MLS to mirror European football schedule

[LadyStanley]

🚨 MLS 'considering' major schedule change post 2026 World Cup

Major League Soccer is considering a significant scheduling change that could see the league mirror the European football calendar.According to a report from The Athletic on Wednesday, the American or...

sports.yahoo.com

After World Cup 2026.

Considering change right now.

Click to read more...

 

[Voight]

If it ain't broke don't fix it.

I think their schedule is part of why they've been successful. Sure things get hard at playoff time with so much going on in the sports world but competing directly with the NHL and NBA regular seasons, + almost the entire NFL & college football seasons for a good chunk of the season? Tough one.

 

[Vegan Knight]

If aint broke down fix it.

I think their schedule is part of why they've been successful. Sure things get hard at playoff time with so much going on in the sports world but competing directly with the NHL and NBA regular seasons, + almost the entire NFL & college football seasons for a good chunk of the season? Tough one.

Doesn't Japan, Australia and some places in Latin America use the same schedule as MLS for soccer? I don't know why they would change for more competition.

 

[Voight]

Doesn't Japan, Australia and some places in Latin America use the same schedule as MLS for soccer? I don't know why they would change for more competition.

No kidding. & good luck with getting people to attend games in places like Boston, Toronto, Montreal, New York, Chicago etc in the middle of winter.

 

[GKJ]

Doesn't Japan, Australia and some places in Latin America use the same schedule as MLS for soccer? I don't know why they would change for more competition.

Australia I think mirrors European leagues, it’s just that it’s summer for them.

 

[IU Hawks fan]

It's long overdue. Playing in the summer and overlapping the international tournaments isn’t something a serious league can do.

Mess in the transfer market, as well.

 

[The Marquis]

Doesn't Japan, Australia and some places in Latin America use the same schedule as MLS for soccer? I don't know why they would change for more competition.

Yes and parts of Europe. This “considering” has been around annually for at least 15 years.

 

[Melrose Munch]

Much better and will be way easier to get better players.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

As a Galaxy fan living in LA...awesome.
As someone who has lived in places with actual seasons....congratulations, you're going to do serious harm to attendance/desirability/value of the markets that deal with weather, which is a significant portion of this league. This would just further tilt things in LA & Miami's favor.

Winters in continental Europe don't compare to winters in Columbus, never mind Minnesota...and the places that do have comparable winters run the same kind of schedule the MLS currently does for obvious reasons.

Then again there's no good solution that doesn't involve the entire schedule shrinking. The current late February start doesn't factor in March being the snowiest month in a lot of places, nor are the playoffs in anyone's ideal time of the year.

This sounds like something that plays a hell of a lot better in a boardroom with a bunch of billionaire owners than it would with the fan actually paying to go to games. Just fix the damn transfer window. You don't need to immediately devalue half of the league to accomplish that.

Doesn't Japan, Australia and some places in Latin America use the same schedule as MLS for soccer? I don't know why they would change for more competition.

It's pure eurocentrism. Most of the Americas, as well as plenty others around the globe are on the same calendar year set-up as the MLS. The richest teams in Europe are on the Fall-Spring schedule, though, so that's the 'right' way to do it.

 

[ColinM]

Thanks to Global Warming it's likely possible to host outdoor soccer in December or March these days. That said I'm sure the schedule makers can weight the schedule such that Southern Cities host the bulk of the games that time of year.

 

[oknazevad]

I want all of the MLS board of governors to sit for two hours in the stands of Minnesota, Toronto, Montreal, Chicago, Columbus, Cincinnati, New York, New England, Philadelphia, DC, St Louis, even Nashville in late January and tell me that this is a good idea. There's a reason MLS has always used a spring-summer-fall schedule.

Hell, there's been murmurs that the top European countries think they should go to that schedule and stop playing in the winter. The only reason such a schedule exists on the first place is because the early English clubs were forced to accept dates in those months as the cricket clubs they shared grounds with in the early days had first dibs.

 

[IU Hawks fan]

I want all of the MLS board of governors to sit for two hours in the stands of Minnesota, Toronto, Montreal, Chicago, Columbus, Cincinnati, New York, New England, Philadelphia, DC, St Louis, even Nashville in late January and tell me that this is a good idea. There's a reason MLS has always used a spring-summer-fall schedule.

Hell, there's been murmurs that the top European countries think they should go to that schedule and stop playing in the winter. The only reason such a schedule exists on the first place is because the early English clubs were forced to accept dates in those months as the cricket clubs they shared grounds with in the early days had first dibs.

They're not going to play in late January, they're taking winter break (and could play Leagues Cup in southern pods).

If you resume the season in mid-February you can pretty easily put off holding games in the north until early March, it'll be no different than it is now.

 

[Kirk Van Houten]

Doesn't Japan, Australia and some places in Latin America use the same schedule as MLS for soccer? I don't know why they would change for more competition.

Pretty much every federation makes the choice here in Argentina we started to mirror again the "regular" calendar when the CONMEBOL tournaments moved from one in the first semester and the second one well in the other semester to march - november calendar. So pretty much atm in South America we played like the MLS not Europe.

If it ain't broke don't fix it.

I think their schedule is part of why they've been successful. Sure things get hard at playoff time with so much going on in the sports world but competing directly with the NHL and NBA regular seasons, + almost the entire NFL & college football seasons for a good chunk of the season? Tough one.

I think the issue is they get a calendar similar to baseball but well baseball is tradition and soccer is not so in october you don't think hey the MLS Playoffs are happening ! so I would get why they rather move to an NBA/NHL type calendar they just need to figure out december and january weather.

 

[Reaser]

I think the issue is they get a calendar similar to baseball but well baseball is tradition and soccer is not so in october you don't think hey the MLS Playoffs are happening ! so I would get why they rather move to an NBA/NHL type calendar they just need to figure out december and january weather.

"Under the proposal, MLS would begin early August and run until mid-December before a winter break. The season would resume in February and run until the spring, with the MLS Cup in late May."

So starting roughly when NFL preseason does, which despite everyone saying they hate, millions watch and it gets more attention than even the playoffs of some leagues, including MLS. Couple weeks later college football starts. Get to September and NFL regular season. October MLB playoffs and NHL & NBA seasons start, plus WNBA playoffs will continue to be pushed/marketed. During those proposed opening months of the MLS season there's also the PGA Tour with a major & the FedEx Cup playoffs. Plus those months cover the final stretch of the season for American motorsports, with NASCAR even going into the first weekend of November.

So that's a rough time to start a season.

Winter break, come back in February, presumably avoiding the Super Bowl which is not too many years from being pushed even further back in Feb. So beginning of 2nd half of season NFL is still taking up all the air. Get to March and you have March Madness and spring training/opening day/week of MLB.

MLS Cup playoffs in May, H2H with NBA & Stanley Cup Playoffs. Yikes. Good luck with that Revolution-Red Bulls playoff series going H2H with Knicks-Celtics or Bruins-Rangers, or both.

There's always competition. Tough to find space in the U.S. sports calender but if they do change, it looks tough.

 

[Hasbro]

"Under the proposal, MLS would begin early August and run until mid-December before a winter break. The season would resume in February and run until the spring, with the MLS Cup in late May."

So starting roughly when NFL preseason does, which despite everyone saying they hate, millions watch and it gets more attention than even the playoffs of some leagues, including MLS. Couple weeks later college football starts. Get to September and NFL regular season. October MLB playoffs and NHL & NBA seasons start, plus WNBA playoffs will continue to be pushed/marketed. During those proposed opening months of the MLS season there's also the PGA Tour with a major & the FedEx Cup playoffs. Plus those months cover the final stretch of the season for American motorsports, with NASCAR even going into the first weekend of November.

So that's a rough time to start a season.

Winter break, come back in February, presumably avoiding the Super Bowl which is not too many years from being pushed even further back in Feb. So beginning of 2nd half of season NFL is still taking up all the air. Get to March and you have March Madness and spring training/opening day/week of MLB.

MLS Cup playoffs in May, H2H with NBA & Stanley Cup Playoffs. Yikes. Good luck with that Revolution-Red Bulls playoff game going H2H with Knicks-Celtics or Bruins-Rangers, or both.

This is exactly what killed the first USFL.

 

[Albatros]

The only reason such a schedule exists on the first place is because the early English clubs were forced to accept dates in those months as the cricket clubs they shared grounds with in the early days had first dibs.

By no means only. For example the early clubs were often school teams and were accustomed to playing over the school year. The oldest competition, the FA Cup, was modeled after Harrow School's competition.

 

[Voight]

Pretty much every federation makes the choice here in Argentina we started to mirror again the "regular" calendar when the CONMEBOL tournaments moved from one in the first semester and the second one well in the other semester to march - november calendar. So pretty much atm in South America we played like the MLS not Europe.


I think the issue is they get a calendar similar to baseball but well baseball is tradition and soccer is not so in october you don't think hey the MLS Playoffs are happening ! so I would get why they rather move to an NBA/NHL type calendar they just need to figure out december and january weather.

Right but half the season will be competing against football, which trumps all.

 

[PCSPounder]

Right but half the season will be competing against football, which trumps all.

Is it better for the EARLY part of the MLS schedule to go against the NFL, or the later part? The latter, the crescendo, is what happens now. If MLS is really the spark in this conversation, that might be primary on their minds. Does anyone realize that LEO F’ING MESSI IS IN A PLAYOFF GAME TONIGHT?!?!?

I should mention that, some years ago, Eric Wynalda was invited to a SXSW panel on soccer. He was mentioning that Fox would spend a lot of money on MLS IF they moved to a fall-spring schedule. He’s also rather adamant that MLS is better off in Southern markets than in Northern markets… take that as you will. I’m taking this news, as it stands, as a trial balloon based on the possibility that MLS has received a broadcasting offer and they’ll mine social media to determine if the fans like the idea. It does seem like a head-scratcher after getting so many stadiums built in places like Minneapolis. Ready for a dome, Loons? Shrug.

 

[mouser]

Is it better for the EARLY part of the MLS schedule to go against the NFL, or the later part? The latter, the crescendo, is what happens now. If MLS is really the spark in this conversation, that might be primary on their minds. Does anyone realize that LEO F’ING MESSI IS IN A PLAYOFF GAME TONIGHT?!?!?

I should mention that, some years ago, Eric Wynalda was invited to a SXSW panel on soccer. He was mentioning that Fox would spend a lot of money on MLS IF they moved to a fall-spring schedule. He’s also rather adamant that MLS is better off in Southern markets than in Northern markets… take that as you will. I’m taking this news, as it stands, as a trial balloon based on the possibility that MLS has received a broadcasting offer and they’ll mine social media to determine if the fans like the idea. It does seem like a head-scratcher after getting so many stadiums built in places like Minneapolis. Ready for a dome, Loons? Shrug.

Yup, and I believe the game tonight is only available on Apple TV MLS pass in the USA?

Severely limiting the potential audience.

 

[Galactico]

Dumb idea. Playing in February in places like Montreal or Minneapolis would be near impossible. And competing with the NHL, NBA and NFL isn’t the smartest idea. Who even thought about that proposition?

 

[IU Hawks fan]

College soccer could be aligning to the Fall-Spring schedule.

https://x.com/i/web/status/1849972556826112220

 

[DoyleG]

"Under the proposal, MLS would begin early August and run until mid-December before a winter break. The season would resume in February and run until the spring, with the MLS Cup in late May."

So starting roughly when NFL preseason does, which despite everyone saying they hate, millions watch and it gets more attention than even the playoffs of some leagues, including MLS. Couple weeks later college football starts. Get to September and NFL regular season. October MLB playoffs and NHL & NBA seasons start, plus WNBA playoffs will continue to be pushed/marketed. During those proposed opening months of the MLS season there's also the PGA Tour with a major & the FedEx Cup playoffs. Plus those months cover the final stretch of the season for American motorsports, with NASCAR even going into the first weekend of November.

So that's a rough time to start a season.

Winter break, come back in February, presumably avoiding the Super Bowl which is not too many years from being pushed even further back in Feb. So beginning of 2nd half of season NFL is still taking up all the air. Get to March and you have March Madness and spring training/opening day/week of MLB.

MLS Cup playoffs in May, H2H with NBA & Stanley Cup Playoffs. Yikes. Good luck with that Revolution-Red Bulls playoff series going H2H with Knicks-Celtics or Bruins-Rangers, or both.

There's always competition. Tough to find space in the U.S. sports calender but if they do change, it looks tough.

A bigger thing is that you would have to deal with stadium-sharing issues if they were forced to go to this fall-winter proposal.

I can't be happy for Minny as they would have to play games at US Bank and be forced to schedule around the Vikings. The same goes with the Sounders and the Seahawks. NFL and its TV sked would give them priority over dates.

Caps, the BC Lions, TFC, and the Argos would have the same issues.

The A-League working during its summer is beneficial since it doesn't have to compete with the AFL or the NRL. Switching seasons would force them to compete with both and cause some stadium issues with the latter.

 

[Vegan Knight]

Yup, and I believe the game tonight is only available on Apple TV MLS pass in the USA?

Severely limiting the potential audience.

It was available for free. If you had the apple TV app you could watch it without paying.

 

[IU Hawks fan]

It was available for free. If you had the apple TV app you could watch it without paying.

They did a horrible job promoting that, then.

 

[nickp91]

I’m more interested to see if MLS does like a shortened “MLS is Back” style tournament in spring 2026 to flip the calendar to a fall-spring schedule