Upcoming 20225 Major League Soccer Calendar: Enhanced Messi Appearances, More Day Matches, Reduced Idleness
Major League Soccer unveiled its schedule for the 2025 regular season on Thursday, showing a revamped approach aimed at addressing fan concerns.
Here's how the 2025 regular season will differ and why it matters:
More Messi Opportunities
Although MLS can't guarantee Lionel Messi's improved health in 2025 for Inter Miami compared to 2024, they can plan Miami's matches to give more fans a chance to watch the football legend without having to choose between him and their own team.
According to the initial schedule, 12 of Miami's 34 league games will be standalone, meaning they won't overlap with any other matches in league play. This is great news for fans of the other 29 clubs who still wish to watch the league's living football icon as often as possible.
The league hopes that Messi, aged 37, will participate in most of Miami's matches that season, having played just 19 league games in 2024 due to leg injuries and international commitments. Despite his limited appearances, he performed exceptionally well when on the field, surpassing any player's numbers ever in the league.
More Daytime Matches - More Days
Scheduling more standalone matches for Messi is just one part of a broader strategy to move more matches outside the 7:30 p.m. local time Saturday and Wednesday match windows that were prevalent in the first two seasons.
In 2025, 102 total matches will be played outside the 7 p.m. ET to 1 a.m. ET windows on Wednesdays and Saturdays, which equates to 20% of the league's schedule. This is significantly more than the previous season.
The majority of these games will be on Saturday afternoons or Sundays.
Some of these kickoff times are due to FOX or TSN's preferences, the league's primary TV partners in the U.S. and Canada. However, it appears that the league is also making an intentional effort to distribute games throughout the week to make it easier for fans to attend their club's games and watch a few other matches on TV each weekend.
Shorter Leagues Cup Break
The league will only take one weekend off due to the 2025 League Cup compared to the four weekends in the first two years of the competition.
Although the 2025 League Cup format hasn't been announced, it is known that the later stages will be held as a midweek event while league play continues during weekends.
This means that no teams will have to endure a prolonged wait before returning to competitive play if they are eliminated from the League Cup earlier. In 2024, eight MLS teams had a break of about three weeks due to their early League Cup exits.
Possible Playoff Format Changes
There's been talk that San Diego's addition as the league's 30th team may lead to a change in playoff structure, but no decision was made official on Thursday.
However, we do know that the league's final regular season games will still fall in mid-October, which could allow the league to maintain its current playoff format for a third season.
Alternatively, the league could conduct a single-elimination tournament to finish earlier, as it did in 2022, or employ a World Cup-style tournament with a preliminary group stage and knockout stages afterward. This latter idea was initially considered when Apple TV first signed its 10-year worldwide streaming deal with MLS, but was ultimately dismissed.
The revamped schedule could potentially attract more business opportunities for Major League Soccer teams, as the increased number of standalone matches and daytime games might attract new sponsors and broadcasters.
The new scheduling strategy also has financial implications for the players, as more daytime matches could result in higher gate revenues due to larger crowds and increased merchandise sales.
