The Major League Soccer experiment has faced a lot of criticism since its inception in the United States in 1993 to promote the nation’s bid to host the FIFA World Cup. Ever since, there have been some drastic changes and some serious monetary input towards increasing the reach and viewership of this lesser-known sports league when compared to the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB. Signing Lionel Messi to Inter-Miami was a huge shift towards directing global viewership towards MLS, but somehow, it hasn’t caught on as much as other international leagues, despite having world-class players, and now an age-old idea has returned to the table, i.e., scheduling.

Back in 2004 and then again in 2014, the league had considered changing its scheduling to align with other international leagues. While Major League Soccer currently follows a spring/fall format, starting in late February, it was considering switching to fall/spring, with commissioner Don Garber saying, “I do think that we are considering more than ever before this opportunity to change, but it’s not something that we’re ready to talk about right now. The schedule does get more crowded. The summers, in particular June now, that has been taken up by most of the international tournaments. [It] has us digging in even deeper than we ever had in the past, but we’ve got a lot of work to do, and that work is ongoing.” Well, now it looks like the work is getting closer to being finished!

In a recent statement posted to Front Office Sports’ X page, it stated that owners could vote today on whether or not to change the schedule, with the statement reading, “MLS owners could vote today to switch to a fall-to-spring schedule that would align the league with most of global soccer, including the Big Five European leagues. Any move, if approved, would happen no earlier than 2027.” So of course, there is time for fans to get accustomed to the fact if there is a change, but that doesn’t change whether or not they think the potential change will be a good one.

And, clearly, fans thoughts are biased, with most showing major concerns for how the weather will affect this move.

Fan’s react to the potential change in schedule for MLS in America

Some seemed to think it wasn’t the worst idea, with the league playing into what the summer sports watcher market fancies. “Do it so USL can control the summer when everybody wants to get out and watch,” one fan wrote.

Another MLS fan expressed concern for overlap writing, writing, “This is extremely interesting. I can only imagine the crazy logistics considering most of the major pro sports in the U.S. also begin in the fall.” Considering the NFL, which has a viewership of 35.2 million over the first three weekends, kicks off in September, this is a tough time to pose a competing sport.

Another fan seemed to find fault with the hypocrisy of the situation, writing, “They won’t do pro/rel or get rid of playoffs but they want to play winter soccer in America lol.” Pro/rel is a system used in other soccer leagues where teams can move up (promotion) or down (relegation) in their divisions based on their performance. This system has not yet been adopted in the US, meaning that often times fans have to sit through matches by teams such as Charlotte FC or the San Jose Earthquakes that, in their current state, might not be the most enticing.

Yet another fan expressed genuine concern, writing, “Good luck with this MLS. You’re gonna need it. I live in LA and it gets cold here in the winter. I cannot fathom what it must be like in Minnesota. I wish you well though.” And, as any fan of Fargo might imagine, playing soccer in Minnesota in the winter does not sound like a piece of cake, and, as yet another fan said, “Imagine playing in Montreal, Vancouver and Salt Lake during January February—yikes!” duly noting that things only get colder!

Time will tell whether (pun intended) it’s a good idea, and hopefully the MLS owners will tell us before that, when they vote on the subject soon enough.