mls eventually conceded that the rule changes, particularly the shootout, had alienated some traditional soccer fans while failing to draw new american sports fans as hoped. the shootout and countdown clock were eliminated after the 1999 season. mls continued to experiment with the settling of tie games in regular season play. in 2000, a 10-minute golden goal period replaced the shootout for tied games, but was abandoned after 2003 after the sudden-death rules were abolished from the laws of the game.