The MLS has announced that the league will look for a switch in its schedule that will be associated with the international football calendar in the early 2027, as well as a regular season and possible changes in the play office format.
“The Board of Governors of Major League Soccer today allowed the second phase of research for the possible move of the international Soccer calendar with the regular diagnosis of the League and the continued diagnosis of the play -off formats,” read a league statement on Thursday.
“No possible change will be applicable until the season of 2027. This next phase will include the development of additional consulting and transfer projects with key stakeholders.”
As contrary to most other leagues around the world, the MLS currently has a schedule of falling winter. In 2025, the regular season began in February and ends in October before the MLS Cup Play Office.
In December, MLS Commissioner Don Garber said the league was aligning the league calendar to meet Europe.
Speaking to reporters at the league’s annual State of League address, Gabar indicated that the League had previously considered the league calendar to change the fall/spring form in 2014-15 as well as in 2014-15.
He said at the time that there was a potential change in the 2026 season with a potential change – but it remained a lot of work in the league’s stakeholders.
“I think we are considering more than ever before this opportunity to change, but this is not something we are ready to talk about right now,” Garber said. “Schedule is more crowded. Summer, especially in June, has now been picked up by most international tournaments.
The alignment with the International Football Calendar can also help to raise the role of MLS in the global transfer market, which dominates the summer steps around the middle point of the MLS season.
One of the significant arguments against this change is weather fears for cold climate cities in North America.
