October 25 – As Major League Soccer heads into the business end of their season with the play-offs, the league finds itself competing with the MLB World Series, NCAA College football, the NHL, the start of the NBA season and the big daddy of them all, the NFL.
This has been a consistent issue with the league since its inception and its refusal to align with the international football calendar. But now things maybe be changing.
According to different sources briefed on discussions, MLS executives and owners are finally coming around to the idea that the international calendar is the way to generate income.
They believe that the leagues participation in the global transfer market will be significantly increased by aligning with the rest of the world. The hope is for the league to institute the changes as early as the summer of 2026 coming out of the World Cup.
Nelson Rodriguez, MLS executive vice president of sporting product and competition told The Athletic: “We have been engaged, really, since January, and it’s been very extensive and exhaustive and deliberate. It’s still too early. We’re still asking questions. We’re still collecting and analyzing some data. We’re still formulating models. Some of those models are for formats themselves, some of those models are how to assess the information that we get.”
MLS commissioner, Don Garber, and his team have been holding meetings with sporting directors, chief business officers and owners, who you can imagine are keen to see some ROI. The league is also planning to develop focus groups that will gauge the interest of fans as well as players.
While this change has long been discussed, a variety of excuses have always been put forth with a consistent beef surrounding the weather as the East coast of the country can see significant disruption. However, with most global transfer business done in the summer window, the conflict with the domestic game is a considerable source of headaches.
Clubs…
Source link : https://www.insideworldfootball.com/2024/10/25/mls-opens-talks-shifting-season-dates-align-international-calendar/
Author : Paul Nicholson
Publish date : 2024-10-25 05:46:03
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