CONCACAF Leagues Cup and why structure matters

So, Liga MX and MLS have all their clubs participating in a mid-season tourney called the Leagues Cup. The reigning champions from each league get a bye to the round of 32 leaving 15 groups of three teams to compete across three matchdays for the remaining 30 KO round spots.

This does an interesting thing. The winner and runner-up from each group move on. That means the final matchday of the group stages determines second place in each group. It doesn't matter how poor the clubs in question are (and there are some stinkers in the mix), everyone playing on matchday three is playing for something meaningful.

Is the Leagues Cup title a serious thing in the big picture of global football? I have no clue. I'm really American. I'm pretty proud of myself for understanding the offside rule and knowing the difference between a 433 and 4231. What I do know is that from a spectator's perspective, elimination games are exciting. In home/away round robins like UEFA club tourney group stages, the fourth and first place teams might not have anything to play for on matchday six. In the Leagues Cup group stage, matchday three is already a knockout round.

Now, I'm not saying Leagues Cup is on par with CL/EL/ECL. It's definitely not. That's what makes its structure so important. The game theory baked into the way different competitions are organized can decide whether they are interesting enough to watch.

Say what you will about CONCACAF, but they understand and welcome chaos the way all North American sports do. I think the Leagues Cup structure will give fans a reason to tune in even if the results of the tourney mean almost nothing to 44 of the 47 clubs participating. I'm interested to see how TV ratings and ticket sales perform for this tourney compared to league matches.