2020 Philadelphia Union Season...better late than never again

[Philsmania]

Impressive win last night and the Union now has the best record in MLS. Don't look now but does Philadelphia have a championship contender?

[zambonir]

They've had a nice year, including the tournament. The bad news is the Supporter's Shield winner has only won the Cup twice in the last 10 years but the good news is there's no actual Supporter's Shield this year.

Also I guess their main competition is playing all their home games in Connecticut huh? With no fans it probably doesn't matter, but forcing a team like Seattle or Portland to fly East for the final would certainly be an edge.

[Philsmania]

Union does win the Supporter's Shield. Hopefully, the jinx won't get them.

[zambonir]

I didn't realize they reversed the decision on the supporter's shield.

Supporters' Shield to be awarded in 2020 following reversal of decision

I think MLS might be at the highest risk of not finishing the season. Because of the int'l calendary they don't even start until the 20th which is almost two weeks wasted while cases boom. And the Cup is supposed to be 12/12 - even w/o COVID that will be pretty unpleasant if it's in Philadelphia or Hartford. Obviously fewer people involved as the playoffs move on but also less wiggle room, and less $ at stake. Seems likely more than one team will end up not being able to play in their own state.

[Philsmania]

I think it probably would have made more sense for MLS to have simply resumed its season in the bubble back in July instead of having the MLS is Back Tournament. They may have to go back into the bubble to do the playoffs.

[zambonir]

That would not have been reasonable/possible for staff and players to be apart from (or move) their families and live in Orlando for five months. It was hard enough to get them to vote for the tournament. At the time they didn't even know if there would be a season (though that moved pretty fast). I also think they were really dreaming of fans/revenue.

As a season ticketholder I really didn't think there was much point. Did not watch many games with all the other sports going on at the same time. But I'm sure the Cup will be fun, and certainly a good opportunity for the Union to not even have to compete with the start of NBA and NHL (or a compelling Eagles team for that matter).

[Philsmania]

Three days late with this but the Union fails to show up for its playoff game and the season is over. The shame of it is that with the Eagles disintegrating the Union had a big opportunity to grab some space in the spotlight and build up a bandwagon.

[julio]