Major League Soccer announced the schedule for its upcoming sprint season, a transitional competition designed to prepare the league for a shift to a European calendar model. The sprint season will feature a condensed regular season with each team playing 14 matches, one home game and one away contest against each opponent. The competition begins February 19 with Inter Miami facing FC Cincinnati and concludes May 8 with a Hudson River Derby between New York City FC and New York Red Bulls. This final match at Yankee Stadium marks the end of NYCFC’s tenure at the venue since the club’s inaugural 2015 season, coinciding with the team’s relocation to a newly constructed stadium in Queens.
The league has structured the sprint season to highlight premium matchups throughout the week, with continued coverage through the Walmart Saturday Showdown and Sunday Night Soccer programming. The competition will feature established international players competing alongside emerging American talent, showcasing the diversity of the league’s player base as it enters a new phase. The playoff format will see the top eight teams from each conference advance to single-elimination competition, a departure from the current structure that includes wild card matches and best-of-three series formats. The new playoff framework aims to address criticism that existing formats extend too long while still determining the five Concacaf Champions Cup qualification spots needed for teams’ participation in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.
League officials view the calendar realignment as a strategic move to align MLS with international transfer market dynamics. Currently, the league’s winter transfer window creates complications for player movement, as teams cannot acquire players during the off-season periods of most global markets. The European calendar adoption would allow MLS teams to participate in transfer activity during the summer window, potentially reducing mid-season player departures while enabling clubs to reinforce rosters during traditional preseason periods. Following the sprint season conclusion, regular play resumes with the 2027-28 season beginning in July 2027 and culminating with playoff competition extending into May 2028, mirroring the typical European league schedule.
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