Albert - I didn't announce anything, I just posed a question.
The poll indicates we should go with 4 squad Playoff + 4 squad BOTR if you go by majority vote. An "All 8" playoff is a little silly and I'm not sure what you gain from the top 2 squads playing the bottom 2 squads in Week 1.
Result link:
http://uslzone.com/usl/view_poll.php?type=results&id=7
Results:
4 playoff squads 4 squads in best of the rest tournament (42%, 39 Votes)
6 - top 2 seeds get first round byes (38%, 35 Votes)
All 8 (20%, 18 Votes)
Summary:
-Captains/Co-Captains leaned towards 6 squads overall (57%)
-Captains Only were split 2-4-2 (50% voted for 6 squads)
-Staff was 52% for 4 squads; 38% for 6 squads
-IV/CK/WH/Legends leaned towards 4 squads
-AF/Tank/SA/Worms leaned towards 6 squads
That (especially the last bullet) basically indicates that the squads that thought they were going to be on the bubble voted, primarily, for a 6 squad playoff (seemingly to ensure they got in).
The format we originally discussed, after those results (to support the poll), was:
<b>Playoff Week 1:</b>
-Byes for #1 and #2
-3 vs 6
-4 vs 5
<b>Playoff Week 2:</b>
-1 vs [4/5 Winner]
-2 vs [3/6 Winner]
-7 vs [4/5 Loser]
-8 vs [3/6 Loser]
<b>Playoff Week 3 (Finals):</b>
-Single Elimination League Championship
-Single Elimination BOTR Championship
Point is, you guys are jumping all over this because you're worried about making playoffs (which is a good thing). You're the storyline of this USL season and it might be more interesting to keep it 4/4.
PS:
We could do something silly like this if you want to promote more games (especially @ the lower tier) + community involvement:
<b>Playoff Week 1:</b>
-1 vs 6
-2 vs 5
-3 vs 4
-7 vs 8
<b>Playoff Week 2:</b>
-[1/6 Winner] vs. [3/4 Winner]
-[2/5 Winner] vs. [2nd Chance Poll/Vote Between 3 Losing Squads]
-7 vs [Losing Squad]
-8 vs [Losing Squad]
<b>Playoff Week 3 (Finals):</b>
-Single Elimination League Championship
-Double Elimination BOTR Championship (e.g. if 7 beat 8 in Week 1, they haven't lost & need to be beaten twice... or you could skip the 7v8 match in Week 1 and this is single elimination)