The MLS Prediction Competition Home Page

Welcome to the 2000 MLS Prediction Competition!

How to play

You'll need an entry form, which you can get by clicking on the link. Then you need to add your name and your predictions. Do this by clicking where it says "Click here!"; this should open up a mail window. Include the original text (in Netscape, look in the File menu to do this), and then put your predictions inside the [ ]. Predict as many games as you like, and then hit "send" to send it to me. Or you can copy the form into your mail program and mail it to me that way, at butler@mscs.dal.ca. Don't forget to add your name!

MLS has (thank goodness) gotten rid of shootouts this year; if a game is tied after 90 minutes, a short overtime session will be played.  For this competition, the score at the end of the game (including overtime, if played) is what counts. So if you predict a 2-1 win for the home team, you get full points if the home team wins 2-1 after 90 minutes, or if it's 1-1 after 90 minutes and the home team wins in overtime. (If you predict a tie, therefore, you are predicting that the teams will be tied after 90 minutes and that nobody will score in overtime.)

If you want to change your predictions later, simply fill out the form again. Your latest predictions are the ones I count.

Questions and comments can be aimed my way, at butler@mscs.dal.ca.

I'll also post the current list of games to be predicted, and the current standings in the competition, on the na-soccer mailing list.

Every so often, I'll work out how many points everybody got, and post the competition standings on na-soccer, as well as on this page.

How points are scored

The point value of each of your predictions is determined using the list below. Go down the list until you find the situation that describes how your prediction compared with the actual score; that tells you how many points you got. (In other words, it's not "check all that apply"; it's "check the first one that applies".) Here are some examples of actual and predicted scores, and the points they earn, so that you can see how the system works: 
     Actual   Predicted    Points
      2-1        2-1          5
      0-0        0-0          5
      1-0        2-1          3
      1-1        2-2          3
      0-1        0-2          3
      2-3        1-3          3
      3-1        1-0          2
      1-1        1-2          1
      4-1        0-1          1
      4-1        0-2          0
      2-2        4-1          0

The Competition Story

On the na-soccer mailing list, the idea was put forward (by Chris Allen) of having a "tipping competition" for the upcoming Major League Soccer season. Unfortunately, nobody knew what he meant by this, but when he explained that this was nothing more than a "prediction competition", interest began to be expressed.

I was foolish enough to volunteer to organize the competition, but the flipside of that is that I get to make up the rules. I decided to borrow those of the corresponding competition for the Swiss soccer league; the idea is that you try to predict the final score of each game, and you get points corresponding to how close your prediction was.