King Climate
To be a serious league, MLS must change its calendar
The Athletic reported some glorious news that ignited a winter of discontent among certain Major League Soccer fans last month.
The league is considering moving to a fall-to-spring calendar after the 2026 World Cup, and the reporting has prompted strong reactions from the league’s fanbase. However, there is no debate, question, or argument that the current schedule impacts the league’s business and competitiveness, primarily due to FIFA’s International Calendar and many of the top soccer leagues that have played from fall to spring for decades.
Kickoff: The Need for Change
For MLS to become a more serious league, it must not only make the switch but can do so without letting America’s various climates get in the way. Since 1996, the summer has offered this young soccer league some benefits. Competition against America’s top four sports leagues has been spread throughout the season, with MLB being the only one that runs through all the summer months. Summertime also benefits northern U.S. and Canadian teams.
Yellow Card: The FIFA Calendar
But remember, soccer isn’t played in a bubble. The FIFA International Calendar has match windows for national teams to play official and friendly matches throughout the year. These windows occur in March, May, June, October, and November. Additionally, each confederation has its international tournaments, where member national teams compete to determine a continental champion. These tournaments roughly occur from mid-June to mid-July (except for the Africa Cup of Nations, which takes place in January).
Due to this structure, MLS teams often play through these match windows with their star players missing in action as they fulfill their international duties. These match windows, therefore, impact the integrity of the competition, leaving the Supporters’ Shield (awarded to the MLS team with the most points) drowning in a sea of asterisks.
For example, the Columbus Crew faced a critical home game against the Seattle Sounders without a backup keeper because their starting keeper was called up for the U.S. Men’s National Team. That game ended in a 4-0 fiasco after their young, sole keeper received a red card, and the team had to use a field player in goal.
Offsides: The Global Market Transfer
The real motivation for MLS to consider this calendar change is to take full advantage of the global transfer market. Whether it’s an English, Spanish, German, French, or Italian club, their seasons end by June, and they’re looking to pay top dollar for rising talent in the summer. There have been plenty of offers to buy MLS talent, but summer is a horrible time for an MLS team to lose its star players as it pursues the Shield or playoff qualification and the MLS Cup.
This happened, for instance, with Brandon Vasquez in 2023. FC Cincinnati refused to sell him to a few interested European clubs, and he ultimately left in the winter to play for a Liga MX club. By aligning the calendar with the top European leagues, MLS can achieve a win-win in selling its best players.
Red Card: MLS Playoffs
The calendar has not been kind to the MLS Playoffs. It runs against two international breaks in October and November, American college football, and the NFL. MLS has changed its playoff format several times over the years, and some formats have fared better with these interruptions than others.
But it’s a delicate balance. If the playoffs are too long, they clash with the breaks, and teams can lose momentum. If they’re too short, they may lack impact. In the current format, the LA Galaxy won the first two games in the Best-Of-Three round against Colorado. As one player noted, the team will now wait over 20 days before its next playoff game — due to the November break.
With college football and the NFL underway, MLS has had to schedule playoff games on random Tuesdays or Fridays, as with Leo Messi’s playoff debut for Inter Miami against Atlanta United.
Penalty Kick: King Climate
As mentioned earlier, MLS has benefited from summer games but the league has outgrown the period. With soon-to-be 30 teams playing 34 games next year, the league has increasingly had to start its season in February — much to the chagrin of CF Montréal, which often begins the season with six-plus games on the road.
Climate change has intensified the issue, as southern teams now play in even hotter weather, posing health risks for both players and fans. One Austin FC game was pushed back to a later time because of the heat.
On the other hand, Minnesota's cold is no joke. The U.S. Men's National Team goalkeeper even suffered frostbite in one toe in February 2022.
It becomes a question of which extreme is preferred and whether northern or southern teams should invest in enclosed stadiums.
Half-Time: Conferences No More?
In addition to a schedule change, the Athletic reported that MLS is considering moving away from conferences and using divisions instead.
This is something I’ve analyzed over the years since I’ve been following the league. Here are two ways MLS could do divisions from a mathematical standpoint.
Six divisions of five teams each. Each team plays their division opponents twice and the other teams once. That would add up to 33 matches per team. Of course, MLS could add a Rivalry Week match, meaning teams will play a regional rival three times. That would give us the magic number of 34.
Five divisions of six teams each. Despite the lack of symmetry, we get a natural 34 games. Teams play against their division opponents twice for a total of 10 games. Then play the other teams once.
Corner Kick: Regular Season
A regular season of 34 games per team could run from August through April. Based on a 2026-2027 calendar, teams could play up to seven games in August, five in September, six in October, four in November, and a couple in December (depending on the cutoff before the winter break). The season could resume with a couple of games in February, followed by four in March and four in April, leaving room for playoffs in May.
This schedule accommodates the FIFA calendar, allowing players to fulfill national team duties. It also considers the CONCACAF Champions Cup match fixtures, which run from February to early June.
Goal: Leagues Cup
Although teams could play many games in August, taking advantage of the dog days of summer, the month has largely been reserved for the Leagues Cup, a recently developed tournament between MLS and Liga MX. The tournament features a group stage and a knockout competition beginning with a round of 32 teams.
August is ideal for the tournament since there’s little competition from other sports. College and European football are just beginning, and while MLB is ongoing, it’s baseball.
MLS might want to consider rescheduling the tournament for later in the year, perhaps November and December, to better align with Liga MX’s schedule. Fans may be more willing to attend colder games for a knockout competition rather than a regular-season game. Also, colder teams like Minnesota and Montréal wouldn’t need to host accommodations every year, as they might be knocked out in the early rounds.
While the Leagues Cup takes place solely in the U.S., it’s clear that MLS needs to allow some games to occur in Mexico, which could help alleviate climate concerns. That’s a conversation for another time.
However, moving the Leagues Cup could mean squeezing more games into February, March, and April, which remain cold for some markets.
Stoppage Time: Scrap the Playoffs
The biggest challenge is fitting the playoffs and MLS Cup into the schedule. It’s doable if regular season games occur from August to November, with the Leagues Cup following. Then, the regular season could resume in February, with Champions Cup fixtures sprinkled throughout the season.
An MLS Cup in May and June could be compelling. The challenge has always been to find the right playoff format, and MLS has exhausted nearly all options — like Goldilocks in the House of the Three Bears.
Scheduling would be much easier if MLS boldly scraped the playoffs and established a “regular” season format to determine the league champion (without requiring teams to play each other twice).
This would allow greater focus on the “regular” season, with the Leagues Cup serving as an exciting end to the first half of the season before Christmas and the Champions Cup marking the latter half’s conclusion. It would mirror the Apertura and Clausura seasons of many South American fútbol leagues.
Some may view MLS as challenging perceived antiquated traditions in the global football landscape.
One potential change that could further benefit MLS would be if FIFA moved its international match window from June to July, consolidating it with any confederation tournaments.
Final Whistle: What Does MLS Want to Be?
MLS is at an inflection point. Its commissioner has stated the goal of becoming the “League of Choice,” but MLS now faces countless choices in defining its identity within both the global soccer landscape and the American sports environment.
Some MLS fans don’t like the idea of games being played in cold weather, while others fear cold conditions will drive away casual fans. Still, others enjoy having MLS as a secondary sports league in the summer.
I’ve been to many Ohio State college football games where my hands were numb and tingling even with gloves on my hands and alcohol in my gut. I don’t see anyone complaining about cold weather for the NFL or college football, but that’s because there are many Americans who think it’s worth it.
MLS regular season games may not do well in colder weather but that’s why the Leagues Cup in November and December could add the right incentive. The group stage could even be done before the November break allowing Mexican clubs to rest from their time in the U.S. before returning to the fray for knockouts.
In any case, I return to the central argument: if MLS aspires to be a serious football league, a calendar change is clear and necessary.
If it wants to be a fun, casual league, then change may not be required. After all, while MLS represents American soccer on the world stage, it ultimately exists for the fans, if not the billionaire owners who can afford a stadium that can weather any climate on Earth.