Major League Soccer is set to fundamentally realign its competitive rhythm with the global football world. On November 13th, Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber confirmed a long-speculated move: starting in 2027-2028, the MLS will be switching its scheduling format from February to November to a summer-to-spring season. The new season will begin in late July of 2027, take a "winter break" from mid-December to February, and culminate with the MLS Cup Playoffs in May of 2028. This decision was made to align with the top leagues worldwide and continue to grow the MLS, but the questions surrounding the change warrant further discussion. 

Aligning the MLS with the European calendar allows the MLS to access the global talent pool in a more desirable way for players. While MLS clubs have always had access to players from the European leagues, it often takes time for them to find their stride with a new club. When a player leaves their old club at the end of their season and joins an MLS team mid-season, it often takes a massive toll on the player, making a summer move to the MLS less desirable. By making this change, players will now be on the European schedule, which will reward incoming and outgoing players during the summer transfer market, who will now be able to properly integrate with their new clubs before the beginning of the next season.  

The other important part of this schedule change is that it aligns with the FIFA international breaks. As it stands, international breaks often occur during the MLS season, lowering competitiveness as clubs' top players leave to compete for their country. This change allows MLS players to shine for their country without issues of overlap with their club schedule. 

With the summer portion of the schedule removed, regular-season games will have to occur during the winter. There are 30 teams in the MLS, and only 12 of the 30 teams are located in the warmer climates of the US. MLS has said it will try to place winter games in warmer-weather cities, but the reality is that there aren't enough stadiums to host all of them. While the current schedule includes some cold-weather games, the underlying issue is that every team will now play many cold-weather games. Unfortunately, this often leads to lower stadium attendance. 

One of the largest issues with this new format is its impact on the growth of the league. Moving the MLS into the most heavily saturated period of the sports year will make it extremely difficult to increase fan engagement. 

The MLS regular season calendar now also coincides closely with those of the NBA, NFL, NCAA Football, NCAA Basketball, and NHL. The American viewer is highly sought after, and their attention will be pulled in many different ways. Come 2027, this could prove to be a large issue for the MLS. There are already signs of potential viewership challenges; Apple TV has pulled its broadcasting deal with the league, removing the MLS Season Pass and making all games accessible to Apple TV+ subscribers. This was likely due to a lack of viewership, although this cannot be confirmed, as Apple has not released its MLS viewership numbers. Because of the saturation of the Saturday and Sunday night TV schedule, it is unlikely that the MLS will be able to improve its current viewership in this new format. 

Also worth noting is that the MLS Playoffs will now overlap with NBA and NHL Playoffs, which will likely split casual viewership of the MLS playoffs away from the MLS towards the two more established leagues. 

Ask the biggest MLS fan you know if they have a favorite European soccer club. Chances are, they will. The big question US viewers now face is how much soccer is too much? Currently, the quality in the MLS is lower than that of other leagues worldwide, as evidenced by the Club World Cup, where no MLS teams advanced past the round of 16. U.S. viewers of European leagues are often tasked with waking up earlier to watch their favorite teams abroad. Now, they may have to wake up early and then wait all day to watch their favorite MLS team at night. For some, this "soccer fatigue" may kick in and prove to be too big a challenge, actually lowering MLS viewership across North America. 

The other big question isn't if MLS can grow, but how it plans to win a knife fight for attention in the most crowded period of the American sports calendar. Make no mistake, the on-field product is improving, and the league has shattered transfer records, proving it can be a valuable stepping stone for global talent. But the "Messi effect" has a shelf life. Is this schedule change a masterstroke to integrate into the global game, or a gamble that risks getting lost in the noise of the NFL and NBA juggernauts? MLS is pushing all its chips to the center of the table; now we wait to see if the cards fall their way.