A NY Daily News report on Monday that MLS was considering moving to the European August-May calendar for 2014 reopened the long running debate on the issue. Most major news outlets weighed in with the traditional arguments against the switch, including weather, going up against other American sports leagues, and the possibility of a winter break reducing fan interest.
Some of those arguments have more merit than others, but overall it would be greatly beneficial to MLS to align the calendar with the European season. MLS has stated that it aspires to become one of the best leagues in the world by 2022. The current best 6-10 leagues in the world are in Europe and run on the August-May calendar. The Brazilian league is the only one with a similar schedule to MLS that can claim to be among the best in the world, and Brazilian players have already called for an overhaul to their calendar, including aligning it with the European format.
By moving the calendar to match up with the best leagues in the world, it will be easier for world class players to move in and out of MLS. There wouldn’t be a situation like Kei Kamara leaving Sporting KC in the middle of the season for the Premier League, or Clint Dempsey coming into the middle of a Supporters Shield challenge having not played in meaningful competition in months.
It’s obvious that on the North American continent, games cannot be played straight through the winter, so some sort of winter break would be needed. The schedule would be as follows: the season begins at the end of July/early August and runs until the end of December, before breaking for about 6 weeks and resuming in early February. It then runs from February to the end of May/early June. More specifically, the winter break would be from Christmas to the Super Bowl and the summer break from the second half of June until the end of July, with play halting for any FIFA dates during the season. It would be even more convenient with a 20 team single table and 2 sets of 19 games played in the same order both times, but playoffs could still be worked in.
Breaking for FIFA dates is obvious: MLS, to be among the best leagues in the world, should want to have many players playing in those international fixtures. So why do something against the interest of all teams and schedule league games on the same dates? This includes year round qualifying as well as the World Cup and other continental tournaments that take place in the summer.
The argument against the switch that makes the least sense is that MLS can’t change because it would go up against other sports. The 2013 MLS schedule runs from March 2nd - December 7th. The European calendar with a winter break would change that to Feb 5th - December 22nd, more or less, with a month-long break in the summer. There is no sport that MLS doesn’t already overlap with that it would go up against if it changed to the European calendar. The main difference is when the trophy is awarded (June instead of December). If anything, it would help MLS more to move the end of the season away from the peak of the NFL and college football seasons.
Another concern is that the break could cause fans to lose interest. This is a weak argument at best. With the current schedule, some fans may already lose interest in the middle of summer, when families vacation, people are outside, and sports are generally watched less. With the European calendar, the winter break would go from December to the Super Bowl, during NFL playoffs and big time college football bowl games, and when the NBA and college basketball are getting more exciting. If they didn’t break at that time, fans would probably lose interest with all these other sports going on.
February after the Super Bowl is generally considered the least exciting sports period on the calendar. After the winter break, MLS would have virtually no competition from other sports until the NCAA tournament in March. Fans whose interest was diverted in January would naturally revert to MLS following the Super Bowl.
The weather problem in the winter is the most legitimate argument against the switch. The winter break mitigates that a bit, but it is still cold in the northern half of the country in December and February. There would need to be a bit of creative scheduling to work around this.
In the first half of season, northern teams could play most home of their home games in August, September, and October, with southern teams having more home games in October, November, and December. In the second half, it would be the opposite: southern teams at play home first, until the weather warms up a bit. In addition, games could be staggered out in the cold months and packed in during the warmer months to make sure no team spends too much time away from home, but also does not have to play in a snow covered stadium.
Sure, there would be no avoiding the occasional freezing games around the winter break, but fans in northern cities are accustomed to cold weather. On the other hand, the schedule change moves games out of the sweltering summer heat in southern cities. When it comes down to it, is a game in Chicago in December really that much worse than one in Houston in July?
All things considered, the schedule change would help MLS on its path to becoming one of the best leagues in the world. But changing the schedule next year brings up a big issue: a switch to the fall-spring calendar would mean no game time for US based players before the World Cup. That is why I think that the calendar switch should happen, but not in 2014. It would make much more sense the following year, in 2015. MLS’ television contract expires at the end of the 2014 season, so they can negotiate the new contract with the schedule change in mind. It’s too soon to make drastic moves without disrupting many players who will be in Brazil next summer, so let the 2014 season run its course and then make the move. Another option would be an extra long 'transition' season, which begins in March 2014, breaks for the World Cup, and continues on until spring 2015. Then the permanent switch can be made starting fall 2015.
Another thing to consider is that NYCFC will begin play in 2015. It’s almost impossible they will have a stadium ready by then and will likely begin playing at Yankee Stadium. Switching the calendar in 2015 gives them more time to assemble a team and moves games away from the middle of baseball season. Some will say that MLS shouldn’t go this far out of the way just to accommodate the new NYC expansion team, but let’s be serious: MLS has already gone to great lengths to make sure NYCFC became the 20th franchise. The strict policy on stadium readiness was thrown out the window for the money of Manchester City and the Yankees. If they are to begin play at Yankee Stadium, it will only be easier if the schedule is moved away from the MLB schedule. This is just another reason to change the calendar.
So is this likely to happen in 2015? Judging by all the rumors and MLS gauging fan interest, it’s definitely possible. Whether it’s next year, 2015, or further down the line, adopting the European calendar is something MLS must do eventually in order to compete with the best leagues in the world.
