CARSON, Calif. – MLS commissioner Don Garber said the league is considering several changes to its calendar as soon as next season, as well as the long-term possibility of switching to a fall to spring schedule that mirrors those of European leagues.
Garber's comments come after an October report from The Athletic detailing how higher-ups at the league are considering the schedule shift following the 2026 World Cup. Garber noted Friday in his annual State of the League address that it is not the first time MLS has considered the move, but the league has never been as serious as it is now about it.
"It's important to point out that the league in 2004 and 2005, and then again in 2014 and 2015, looked at a schedule change," he said. I think we could be the only league, or only two leagues in the world, that works on our schedule but it's complicated, and I say this to all of you regularly. We're across [four] time zones, multiple weather factors – we're traveling across a continent and making those changes is something we've got to be very thoughtful about.
"I do think that we are considering, more than ever before, this opportunity to change but it's not something that we're ready to talk about right now. The schedule does get more crowded, the summers in particular. June, now that it's been taken by most of the international tournaments, has us digging in even deeper than we ever had in the past but we got a lot of work to do and that work is ongoing."
Though Garber did not put a timeline on that decision, he outlined several scheduling concerns that MLS will have to deal with for the 2025 season. In addition to the MLS regular season, clubs will take part in some version of the U.S. Open Cup, Leagues Cup and the expanded FIFA Club World Cup. There will be format changes to both the Open Cup and Leagues Cup format for 2025, notably so after MLS caused friction by pulling a majority of its teams out of the Open Cup for 2024.
"We will participate in the U.S. Open Cup again next year," he said. "We will likely have more teams."
Garber also said that the Leagues Cup will look different in 2025 and to expect news soon, though ESPN reports that the number of MLS clubs participating in the competition could go down to 18. Though the commissioner did not go into specifics about the changes, he did explain the need for the format change.
"We need more MLS vs. Liga MX matches," Garber said. "That was really the point of the Leagues Cup at the beginning. I remember being here for the Super League final where LA Galaxy was [at] Cruz Azul, for you historians. That was 2005. We've been trying to figure out how to get this right. I think we really got it right with the Leagues Cup. It worked super well in the first year. That was not just about [Lionel] Messi. It's just the way the tournament laid out and we're looking at modifications that, I think, will make it more focused on what we're trying to achieve, which is this great rivalry between our two leagues."
The regular season and playoff schedule might also look different starting in 2025 to account for the addition of MLS' 30th team, San Diego FC. Teams currently play 34 regular season games, mostly against teams in their own conference, and then partake in a mostly single-elimination playoff format minus the first round's best of three series. The large number of teams, though, open up new avenues for organizing play, though Garber admits the league does not have the answers yet.
"We've got to look at our competitive format," he noted. "Should that change? Should it change the same? What are we going to do with our calendar? Could those changes be made? Do we have the same conference set-up? We'll ask that question. I don't have an answer to it but we're looking at it. Now that we'll have 30 teams, will we have the same playoff format? Maybe, maybe we don't but all of those things will lead to a pathway to grow our fanbase and make our league more competitive."
One thing he could confirm, though, is that MLS will take a full break for the 2026 FIFA World Cup and a partial break for the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup. The specifics around the break for next summer's Club World Cup are to be finalized "sometime at the end next week."
