MLS & the FIFA Calendar

Ever since its launch, MLS has been criticized by the global soccer community for two particular things.  The first is its lack of promotion and relegation, which is a common feature of every other top-level soccer league around the world.  The second is its schedule, specifically how the MLS season is in the summer and not aligned with the FIFA international match calendar.  Promotion/relegation ain't changing anytime soon.  The schedule, though.  That change may be coming sooner than we think.

At the MLS All-Star Game earlier this week, MLS Commissioner Don Garber acknowledged that it would be a "seismic shift."  However, he also pretty much admitted that the change will happen at some point.  And, when it does, it'll be permanent.  He stopped short of saying when it'll happen, but did indicate that with next summer's World Cup being held in the U.S., the timing could be perfect to do it then.

MLS has always resisted the calls from the international community to change its schedule and align with the FIFA calendar.  That has become increasingly difficult in recent years, though.  MLS takes breaks for the individual FIFA match weekends throughout the year, but plays right thru the summer tournaments.  As a result, MLS teams often end up having to play regular season games without some of their top players because they're off on national team duty.

There's a FIFA break in November, which is right in the middle of the MLS Cup Playoffs, an awkward time to say the least.  That pushes the MLS Cup to the first Saturday in December (aka, college football conference championship weekend).  As the MLS season has gotten longer, the MLS Cup has been moved later and later.  And, with their November-December schedule, the MLS Cup Playoffs go right up against the heart of NFL and college football season (as well as the start of college basketball).  Needless to say, they get overshadowed.

The timing of the MLS season is also awkward when it comes to the transfer window.  European seasons end in May and the summer transfer window opens right after the Champions League Final, which is right in the middle of the MLS season!  That's why players who leave European clubs for MLS don't join their MLS team until June.  Likewise, players who want to leave MLS for Europe either have to join them at midseason in December or leave their MLS team early (or, the unlikely third option, sit out until the start of the following European season).

This obviously creates an interesting dynamic when it comes to playing for national teams, too.  Since guys who play in MLS are on a completely different schedule, they're at a different place in their training cycle at the FIFA breaks.  When the European guys are in the middle of the season, the MLS guys are just ramping up.  And vice versa during the October/November FIFA breaks.  And, of course, the missed regular season MLS games for FIFA summer tournaments.

However, transitioning to a winter/spring schedule isn't as easy as it sounds.  Which is part of the reason MLS has been reluctant to make the change.  Because, despite the challenges, the summer schedule has worked for MLS for nearly 30 years.  And a winter/spring schedule would face several challenges that are unique to North America...especially for a sport that's played outdoors!

For all the complaints about the heat during the Club World Cup, the opposite is true during the Winter!  There are a lot of MLS teams in places where it gets awfully cold in the Winter!  You've got three teams in Canada, two in New York, Minnesota, Salt Lake City, Denver, Chicago, Columbus, Boston, Seattle and Portland (along with some other cold-weather cities I'm probably forgetting).  That's nearly half the league!  There's no question that they'd have to put in a fairly lengthy winter break.  Regardless of when and how long that break is, though, you'll still have those teams playing home games in December, January and February.

Moving the season would also put MLS right in the middle of the most crowded time on the sports calendar.  The entire NFL and college football seasons run from August-January.  The NBA and NHL regular seasons both run from October-April.  And college basketball goes from November-March.  In the summer, meanwhile, it's just Baseball, the WNBA and the NWSL (and MLS) for two months between the end of the NBA/NHL seasons and the start of football season.

One of the arguments in favor of the move is that it would be moving the MLS Cup Playoffs away from football season.  However, playing them in April/May would put them right up against the NBA and Stanley Cup Playoffs!  So, they're getting overshadowed by another sport's postseason either way!  The difference is a Winter/Spring schedule puts the MLS regular season against the regular seasons of those more popular leagues...and asks fans to uncomfortably sit outdoors in cold-weather cities for those regular-season contests.  It would kill attendance!

Adjusting the schedule to align with the FIFA calendar might appease FIFA.  But it would make MLS even less relevant domestically than it already is.  In the Summer, there isn't much else going on, so MLS can step in and help fill that void.  In the Winter, so much else is going on that it isn't a stretch to say MLS could fall into the abyss.  Sure, you could argue there's a small void in February/March between the end of football season and March Madness, but that's when the MLS season currently starts, so they're already playing then!

Let's not kid ourselves here, either.  Changing the schedule would make FIFA happy, but it wouldn't do much to raise MLS's stature worldwide.  It's not like this would suddenly bring MLS to the same level as the top European leagues.  It would make things slightly easier for players who want to go from Europe to MLS, but the top American players will still play in Europe where the quality of competition is higher.

Which brings me to one last point worth noting.  MLS draws a lot of its talent from the college ranks.  NCAA men's soccer is a Fall sport.  The MLS SuperDraft is in December after the College Cup (which is actually later than the MLS Cup.)  So, those college players aren't available until January/February.  If you're moving the start of the MLS season to August/September, they could go a full 7-8 months without playing competitive games instead of the 2-3 months they currently have (unless the college coaches get the Spring season that they've been pushing for and only they want).

All of these are legitimate concerns.  And they're all part of the reason why MLS has been hesitant to go along with FIFA's international calendar.  But I also get why they're willing to make the move sooner rather than later.  I hope they know what they're doing, though.  Because it has the makings of a big mistake that could backfire tremendously.