MLS Announces Schedule for 1st-Ever Sprint Season, Playoffs Ahead of Format Changes

Major League Soccer announced key details Thursday regarding the 2027 "Sprint Season."

The truncated campaign will see every team play 14 matches from Feb. 19 until the end of the regular season on May 8. That will be followed by the playoffs with eight teams from each conference qualifying for a single-elimination tournament, and the Eastern and Western Conference champions meeting for the MLS Cup on Memorial Day Weekend.

MLS is instituting the Sprint Season for 2027 so it can transition into a summer-to-spring schedule in 2027-28, much like the top European leagues.

The 2027 Sprint Season will begin with a meeting between Lionel Messi's Inter Miami and Cincinnati FC on Feb. 19, followed by 13 additional matches on Feb. 20 and 21.

Every match during the 2027 Sprint Season will stream on Apple TV, and it will see each team face the 13 other teams in their conference one time each.

The regular season will end with "Decision Day" on May 8, featuring every Eastern Conference team playing at 5 p.m. ET and every Western Conference team playing at 8 p.m. ET.

After the MLS playoffs conclude in May, teams will prepare for the 2027-28 MLS season, which is scheduled to run from July 2027 to April 2028 with the playoffs occurring in May 2028.

The current 2026 MLS season will end on Nov. 7 with the playoffs running from Nov. 18 through Dec. 18.

That means teams will only have a two-month offseason before starting the 2027 Sprint Season this coming February.