MLS announced a landmark decision by switching to a fall-spring calendar, and the benefits are obvious, but there are some valid challenges the league needs to navigate through
Focus really hard, and you could almost see the relief in Don Garber as he announced the news. MLS has done the one thing it really should have done for years, and he knew it. There has been talk, stretching back to last January, that an official switch to a fall-spring calendar in North America's professional soccer setup was imminent. For a while, there were just whispers and suggestions. It was reportedly brought up at countless board meetings. It received cautious public backing from coaches.
And, more broadly, anyone who consumed the league, followed its transfers, or even turned on Apple from time to time knew it was probably the sensible idea.
After some previous challenges, MLS, at long last, has a fall-spring calendar. The league has confirmed it. The basics are as expected. Starting in 2027, games will run from late July to early May. There will be a break in the winter. Transfer windows will align with the rest of the world. There will be no more playing through international breaks. On the face of it, this seems like the day when a still-growing, but at times conservative, league finally decided to take a bold swing.
At the same time, there are clear caveats. Existing player contracts will need to be reworked, and the league will now find itself competing more directly with other major U.S. sports during the heart of its season. There’s also value in tradition – even if MLS’s calendar has always been unconventional. So while this move feels logical and long overdue, it won’t be without complications.
MLS 3.0 may be underway, but its success is far from guaranteed.
Getty Images Sport'Take our time and get it right'
MLS has been inching toward this for years, and there was a growing sense that the shift was inevitable. This is a league in a constant state of evolution, and the move brings it into the modern era in a more convincing way. In truth, MLS delayed the change longer than it wanted to, Commissioner Don Garber admitted at a news conference.
"We would rather take our time and get it right than be fast and get it wrong," Garber said.
The general idea here is to capitalize on the momentum brought about by the 2026 World Cup. The tournament is considered – and rightly so – a landmark event in the scope of the game in North America. Now is the perfect opportunity, if not excuse, for MLS to make significant changes in earnest. And what better way to convince people that MLS is legitimate than to do so around a World Cup? If this is the expression of the American game in club form, it should surely be linked to the biggest global event that soccer offers.
There have been extensive discussions, though, to make sure that the change is made in the right way. The league surveyed fans and other relevant parties, it said in a release, about their relative interest in a Fall-Spring calendar. Ninety-two percent of respondents supported a change to align with the European game. Discussions first started in earnest in October 2023. Just over two years later, rumor has become reality.
AdvertisementGetty ImagesTransfers and international breaks
On the face of it, primarily, removing all of the noise, this is advantageous for MLS. Some would meet it with a shrug and a "duh." MLS, by working on a different schedule, is out of touch with the European world that it is so often compared to. On the face of things, this is a move toward legitimacy. Want to take us seriously? Well, here's a calendar to show you that we're for real.
But the most obvious benefit is the way the league functions in the global soccer sphere. For so long, transfer windows have been so awkward to figure out. MLS's primary window runs from January to April. Its secondary one stretches from July to August. That has proven to be a roadblock on two fronts. Primarily, it has made player acquisition harder, with the league forced to go after those who have either already begun their seasons at their club or are looking for a move halfway through. It's a pain in terms of recruitment. Even more difficult, though, is the midseason window where MLS teams can so often lose their best players. That July to August window has been a deadly thing for some sides, who have to kiss top talents goodbye when a good offer comes in.
"It allows us to be aligned with the international transfer windows, which we think is incredibly important. It gives us a wide variety of opportunities that will expand our ability to be on this path, to be one of the top and leading leagues in the world," Garber said.
The shift won't entirely change the fact that MLS teams will lose good footballers here and there. But they can also use those windows to sign new ones, or plan ahead properly. What can happen here, then, is the fleshing out of a proper global transfer infrastructure, where players come and go – and spending can be maximized (albeit with the caveat of complicated salary cap rules). There could be more transfers like LAFC's blockbuster move for Son Heung-Min as a result.
There is further good news to be found in the fact that the calendar now aligns with FIFA international windows. There are a number of instances during the season where clubs lose significant chunks of their roster due to national team commitments – and still have to worry about regular season games with significant implications. That is no longer a problem.
Getty Images SportA few concerns linger
Yet there are surely some losers. The main group, immediately, might just be the players. A switch to a fall-spring calendar would undoubtedly complicate contract negotiations. Under current MLS rules, deals expire in December. There will, surely, be some contracts to renegotiate. Garber was asked, in fact, how much of a say the players had in the decision, and his response was vague.
"I'm sure there will be a time soon that we'll be able to, collectively with the MLSPA, have a discussion, and we can talk about all those details," Garber said.
There are also some questions to be asked about timing. To be sure, a break from mid-December to early February – similar to the setup currently offered by the Bundesliga – will save some fans in cold climates. But Minnesota, Chicago, and New England in early December, or even November, might not be all that pleasant.
There are broader questions to be asked, too, about fan attendance in general. The league very proudly announced that it welcomed over 14 million fans in the regular season alone into stadiums on matchdays. Will the march to the stadium remain the same in the dark and the cold, rather than an agreeable summer evening? These are things that simply cannot be prepared for.
And then there are the minutea: sponsorships, season tickets, day-to-day operations for teams. Those remain unknown.
"The bottom line is this change has been approved because we think it will, overall, raise the awareness, therefore the engagement with our teams, and therefore make them more valuable to the corporate community and to their fans," Garber said.
Getty Images SportThe North American sports calendar
But perhaps the biggest question, writ large, is how this all fits in to the rest of the North American sports calendar. Currently, the MLS season runs from February to early December. The playoffs and MLS Cup clash directly with the middle of the NFL season, the World Series, crucial college football games, and the start of the NBA season. This is not the best time of year to get eyes on your hallmark event.
A shift to a May MLS Cup, then, would seem to alleviate some of those fears. NFL and college football will be over. The start of the MLB season is hardly gripping stuff. And falling right before the NBA finals seems a good deal. MLS is happy where they will fit in the calendar under a new system, Nelson Rodriguez, EVP of MLS said Thursday.
"We think this sets us up to showcase ourselves in a much better form. The competition will always be there, whether it's gridiron, hoops, or sticks and balls," Rodriguez said.
Still, there are questions to be asked. The middle of the season will then clash directly with the biggest games in the NFL and College Football Playoff (which is now approximately 36 teams large). And whatever eyes MLS might have been able to capitalize on during the club soccer offseason are now fixated elsewhere. The theory that MLS is an alternative to boredom when Europe's top leagues aren't active will now fall apart.