MLS changing schedule for 2027-28 season

Major League Soccer’s season will shift to starting in July 2027 and ending in May 2028, aligning it with the schedules used by many of the top leagues.

In the new format, the season will start in mid-to-late July 2027 and continue until the middle of December. It will take a break for the winter, restarting in February 2028. The league intends to limit the number of matches in Northern and Canadian cities in December and February.

The playoffs will be held in May. The structure of the playoffs, and the competition format of the regular season, is being reevaluated.

The break between the end of the 2026 MLS season, likely in December, and the beginning of the 2027 season in July will be filled by a 14-game season that will start in February and end in May 2027. It will include a playoffs and MLS Cup. The results will determine 2027 qualification for the U.S. Open Cup, Canadian Championship, Leagues Cup, and CONCACAF Champions Cup.

The summer-to-spring shift will happen to try to help league’s teams, including Atlanta United, better take advantage of the summer and winter transfer windows and align with the FIFA international calendar to reduce the number of matches that feature league teams missing key players.

The schedule change, the most impactful in the league’s 30-year history, was approved at a Board of Governors meeting on Thursday. The decision culminated a two-year process that began in October 2023 and included working with the Major League Soccer Players Association, talking to team supporters, and studying weather and logistical analyses.

The league said that more than 90% of the matches in the new format will still be played during the same time frame as the current winter-to-winter schedule that starts with training camps in January and ends with the MLS Cup in December.