From bigger transfers to better playoff scheduling, MLS’s long-awaited calendar shift was needed - but it comes with real caveats

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.

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.

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.

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.

There will also be the question of how the 2027 season fits into the new calendar. The 2026 campaign is still set to conclude in December, and MLS can’t simply pause for seven months. The league’s current solution is a 14-game “sprint season” running from February through May 2027, before the new full season begins in mid- to late July.

Another challenge is the six-week gap between seasons. That break will require significant adjustment from clubs, but it also provides flexibility as MLS navigates the transition. The league acknowledged Thursday that the gap could be filled with additional fixtures - potentially Leagues Cup or U.S. Open Cup games.

“We will consider anything, and we will look at whether it's Leagues Cup, some other competition, or some centralized training for all our teams, as we've done in the past during preseason,” Rodriguez said.

While the league pushed through a major structural change, several other ideas remain on the back burner. Reports that MLS owners were weighing a move to a single-division format did not materialize yet, and long-standing concerns around roster rules and the salary cap - an area Lionel Messi recently pointed to as needing growth - as well as playoff design, were left untouched. Garber indicated that more adjustments are coming, but for now this remains the lone change, albeit a historic one.

More broadly, the shift marks a meaningful course correction. MLS has long operated on its own rhythm, a model that has delivered growth, star power and record fan engagement. But aligning more closely with the global game was inevitable. Even with the complications ahead, the league’s decision feels both pragmatic and overdue.

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