3 Key New Details About The2027 MLS Sprint Season Format
Lionel Messi, right, of Inter Miami CF. greets Son Heung-Min of Los Angeles FC prior to their MLS match at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on February 21, 2026 in Los Angeles, Calif. Getty Images Major League Soccer on Thursday revealed more details about its plans to play a sprint season in the first half of 2027.
The shortened February-to-May season in miniature will help MLS flip its calendar following the ongoing 2026 campaign. Beginning in July of 2027 , MLS will contest its full seasons beginning in the summer and ending in late spring to align itself with most top European leagues. But to make that calendar flip, it had to fill the months between this December’s MLS Cup final and the start of that format.
Now we know a little bit more about what exactly the sprint season will look like. And here are three key points that stand out. 14 Matches To Prove Yourself The biggest question to answer was just how long a “sprint” season would be, and now we know it will be 14 matches total, with all teams playing every other club in their conference once.
There will be no intraconference matches, which potentially could prove beneficial from a travel standpoint if the fixture list is slightly more compact than a typical February-to-May. This is roughly about 40% of the volume of a typical MLS regular season. And while the math related to conference size may have been influential, this also suggests that when the July-to-May format begins later in 2027, the winter break to run from sometime in December to sometime in February will arrive sligthly beyond the midpoint of the 34-game schedule.
That also aligns with what we see in the 2026 calendar, in which MLS is taking an extended summer break for the World Cup. Most teams will play 15 matches before players are released to their national teams, and 19 after play resumes. 5 Concacaf Spots at Stake This isn’t necessarily a surprise, but the league also revealed the sprint season results will count toward qualification for the 2028 Concacaf Champions Cup, with five berths in the tournament at stake.