Two More Future MLS and Other Competition Schedule Concepts

Credit to TafkaSoccer/X for more concepts

So back in December, I made a concept for the schedule for future MLS Season and other competitions as MLS is hoping to rebuild the schedule for future seasons as well as U.S. and North American Tournaments as we're getting close to World Cup 2026 in the USA, Canada, and Mexico. Now, there are two more concepts that Major League Soccer could rebuild the schedule including competitions outside of MLS including the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup and the Leagues Cup.

If you haven't checked my first concept of the future MLS and other competitions schedule, click here: https://yohnvoker.wixsite.com/yohnvoker/post/my-concept-of-future-mls-and-other-competitions-schedule

Here are my two more concepts of the future of MLS and Other Competitions Schedule:

MLS Division Competition (Spring Season): Late February - Mid-June (17 Weeks)

Each division would play each other Home AND Away. They would also play Home OR Away against their neighboring conference division. That creates a 22-match Spring Season Schedule.

EAST	SOUTHEAST	MIDWEST	WEST
1	1	1	1
2	2	2	2
3	3	3	3
4	4	4	4
5	5	5	5
6	6	6	6
7	7	7	7
8	8	8	8

Division Teams 1-2: Tier 1
Division Teams 3-4: Tier 2
Division Teams 5-6: Tier 3
Division Teams 7-8: Tier 4

CONCACAF Champions Cup

Round One: Early March
Round of 16: Early April
Quarterfinals: Early May

Expanded Club WC will qualify 4 clubs; this will complete Club WC Qualification

Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup

Third Round: Mid-April
Round of 32: Early May
Round of 16: Late May

Spring Season playoffs end in late May; the CONCACAF Champions Cup may be played ENTIRELY during the Spring.

Mid-June - Early to Mid-August (7 Weeks):

U.S. Open Cup:

Quarterfinals: Late June
Semifinals: Late July

Mid-June: Schedule for MLS Tiered Competition for the Fall Season (There are easily 80+ matches during this window. MLS/Apple needs to avoid overlapping them too much like the regular season; Apertura is now AUG-DEC.)

Expanded Club World Cup (June - July): Hopefully certain MLS and Liga MX clubs will be out of the country.

Early July - MLS All-Star Game

Leagues Cup: Mid-July to Mid-August

Future League Cup(s) will likely give Bye(s) out of the group stage for clubs competing in Club WC

MLS Fall Season: Mid-August - October (13 Weeks)

CONCACAF Champions Cup Semifinals: Early September
U.S. Open Cup Final: Mid-September
CONCACAF Champions Cup Final: Early October

MLS Supporters Shield and Tiered Competition

Each Club plays the clubs in their HOME and AWAY, which creates a 14-match Fall Season Schedule

Tier 1	Tier 2	Tier 3	Tier 4
SS CCC 1	9	16	20
CCC 2	10	17	21
CCC 3	11	18	ELIMINATION
CCC 4	12	19	ELIMINATION
5	13	ELIMINATION	ELIMINATION
6	14	ELIMINATION	ELIMINATION
7	15	ELIMINATION	ELIMINATION
8	ELIMINATION	ELIMINATION	ELIMINATION

SS Winner + Teams 2-4 (Tier 1) = CCC Qualified
Teams 5-6 (Tier 1), 9-12 (Tier 2), 16 (Tier 3) = Playoff Qualified
Teams 7-8 (Tier 1), 13-15 (Tier 2), 17-19 (Tier 3), 20-21 (Tier 4) = Wild Card Qualified

MLS Cup Playoffs

Wild Card (Single Elimination)
- 7 v 21
- 8 v 20
- 12 v 19
- 13 v 18
- 14 v 17
Round of 16 (2-leg series)
Quarters, Semis, and Final will be Single-elimination

Here's another one if we get to 32 teams:

MLS Spring Season: Late February - May (14 Weeks)

Same as my first concept. All MLS teams play interconference competitions: 14 matches total to determine whether they place in the top, middle, or lower tiers for the second half of the season (home OR away scheduling).

EASTERN CONFERENCE	WESTERN CONFERENCE
1	1
2	2
3	3
4	4
5	5
6	6
7	7
8	8
9	9
10	10
11	11
12	12
13	13
14	14
15	15
16	16

Conference Teams 1-6 = Tier 1
Conference Teams 7-11 = Tier 2
Conference Teams 12-16 = Tier 3

June - July (7 Weeks):

Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup

Quarterfinals (Late June)
Semifinals (Late July)

Early June: Schedule MLS Tiered Competiton for the Fall

Expanded Club World Cup: June - July

Leagues Cup: Early June - End of June

Clubs in the Club World Cup may need to be excluded from the Leagues Cup (automatic CCC Qualification)
In a World Cup year, the Leagues Cup will have to be played in July

MLS Fall Season: August - Early November (15 Weeks)

CCC Semifinals: Early September
USOC Final: Mid-September
CCC Final: Early October

Tier 1	Tier 2	Tier 3
SS CCC 1	12	20
CCC 2	13	21
CCC 3	14	22
CCC 4	15	23
5	16	ELIMINATION
6	17	ELIMINATION
7	18	ELIMINATION
8	19	ELIMINATION
9	ELIMINATION	ELIMINATION
10	ELIMINATION	ELIMINATION
11
ELIMINATION

Tier 1 Teams: 22 Matches

Tier 2 Teams: 18 Matches

Tier 3 Teams: 14 Matches

REWARD BETTER TEAMS WITH MORE GUARANTEED MATCHES

LOWER-TIER PLAYOFFS (2-LEG SERIES)	LOWER-TIER PLAYOFFS (2-LEG SERIES)	WILD CARD (SINGLE ELIMINATION)
12 V 23	Winner of 12/23	12/23 v 18/17 Winner
18 V 17	Winner of 18/17	20/15 v 14/21 Winner
20 V 15	Winner of 20/15	Team 11
14 V 21	Winner of 14/21	16/19 v 22/13 Winner
16 V 19	Winner of 16/19
22 V 13	Winner of 22/13

Lower-Tier Playoffs:

Round One: Mid-October
Round Two: Late October
Wild Card: Early November

First Round	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	MLS Cup Final
9 v 8	1 v 9/8 Winner	Winner of QF 1	Winner of SF 1
5 v 12	4 v 5/12 Winner	Winner of QF 2	Winner of SF 2
11 v 6	3 v 11/6 Winner	Winner of QF 3
7 v 10	2 v 7/10 Winner	Winner of QF 4

MLS Cup Playoffs:

First Round and Quarterfinals: Mid-November
Semifinals: Before or at Thanksgiving
MLS Cup Final: December

Lower-tier playoffs are conducted while Tier 1 finishes its regular season

A Successful Tier 2 team will wind up with 22 matches (same as Tier 1)

Now that we got the two concepts out of the way, let's breakdown and have more details on a week-by-week basis on the MLS and other competition schedules:

MLS Spring Season (Late February - Late May):

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

Week 8

Week 9

Week 10

Week 11

Week 12

Week 13

Week 14

Regular Season

CCC RD 1

FIFA Break

CCC RD 16

CCC QTRS

Nations League

USOC RD 3

USOC RD 32

USOC RD 16

Mid-Season Break:

Week 1	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4
Leagues Cup	Leagues Cup	Leagues Cup	Leagues Cup
		Club WC	Club WC
Nations League	Nations League		USOC Qtrs.
	World Cup	World Cup	World Cup

MLS Fall Season (Early July - Early November):

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

Week 8

Week 9

Week 10

Week 11

Week 12

Week 13

Week 14

Week 15

Week 16

Week 17

Week 18

Week 19

Regular Season

Club WC

[+] Mid Week

Gold Cup

USOC Semis

USOC Finals

All-Star Break

World Cup

CCC Semis

CCC Final (Weekend Match)

PLAYOFFS FOR TIER 2 & 3

PLAYOFFS:

Lower-Tier Playoffs	Lower-Tier Playoffs	Wild Card	First Round & Qtrs.	Semis	MLS Cup Final
RD 1, MID-OCT.	RD 2, LATE OCT.	EARLY NOV.	MID NOV.	BF or at TH	DEC

So there you have it! Man, it took a look of work to create this blog, but I hope you enjoy it! I hope that MLS and the U.S. Soccer Federation will take a deep dive on rebuilding the schedule for not only Major League Soccer but in other competitions as we are heading towards the World Cup in 2026.

Yohn Voker

Two More Future MLS and Other Competition Schedule Concepts

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