NACL Playoff Format Proposal

The North American Championship league is making its long-awaited return.

Would you like to help us come back in a big way? We are looking to bring the most exciting competitive format to the community by proposing a major playoff system change. This will be the first of its kind in NHL esports and we are looking for your feedback.

With the new season of NACL, we want to make the regular season more meaningful and the playoffs more exciting. Keep reading to learn more about our proposal and what we plan to achieve by doing this.

Proposed Playoff System: Challenge System
To illustrate the proposed Challenge System, we will use a 16 team league format where 8 teams make the playoffs. However, this system can be adjusted depending on the number of team signups. In traditional playoff formats the 1st seed will play the 8th seed, the 2nd seed will play the 7th seed, and so on. While this format can still produce high quality matchups and excitement, we believe the proposed Challenge System will give teams more incentive to finish the regular season on top and will add a layer of anticipation to the first round of the playoffs.

The proposed format will separate the playoff teams into two groups; group 1 will be teams seeded 1-4 and group 2 will be teams seeded 5-8.

Example Standings:

1. Team A
2. Team B
3. Team C
4. Team D
   ---------
5. Team E
6. Team F
7. Team G
8. Team H

Group 1 consists of teams A, B, C, and D, while group 2 consists of teams E, F, G, H.
 

How the Challenge System will work:

• Team A will pick their first round opponent from any team in group 2 (team E, F, G, or H)
• Team B will then pick from the three remaining teams
• Team C will then pick from the two remaining teams
• Team D will match up with the team that wasn’t picked by the top 3 seeds

To make this even more exciting, it is our goal to have the selection process broadcasted live on Twitch with one representative from the top three teams.

The key benefits of this system:

• Additional content and added excitement during the first round of the playoffs
• Potential for new rivalries
• Completely eliminates any benefit of seed manipulation
   

This new system is a fantastic way to build excitement and hype for a potential series. For starters, there will be a lot of anticipation to know which teams get matched up. There is also potential for drama during the draft: a team can fake out the stream, playfully trash talk their opponent, or present their case why they think they're number one. All of these factors can create an even more intense atmosphere, which will give viewers and the community more reasons to tune into the broadcasts.

With this system, anyone who is looking to gain an advantageous first round matchup by intentionally underperforming won’t be able to, as the control of the pairings is in the hands of the top 3 performing teams.

The rivalries that build up during the regular season, especially the rivalries that have been building up for years in other leagues, will be put to the test. Will the high seed play it safe? Will they challenge a familiar team to flex in front of an audience? The possibilities!
 

The inspiration for this format comes from the Southern Professional Hockey League which has also inspired rule changes for the NHL. The most recent change being the implementation of 3-on-3 overtime.

We are hoping this will bring a fresh, highly competitive format to NHL 6v6 in North America. Let us know how you feel about this new format in the comments section below.