Major League Soccer owners voted Thursday to shift the league’s season to a late-summer to spring calendar in 2027, bringing it more in line with its international counterparts.
The shift aims to put MLS in a more competitive position for player transfers while also freeing up players for national team duty during the summer, when many major international tournaments take place.
This season, the league started play in late February, with a break for the Club World Cup over the summer. The MLS Cup championship game is set for Dec. 6.
The vote came at the Board of Governors meeting in Palm Beach, Fla. Under the new calendar, league play would kickoff in mid- to late July, with the final day of the regular season in April. The playoffs and championship would take place in May.
Minnesota United posted an FAQ web page on its site that includes a note to fans from team chief executive officer Shari Ballard.
“We’re still more than a year out from this change, so we don’t have all of the answers right now, but we do have several,” she wrote, telling Loons fans the change was made to better integrate with the global transfer market and FIFA windows, as well as move the primary transfer window to the offseason.
The entire 2026 season, she added, “is unaffected.”
Under the new plan, MLS would go on an extended break during the winter, with just a few games played in early December and no games in January before resuming in early to mid-February.
The league is working with the Major League Soccer Players Association to finalize the transition.
While there were concerns about weather challenges during the winter months, teams like Minnesota United and the Chicago Fire already face cold and sometimes snowy conditions. In a March 2024 match, Real Salt Lake and LAFC played in blizzard conditions in Sandy, Utah.
But with a warming climate, matches in the summer months have become problematic, too. Soaring temperatures were a concern at some of the Club World Cup matches this past July and August.
The current schedule was based on not only the geography of the United States, but also the tastes of the American sports fan, avoiding the crowded months when NFL plays its biggest games, and the NBA and NHL are in full swing.
Apple loosens TV deal
Apple TV subscribers will be able to watch all MLS matches without an additional subscription beginning next year.
During the first three years of MLS’ 10-year, $2.5 billion agreement with Apple, a standalone Season Pass subscription was needed to access all matches. During this season, over 200 matches were simulcast on both MLS Season Pass and Apple TV, including the league’s “Sunday Night Soccer” package.
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