
• Satisfies the goal of More Revenue without further diluting the Field beyond 76 teams
• Guarantees every team 3 Games played
• With 3 guaranteed games, fans would be more inclined to travel to watch their team in Group play
• Removes the stigma of getting a "bad" matchup as you'll have 3 games to prove your mettle

Cons

• Removes the 1 and Done Urgency of every game
• Takes away the lightning strike of a low seed advancing with 1 upset
• If it ain't broke......don't fix it. The NCAAT is great as is, why risk changing it?
• Would need a tiebreaker, like Point Differential or Quality of Wins

 

[SHUSource]

Here's a wild question.......would the NCAAT be better or worse if they adopted a format like the World Cup with a 4-Team Group Stage before the Knockout Stage?

19 Groups of 4 teams. Winner of each group and 13 Wild Cards with best remaining records advance to 32-Team Knockout stage, 4 Regions of 8 Teams each. What do you think?

Pros

• More Games = More Action = More TV = More Attendance = More Money
• Satisfies the goal of More Revenue without further diluting the Field beyond 76 teams
• Guarantees every team 3 Games played
• With 3 guaranteed games, fans would be more inclined to travel to watch their team in Group play
• Removes the stigma of getting a "bad" matchup as you'll have 3 games to prove your mettle

Cons

• Removes the 1 and Done Urgency of every game
• Takes away the lightning strike of a low seed advancing with 1 upset
• If it ain't broke......don't fix it. The NCAAT is great as is, why risk changing it?
• Would need a tiebreaker, like Point Differential or Quality of Wins

It would be worse, and your first three "Cons" bullets are exactly why. Those outweigh any of the Pros.

 

[STLPirate12]

Here's a wild question.......would the NCAAT be better or worse if they adopted a format like the World Cup with a 4-Team Group Stage before the Knockout Stage?

19 Groups of 4 teams. Winner of each group and 13 Wild Cards with best remaining records advance to 32-Team Knockout stage, 4 Regions of 8 Teams each. What do you think?

Pros

• More Games = More Action = More TV = More Attendance = More Money
• Satisfies the goal of More Revenue without further diluting the Field beyond 76 teams
• Guarantees every team 3 Games played
• With 3 guaranteed games, fans would be more inclined to travel to watch their team in Group play
• Removes the stigma of getting a "bad" matchup as you'll have 3 games to prove your mettle

Cons

• Removes the 1 and Done Urgency of every game
• Takes away the lightning strike of a low seed advancing with 1 upset
• If it ain't broke......don't fix it. The NCAAT is great as is, why risk changing it?
• Would need a tiebreaker, like Point Differential or Quality of Wins

It's an interesting question ... maybe worth it's own thread. It would certainly be different, I don't necessarily think worse, but the gambling aspect is why it'll never happen. There's too much money in brackets and a group stage means you can't bracket out the whole tournament from the start.

What I think the NCAA should take from FIFA is the qualifying process to get into the tournament. Lose the entirely subjective at large bids and make teams get into the tournament by performing well in qualifiers. Plus it in a way "expands the tournament" without expanding the main bracket.

 

[hallsoccer03]

Argentina's sudden offensive barrage after Spain scored in OT was impressive; and at one man down. Makes one wonder where this effort/plan was earlier. Has the Argentine coach been criticized? England's coach certainly was when he played defensively after its goal v. France in semis.

They would have left themselves wide open for Spain on the counter… also it’s hard to do any of that when you don’t have the ball at all.