While the MLS regular season has yet to come to a close, the details of the sprint season have now been released. The sprint season is a critical bridge to the league moving to a European calendar, as the 2027 season will take place under a condensed schedule in order to prepare for that. Each team will play 14 regular season matches, with one home and one away.
The regular season will run from February 19, with Inter Miami and FC Cincinnati kicking things off, until Decision Day on May 8t, when there's a Hudson River Derby between New York City FC and New York Red Bulls to close out the season. With NYCFC set to open a new stadium in Queens, this should also be the final MLS game played at Yankee Stadium, which NYCFC have called home since joining the league in 2015. Truly the end of an era that went on for far too long.
Ahead of the shift, MLS wants to ensure that each week has a marquee matchup to highlight the best of what the league has to offer. There will also be another season of the Walmart Saturday Showdown and of Sunday Night Soccer, so that the biggest games of the week get their due credit. With stars from abroad such as Antoine Griezmann, Lionel Messi, Thomas Muller, and Evander pitting against young stars such as Cavan Sullivan, Julian Hall, Adri Mehmeti, and Peyton Miller, there's plenty to showcase as MLS prepares for a new era.
It’s an all-out sprint. 👀The 2027 MLS Sprint Season Schedule is here. ⬇️✏️: https://t.co/5qDlJnxjeW pic.twitter.com/71brwLBgcV The top eight teams in each conference will qualify for the playoffs, with each round being played in a single-elimination format. That schedule is yet to be announced, but it will see a shift from the current format, where the eighth- and ninth-placed teams play a single-elimination wild card match prior to the first round being a best-of-three series. That playoff format has seen criticism due to being too long, so the sprint season does offer an opportunity to take a look at other formats ahead of a return to a standard schedule in the fall.
Still, using playoffs will ensure that all five Concacaf Champions Cup spots are accounted for before the teams also return to full participation in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup This split will help get MLS onto the same transfer market as the rest of the world. MLS doing their primary transfer window in the winter has long been an issue due to teams not being able to send players to America.
It also could mean that MLS sides won't be pressured to sell their best players midseason, either with the summer transfer window being an enticing time for teams to wade in and get new players during their own preseason. The change will bring geographic challenges such as dealing with harsh winters, but those are no different from the thunderstorm and extreme heat risks that the league already faces during the summer months in such varied climates. With the shift also including teams stopping play for international breaks, it will also end the need to play without your best players available, which increases the quality in the league.
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