Checketts Wants to Restore Shootouts
Owner Dave Checketts enjoyed a thrilling night watching the MLS All-Star Game in Rio Tinto Stadium, and came away with one overwhelming feeling:
He loves the shootout.
In fact, Checketts said he already has lobbied league commissioner Don Garber — and everybody else who would listen — to bring the penalty-kick shootout back as a way to break ties in league games, after watching Everton's Tim Howard duel with Kasey Keller of the Seattle Sounders in the dramatic shootout last night.
“If this doesn't make a case for the shootout being brought back, I don't know what does,” Checketts said. “I said, 'Look at the people staying, standing, screaming.' It was a classic match-up of the two best Americans who have ever played that position, right here in our stadium. It was classic.”
The league used penalty kicks to break ties during its first four seasons, but did away with them starting in the 2000 season. Many soccer purists believe that deciding games on penalties is akin to shooting free throws to decide a basketball game, but Checketts — who also owns the NHL's St. Louis Blues — believes that hockey has proven that shootouts can be successful.
“A lot of hockey games ended in ties, and everybody said you can't mess with traditional hockey,” he said. “But let me tell you something. There's a five-minute overtime at the end of every regular-season game, and then a shootout, and no one leaves the building. No one. The winning team gets an extra point for winning in the overtime or the shootout, but both teams get a point for ending in a tie, and you know what? We haven't rocked the foundations of hockey. I don't think anybody's been hurt by it.”
He loves the shootout.
In fact, Checketts said he already has lobbied league commissioner Don Garber — and everybody else who would listen — to bring the penalty-kick shootout back as a way to break ties in league games, after watching Everton's Tim Howard duel with Kasey Keller of the Seattle Sounders in the dramatic shootout last night.
“If this doesn't make a case for the shootout being brought back, I don't know what does,” Checketts said. “I said, 'Look at the people staying, standing, screaming.' It was a classic match-up of the two best Americans who have ever played that position, right here in our stadium. It was classic.”
The league used penalty kicks to break ties during its first four seasons, but did away with them starting in the 2000 season. Many soccer purists believe that deciding games on penalties is akin to shooting free throws to decide a basketball game, but Checketts — who also owns the NHL's St. Louis Blues — believes that hockey has proven that shootouts can be successful.
“A lot of hockey games ended in ties, and everybody said you can't mess with traditional hockey,” he said. “But let me tell you something. There's a five-minute overtime at the end of every regular-season game, and then a shootout, and no one leaves the building. No one. The winning team gets an extra point for winning in the overtime or the shootout, but both teams get a point for ending in a tie, and you know what? We haven't rocked the foundations of hockey. I don't think anybody's been hurt by it.”
posted by www.sltrib.com @ 3:10 PM |
6 Comments:
No way. There are a lot of soccer fans who for some reason have not gotten into MLS. Trying to win over these types of people with shootouts would be extremely counterproductive.
The people who can't handle ties, generally seem convinced that soccer is boring and I don't think anything will change their mindset.
Lastly, if MLS wants to be respected internationally, they need to stick with a standard system.
Yeah, we've had enough of trying to go our own way for the moment. If the sport changes at the international level, fine. But let's not be the ones to rock the boat until MLS teams can, at the very least, beat amateur Caribbean teams in meaningful competition.
Penalty kicks are a stupid way to resolve ties anyway. The skill involved in winning a PK shootout is hardly related to the skill required to win a soccer game. They might as well go straight to beer pong at the end of the 90'.
Beer pong it is!!!
Checketts is clueless yet again. To not understand that the all-star game was a different circumstance than a regular season game and the implications that shootouts would have over the long haul shows he knows nothing about soccer.
There should be a mandatory period of silence following suggestions as stupid as that.
Yes Anonymous, he must be an idiot--> I'm convinced your job at bob's burger boy gives you a vastly superior knowledge to the way fans, media, sponsorships, tv rights, etc. would react to a penalty shootout. Good call ole boy, let's call ourselves experts by remaining anonymous on local newspaper blogs and trying to point out mistakes of logic by those actually out there making a difference. Good show!
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