The 2002 J. League season was completed on Nov. 30 after Jubilo Iwata won the league title for the third time by sweeping the two stages, and Sanfrecce Hiroshima and Consadole Sapporo both got relegated to Division Two.

Jubilo's unprecedented success, however, resulted in the cancellation of the two-leg J. League Championship Final, which is usually contested by the stage winners.

As a result the J. League missed out on an estimated income of 300 million yen from sponsorship deals and TV rights for the Championship Final. That figure was to be divided among each of the 28 league clubs after expenses, which is estimated at about 15 million yen per club.

Jubilo earned 200 million yen as prize money for winning the second stage. But it missed out on the bonus for playing in the Championship Final -- 20 million yen to the winner and 10 million yen to the loser -- plus the gate revenue for hosting one of the two-leg playoffs at Shizuoka Ecopa Stadium. This figure would total about 360 million yen based on the sales of 8 yen,000-priced tickets sold to 45,000 fans.

The club officials apparently had been aware of that but went for the honor of becoming the first J. League club to make the sweep. It was revenge for Jubilo after narrowly missing the league championship with a loss to archrival Kashima Antlers in the playoffs last season, although it had collected the most points throughout the two stages last season.

"We played through the season aware of the disappointment we suffered last season," Jubilo manager Masakazu Suzuki commented after clinching the title on Nov. 24.

The J. League is two-faced in terms of its evaluation system. A season's champion is basically decided in the playoffs between the first- and the second-stage winners, not by points collected through the season, while relegation is determined on the total points collected over both stages.

Some critics have pointed out the need to introduce a one-stage league format. In league competition, teams should battle to prove their strength and stamina through the season and the best team would be crowned champion at the end it.

The current two-stage system gives a team the chance to challenge for a title even if it fails in one stage but also allows a team to sit back after winning a stage.

But the J. League said it has no intention of making a change, saying the two-stage system plus the Championship Final are still in demand because of the shallow history of the professional league in Japan.

"We'd like to keep the current two-stage system to keep Japanese fans interested in the game with the excitement of having two stage winners," Kazuki Sasaki, general secretary of the J. League, said. "We have a break for one to two months in summer for international competition such as the Continental Cup next year, and another break in winter, as we cannot hold league competition in the northern part of this country because of heavy snowfall.

With these factors in mind, we think it's better to separate our season into two stages."

The J. League, however, will abandon sudden-death extra time in Division One and teams can end up with a draw after 90 minutes from next season.

The league's governing body figured that Japanese fans have learned the significance of a draw through this past World Cup.

It is interesting to see how the new system would have affected the placement of the teams.

This season, Jubilo, which had eight extra-time wins out of its 26 wins, would have lost eight points to end with 63 points instead of 71.

It would still have finished top of the 16-team division. But the Yokohama F. Marinos, which came in second on 55 points, would lose six points and would have been placed fourth on 49 points.

Vissel, meanwhile, would have improved its placing from 14th to 10th and wouldn't have been involved in the J1 survival race.

Hiroshima and Sapporo lost in extra time, six and eight times respectively, and both won once in extra time. Their final placing wouldn't have changed with these extra points. But drawing and losing can sometimes have a significant influence on the players mentally, which can in turn lead to different results.

Though the two-stage system remains, the introduction of a draw will make the J. League closer to what league competition should be like. Teams, players and fans should notice the improvement in the new format in the 11th season of the Japanese professional league.