An MLS season shift would benefit warm-weather teams like Inter Miami, allowing them to host more winter games and draw fans during a quieter sports season. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)
The 2024 Major League Soccer playoffs began with grand plans of mainstream resonance. Then, they crashed into reality. A Times Square showcase was spoiled by the World Series. Major moments were buried behind a paywall, and obscured by American football. And now, for two weeks, the playoffs have paused, ceding their already-secondary stage to international soccer.
“Insane… 22 days for the next Play-off game,” LA Galaxy star Riqui Puig wrote on X. “Come on @MLS.”
All of that, multiple sources told Yahoo Sports, represents a primary reason MLS decision-makers are considering an overhaul. As The Athletic reported last month, league officials have engaged with franchise owners and clubs to gauge the feasibility and appeal of flipping the MLS calendar — of starting seasons in August, not February; finishing in the spring, not the fall; and aligning with most of European and global soccer.
The potential changes will be a key agenda item when the league’s sporting and competition committee meets Nov. 20-21 in Los Angeles, sources said. A decision — to flip, or to stick with the current calendar — will likely have to be made by April or May of 2025. That’s because 2026 — when the World Cup would interrupt MLS play for over a month — is seen as the “perfect” opportunity to make the leap.
Among club sporting directors and soccer executives, there is broad support for the overhaul.
“This is a no-brainer,” Columbus Crew coach Wilfried Nancy said.
But among team owners and business execs, opinions are split or still equivocal, sources said. Any change would have to be recommended by the league office, then approved via vote by the board of governors (the owners). At this stage, which is still an exploratory stage, one top club official told Yahoo Sports that the probability of change is 50% “at best.”
And any change, no matter the specifics, would require “compromises” and “trade-offs” among the league’s 30 franchises, sources explained. Some — namely those in cold-weather cities, like Minnesota and Montreal — will need to be convinced that the long-term benefits of flipping the calendar outweigh what they believe would be an immediate revenue dip.
Reason for change No. 1: Uninterrupted playoff exposure
The MLS calendar was built from spring to fall in large part to maximize match attendance. Back in the 1990s, when the league formed, most clubs were low-tier tenants in football stadiums. They had scheduling flexibility only in the spring and summer. And besides, that’s when weather was best; that’s also when there was less competition from major U.S. sports for eyeballs and media exposure.
In subsequent decades — both the 2000s and 2010s — MLS entertained the thought of a change,