Toronto FC's Walker Zimmerman (25) sends a header towards goal under pressure from New York Red Bulls' Emil Forsberg (10) during second half MLS action in Toronto on Saturday.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
Major League Soccer has revealed the format of its so-called 2027 Sprint Season, a truncated campaign that will transition the league to its new summer-to-spring calendar.
MLS voted in November to switch to the summer-to-spring schedule, aligning the North American circuit with other top leagues in the world.
The 2026 season is the last under the current format, running Feb. 21 to Nov. 7 with playoffs kicking off Nov. 18 and ending with the Dec. 18 MLS Cup final.
Each team currently plays 34 regular-season games with the top nine from each conference advancing to the playoffs (No. 8 plays No. 9 in a wild-card match to see who moves on).
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The Sprint Season will see each of the 30 teams play 14 regular season games from February to April with clubs sticking to their conference. Teams will face each of their 14 conference opponents once, with seven matches at home and seven away.
The top eight in each conference make the playoffs, to be played in a single-elimination bracket format. The two conference champions will then face off in the 2027 MLS Cup final in May.
The 2027-28 MLS regular season will kick off in July 2027 and conclude with the MLS Cup in May 2028. Like other international leagues, MLS plans a midwinter break from mid-December through early February, with no league matches scheduled in January.
The shortened 2027 campaign will still determine qualification for the 2028 CONCACAF Champions Cup and 2028 Leagues Cup. The Sprint Season will send five teams to the Champions Cup, the elite club competition in North and Central America and the Caribbean, and 18 (nine from each conference) to the Leagues Cup, which also features teams from Mexico’s Liga MX.