Just because you can see very clearly how teams struggle when travelling three time zones.

But I really don’t like what it will do to the Cascadia competition. Four games in a year doesn’t seem likely, and it also seems like too much. Three gives a real balance problem. If Portland got to play Seattle twice at home and got to play Vancouver twice away, they’d have a big advantage over the Sounders. They’ll probably have to change the way we score that.

on Twitter that this wouldn’t be the first time the Cascadia teams played three games against each opponent.

It happened in 2008, but Vancouver’s victory margin was so steep (they only lost one match) that even Seattle fans (all 17 of them) didn’t complain about home-away disparity.

In 2007 the whole season was wonky because of the folding of the Virginia Beach Mariners, and the Cascadia teams didn’t even play each other the same number of times. So the supporters groups agreed that only the last home and away matches for each side (two each) would count. It’s possible we could make a similar arrangement next year.

So it’s not ideal, but it’s not without precedence either. I’m sure it will be a lively discussion at the Cascadia Summit, but I think they’ll make something work.

I agree with Garber, though, that it won’t do much to dilute the rivalry. I certainly didn’t hate Seattle any less after the 2007 season (I hated Atlanta even more for denying us the chance to play Seattle in the final).

I find that hard to believe. Extend the season by one week. Get rid of the US Open play-in games. I don’t know, take 5 minutes and figure it out. Can’t be impossible to add 2 games to a teams schedule.