Major League Soccer plans to start 2021 season April 3, open preseason camps Feb. 22
The start is later than MLS had hoped for. But there should still be room for a full campaign and the many major national team windows this year.
Major League Soccer announced Monday that it plans to start the 2021 season on April 3. That’s a few weeks later than it had originally hoped for. But if it goes to plan — which is not a given, of course — there should still be room for a full campaign and the many major national team windows this year.
The league’s goal had been to kick off the campaign in early March, as it usually does. Even if that was possible, though, the calendar would still be chock-full, and with COVID-19 still hanging over it all.
Concacaf is planning to hold its delayed Nations League finals in June, with the United States, Honduras, Mexico, and Costa Rica; and its biennial Gold Cup in July, with 16 nations that almost all have players in MLS.
The region’s 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign also starts this year, with early-round games for smaller nations in March and two weeks in June. The U.S. and other powers will start in the showcase final round, which opens in September. MLS had hoped to make as much room in its calendar for players to rest before taking part in those games, in which the U.S. will try to atone for failing to qualify for 2018.
At the same time, Union goalkeeper Andre Blake and Jamaica are aiming for their first men’s World Cup since 1998; Costa Rica and Mexico hope to continue their qualification streaks; and Canada, one of 30 teams in the early-round field, hopes to make the big stage for the first time since 1986. Canada also faces some extra pressure to end its drought before cohosting the 2026 tournament, which it will be in automatically, with the U.S. and Mexico.
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Then there’s Concacaf’s men’s Olympic qualifying tournament for under-23 teams, which the pandemic delayed from last March to this March; the Olympics themselves in late summer, if they happen; and the high-profile senior national team championships in South America and Europe, which some MLS players could take part in.
On top of all that, Concacaf will start its club Champions League tournament in the spring, with the Union set to take part for the first time ever. The first round is in early April, the quarterfinals are in late April and early May, the semis are in August, and the final is in late October. Concacaf will set the 16-team bracket with a draw event on Feb. 10.
U.S. Soccer will also hope to resume the U.S. Open Cup this year after the pandemic forced the first cancellation in the tournament’s 106-year history.
MLS will try to go dark during the World Cup qualifying windows, as it usually does, but teams will have the option to play games at those times. That may be necessary if early-season contests need rescheduling.
The league also traditionally takes a weekend off during the Gold Cup, but it might not be able to this year. A source with knowledge of the situation said the league hasn’t yet decided on the matter.
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The regular season is scheduled to end on Nov. 7, the playoffs should start Nov. 19, and the title game is set for Dec. 11. The November gap makes room for the national team window.
Preseason training camps are set to open Feb. 22, with two caveats. First is a mandatory quarantine and individual training period when players return to their clubs. Second is the ongoing negotiations between the league and the MLS Players Association over renegotiating the collective bargaining agreement, with last year’s games having mostly-empty stands and this year’s games likely to be the same for quite a while.
The league invoked a force majeure clause it negotiated for last year that allows it to start the clock on tearing up the CBA entirely, which left the players understandably angry. The players remain skeptical about team owners — many of whom also own NFL and other sports teams — crying poor when MLS player salaries remain a fraction of those in other sports.
Players on Canadian teams would also like to know how the league will handle the still-closed U.S.-Canada border. Last year, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver had to play among themselves for a while, then spend the season’s final weeks at temporary “home” bases in the U.S. MLS only said Monday that “more details on plans” will be announced “in the near future.”
Bargaining resumed this month and has heated up in recent days, including a few volleys of negotiating in the media by both sides. When commissioner Don Garber posted a letter to fans on Twitter last Thursday, the union responded with a snarky “@ us next time.”
The schedule announcement Monday said the league is “committed to meet as many times as necessary with the MLSPA in the coming days to finalize an agreement.”