MLS pondering potential switch to calendar akin to most of Europe’s leagues

Major League Soccer is mulling a radical overhaul of the league’s calendar to mirror a European-style autumn-to-spring season, a revolutionary move that would break with nearly 50 years of tradition in North America.

Speaking ahead of Saturday’s MLS Cup championship game in Los Angeles, MLS commissioner Don Garber told reporters the league was considering a switch “more than ever before” but cautioned that any such change would be fraught with complications.

Recent reports have said MLS is exploring moving the season to an early August kick-off before taking a lengthy mid-season break and then resuming play in early February with playoffs in May.

The move would allow MLS to align itself more effectively with the global calendar while potentially giving the league’s playoffs greater visibility in US media.

At the moment, the business end of the MLS season finds itself fighting for attention against North America’s most watched sport – the NFL – as well as baseball’s World Series and the start of the NBA campaign.

A move to an autumn-spring schedule would mark a first for professional soccer in North America, which has taken place largely in summer months since the launch of MLS and its predecessor, the North American Soccer League.

Garber said Friday that while the league had studied the possibility of a schedule change several times in the past, officials were now revisiting the question with renewed vigor.