Major Arena Soccer League officials Friday announced a new standings system that will be points-based, similar to that used by other professional leagues.

For the MASL, it will be a 3-2-1 point system. A team winning in regulation time will receive three points, while the losing team will receive none. For an extratime or shootout win, a team will be awarded two points and one point will go to the losing team.

The league also ananounced the format for the 2021-22 Ron Newman Cup Playoffs has been announced.

This will be the first time the MASL has used a points-based system to determine standings. The total number of points accumulated by a team will determine their ranking in the standings. Should teams be tied at the end of the regular season, the following tiebreakers will determine the order of finish:

1. Wins in regulation time

2. Total number of wins

3. Head-to-head results

4. Goal differential

5. Goals scored

6. Goals allowed

The dates and teams will be determined over the course of the coming season. Each division’s regular-season champion will advance to the playoffs and will be seeded one through three, based on their regular-season point total. Regular-season finishers four through eight will receive wild-card spots based on their point total.

The quarterfinal round of playoffs will feature:

1 vs 8

2 vs 7

3 vs 6

4 vs 5

The winners will advance to the semifinal round. All series will be a home-andhome format and if the teams are tied with one win each, they will play a 15-minute extratime period. If they are still tied, it will advance to a golden-goal extratime.

Following the league meetings, MASL commissioner Keith Tozer commented on the energy and what transpired in Milwaukee.

“After two very successful days of league meetings in Milwaukee, we all left feeling a great sense of excitement and accomplishment, both on the business side as well as on the soccer side,” he said.

The 2021-22 season gets underway with the St. Louis Ambush hosting the Kansas City Comets, Friday, Nov. 26.

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.