MLS to Change Season Format

Major League Soccer (MLS) has made a huge announcement this week.

Beginning in the summer of 2027, MLS will adopt a summer-to-spring season format, marking one of the most significant developments in the league’s history. MLS is continuing to work with the MLS Players Association to finalize agreement on a transition plan.

In conjunction with this transition, MLS will introduce a new regular season format that blends elements of the global game with North American sports traditions. The league will also review potential adjustments to the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs format as part of an ongoing evaluation process but has not yet finalized any changes.

The 2027-28 MLS regular season will begin in mid-to-late July 2027 and conclude with the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs and MLS Cup presented by Audi in late May 2028.

Like other major international leagues, MLS will observe a midwinter break from mid-December through early February, with no league matches scheduled in January.

Before the calendar change, MLS will stage a transition season from February to May 2027, featuring a 14-game regular season, playoffs, and MLS Cup. Those results will determine 2027 qualification for the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, Canadian Championship, Leagues Cup, and Concacaf Champions Cup.

This bold move is quite a gamble as the MLS regular season will go deeper into direct competition with other sports leagues. Aside from a six-week winter break (for the regular season, but not necessarily for all competitions), MLS will overlap with the entirety of the NFL season and almost all of the NBA and NHL campaigns, plus college football and basketball.  At the moment, a large portion of MLS’s schedule falls in the lighter summer, competing with MLB, the WNBA and the NWSL.

Then there are weather considerations. With more games in winter months, teams from cold-weather cities will need to play on the road immediately before and well after the winter break. (This year, the season kicked off Feb. 22, but Montreal didn’t play its home opener until April 12.) Only about a dozen teams would be largely unaffected by cold conditions at home.

More games in the winter, though, means fewer in the summer, when brutal heat this year prompted regular water breaks and intense thunderstorms forced numerous delays or postponements. Because of climate change, summers aren’t getting cooler and calmer. With the threat of discomfort and disruptions during the World Cup next year — like in the Club World Cup last summer — FIFA will need to select kickoff times carefully in many cities.

My initial reaction to this move has been that this could be a big mistake.  For as long as I can remember, American professional soccer leagues have played their seasons during the spring/summer seasons.  This move will be a challenge as the league will compete more with American football.  It's a very risky move but soccer purists seem to support it.