MLS has announced that the league will explore a switch to its schedule that would align with the international soccer calendar as early as 2027, as well as possible changes to the format of the regular season and playoffs

"Major League Soccer's Board of Governors today authorized a second phase of exploration into a potential move to the international soccer calendar, along with a continued evaluation of the league's regular season and playoff formats," read a statement from the league on Thursday.

"Any potential changes would not take effect until the 2027 season at the earliest. This next phase will include additional consultation with key stakeholders and the development of a comprehensive transition plan."

As opposed to most other leagues across the globe, MLS currently has a winter-to-fall schedule. In 2025, the regular season began in February and will end in October, ahead of the MLS Cup playoffs.

In December, MLS commissioner Don Garber said the league was mulling an alignment of the league calendar to match that of Europe.

Speaking to reporters at his annual State of the League address, Garber indicated that the league had previously considered changing the league calendar to a fall/spring format in 2004-05 as well as in 2014-15.

He said at the time that there is more momentum around a possible change -- potentially as soon as the 2026 season -- but that plenty of work remained among the league's stakeholders.

"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," Garber said. "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."

Alignment with the international soccer calendar could also help elevate MLS' role in the global transfer market, which is dominated by major moves in the summer, around the midpoint of the MLS season.

One prominent argument against the change is weather concerns for cold-climate cities in North America.