How Major League Soccer Can Join the FIFA Calendar

How sad was it for American soccer to play club football during the World Cup?

Fox desperately tried to get casual fans to hang around after World Cup games and watch MLS games. Is the one-time bump in fans worth being branded as a minor league?

Let’s be clear – casual fans know the best teams in the world are off because the best players in the world have national team obligations. If MLS is playing, how good can those players be?

This occurs every time the World Cup does because MLS refuses to join the FIFA calendar. American soccer apologists constantly point to the weather in the United States as why they “must” play over the summer. Which is a really weird line of thinking. It doesn’t get cold in England or Germany or Russia in January?

It’s even stupider when you realized this approach leads MLS to schedule its playoffs and title game in the late fall, against the MLB playoffs, college football, NFL, NBA, NHL and college basketball. Yes, MLS decides to play its title game during (literally!) the busiest time on the sports calendar.

I’m here with a solution, because the current MLS Cup structure is unappealing, unpopular and unnecessary.

Step 1: End The Playoffs

The most successful European leagues seem to make billions without a playoff. Why can’t MLS? The first step is the easiest – no more playoffs. There is only the regular season. Move to one table and the team with the most points wins the title. This is a shocking revelation, I know, but when you give the title to the regular season winner, the regular season actually means something.

An August to May/June season will allow the MLS to crown its champion in an open part of the sporting calendar, before the NBA/NHL playoffs reach its zenith. It’s also the peak of the global football calendar, allowing MLS to draft off the media coverage that accompanies the end of European domestic leagues and Champions League.

Step 2: Move the MLS Cup to January/February

Look, we all know that winters in the United States are not ideal for soccer. So let’s fix that with a true League Cup during the absolute slowest time on the American sporting calendar.

The MLS Cup would rotate between warm weather locations for an annual World Cup vibe. The rotation could be extremely straightforward with clusters of stadiums in Southern California, Texas and Florida, which means MLS could easily set up a three-region rotation.

Every MLS team would qualify for the MLS Cup and the teams would be seeded based upon their previous season’s record. For example, in 2019 the MLS will have 24 teams. Break those into 8 groups of 3 and let the first two in each group advance to a Round of 16 knockout stage.

When MLS expands eventually to 26 teams, then two groups will have 4 teams. If/when MLS gets to 32 teams like the NFL, they can put into place the same World Cup format that has been so successful this summer – and for some bizarre reason, FIFA is getting rid of.

This works beyond the bonus of getting MLS on the FIFA calendar. Most importantly, it will give MLS an opportunity to grab the national spotlight it has so desperately craved. There is nothing going on in February after the Super Bowl ends and before March Madness begins.

It is a rare opportunity for MLS to dominate the sports conversation based on its own merit. The World Cup-type format would provide an easy entry for new fans to understand what’s going on. Since every MLS team will be playing, the possibility for upsets remain and all teams have the ability to gain exposure.

Furthermore, it’d be a very cool piece of business for MLS to sell to either ESPN, Fox or a third network – one that likely has much more value than playoff games on weeknights in November.

For fans, it could become an annual trip like a bowl game. If you’re a Seattle Sounders fan and you know your team is playing 3 games in a week in sunny Southern California in February – doesn’t that sound like a nice vacation?

Step 3: Make the Regular Season Mean Something

The worst part about MLS – and something that Jurgen Klinsmann was vocal and correct about – is the lack of urgency. There isn’t anything to play for. Too many teams makes the playoffs and there’s little to be gained as a top seed. On the bottom end, there’s no punishment for finishing last. I live in DC, so I know that DC United has sucked for years and nothing matters because there’s no impact.

Well, by eliminating the playoffs, everything becomes magnified. For one, the champion will be decided by the regular season. For two, the MLS Cup seedings will be determined by the regular season, which adds pressure for those bottom teams to avoid really awful groups and inspires top clubs to finish higher.

Most important, it would allow MLS to develop Champions League qualification that mirrors European leagues and brings more excitement into the regular season. Look at last year’s Premier League, when Man City essentially wrapped up the title by February. That did little to diffuse the thrilling conclusion to the Champions League fight between Manchester United, Tottenham, Liverpool and Chelsea.

As one more added bonus to my idea – MLS teams might actually start to give Liga MX clubs a fight during the CONCACAF Champions League!

Will This Happen?

Of course not. Major League Soccer seems far too content with being a minor league.

I can only write these words in the hopes that someone, someday, finally tries to deliver major league soccer to Major League Soccer.

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