News: MLS owners approve fall-spring calendar and season format changes: Sources

Well, the Rapids can play the Galaxy each 4th of July.
Keep the tradition intact moving forward.

 

It’s interesting that you say that because other posters in this thread are criticizing the league for moving too quickly.

 

I agree.
If the shift in schedule was to be rolled out, perhaps not how quickly the shift was to be made but when was to be at the crux of the matter. Having the World Cup next Summer is the ideal launching point to celebrate how far MLS has come from not being around in the Summer of 1994. Yet the plan was in place to launch the new league post World Cup USA 1994. Thus, it would have been ideal to celebrate the new shift in schedule with rolling it out right after World Cup North America 2024.

 

Seems like they just didn't have the consensus sorted out early enough to do it in 2026.

IMO it's probably for the better that it's not going to happen in 2026. Next year is going to be crazy and weird enough without introducing a full format change, including a one-time-only sprint season and the first May MLS Cup all while World Cup preparations are in full force.

 

I'm with everyone saying that MLS should have had their ducks in a row to launch this coinciding with the World Cup. One thing that is consistently mentioned by the league, it's critics, media members, and fans is that the League needs to get the broadcast revenue figured out and increased. Well, the domestic linear TV rights expire at the end of 2026 (Fox). Now, I'd imagine it's difficult to sell a linear TV deal when the season is already past the halfway point. I'm sure that factored into it. Though Fox probably could have been persuaded to end it after a "sprint" season to begin 2026.

That had to be a factor in the discussions of making this switch and the timing of it.

MLS is not the only US league dropping the ball around the World Cup either. USL isn't exactly rolling out their grand plans smoothly.

I'm just really disappointed in MLS. They knew when the Copa America was happening, and the Club World Cup as well. Though to be fair, Fifa was less then forthright with the details of that event until a few months prior. Now we're barely 6 months away from the 2026 World Cup. The league office and it's owners have really fumbled this opportunity. I was expecting too much obviously, and that's on me. I also did not expect them to completely drop the ball either.

 

Welcome to the club. MLS owners never fail to disappoint.

 

It would have been more ideal to switch the calendar next year on the heels of the WC, but it's looking very likely baseball will strike in '27. So that should help MLS out some with the transition if their the only league playing.

 

To capitalize on the World Cup I think you’d want MLS games as close as possible to the World Cup before the Euro leagues start and entice people to just check out that Haaland everyone was talking about.

 

Positive for fans in Houston/Dallas/Austin/Miami/Orlando who have gotten the short end of the calendar stick for decades now.

I don't recall tremendous amounts of sympathy for them having to play through the heart of their worst weather seasons.

 

They still will.

 

Replacing games in May/June/July with games in November/December/February is much better for fans in Texas/Florida.

 

But they're still playing mid-July and August, which is their worst weather.

 

And? Minnesota still had snow games in the old calendar.

The calendar change is a positive for Texas/Florida teams. The weather is very hot in late May/June/Early July.

We are now replacing those games with games in November/December/February when the weather is usually quite cool/pleasant.

Just because the new calendar doesn't replace every single "hot" game doesn't make the change "bad" for fans.

It's overall a great thing for Texas/Florida fans.

 

Like how it was for various points in the 2000s when they had three divisions (division winners got 1-3 and the next best five got seeds 4-8) and even in 2008, although it was ridiculous to refer to NYRB as the Western Conference Champion.

 

I believe the impetus for the 7:30 start times wasn't necessarily that exact time, but a *consistent* time.

2:30 or 3 would make much more sense. For fans who wanted to watch the European action, there'd be plenty of time to do that before heading off to the games. For fans who wanted to tailgate, there'd be plenty of time do that. There'd also be decent time after for a postgame hangout so that people wouldn't have to beat the traffic to rush home.

Kickoffs at 3 would also be better for the kids.

 

RSL won MLS Cup in 2009 as Eastern Conference Champion.

 

They still can, it will just be in the pre-season Leagues Cup now. *ducks*