MLS Owners Approve Schedule Change, What to Know About New Format, Start Date

The MLS will soon be mirroring the schedule of the top European football leagues.

According to The Athletic's Paul Tenorio, the league's owners voted to begin the calendar in July and have the season run through May starting in 2027.

That wasn't the only matter on the table. Per that report, "league owners also voted to update the regular season format. The playoff format is still in discussion. The league will move to a single-table competition, but will also have five six-team divisions beginning in 2027, according to sources, though league executives declined to go into detail on the new format."

There will be some differences from the traditional European calendar, however.

The regular season will begin in mid-July, compared to mid-August for the European leagues, and there will be a winter break between late December and early February. While many European leagues have a winter break that lasts two or three weeks, the MLS winter break would be significantly longer.

MLS will also end its regular season in April and hold its playoffs in May (top-flight European leagues don't hold playoffs, though England's second-tier Championship does as part of the country's promotion-relegation setup). The league will then take a summer break in June and July.

"To begin and end in great weather, with less stadium conflicts, with our fields in pristine shape, with our players on a cycle that mirrors the global cycle, especially as it relates to the big international events and schedule, will just make our fan experience and our player performance and our overall player quality that much better," MLS executive Nelson Rodriguez told Tenorio. "That's the large driver of it. And having our playoffs, having our end of season in April, leading into our playoffs in May, completely uninterrupted by any FIFA window or event will also be massively popular and again add a lot to the quality and drama of our league."

There are a number of potential benefits. The MLS playoffs will no longer have to compete with the NFL and College Football Playoff, while the transfer windows aligning with Europe will provide more opportunity for intercontinental business. And it will now be easier for MLS to manage FIFA's international windows.

All in all, it felt like a change that was both inevitable and necessary.