MLS

Major League Soccer is amending its plans to resume the 2020 season so that its proposed return-to-play tournament would "fit within a shorter time frame," according to ESPN FC's Jeff Carlisle.

The Athletic's Jeff Rueter reported May 21 that MLS was considering a format similar to the World Cup. Teams would be split into four groups. The top two group finishers after five matches would then move on to a knockout round.

Once the tournament concludes, a more traditional regular season would begin.

The Washington Post's Steven Goff reported May 11 that MLS was looking to have all 26 teams move to the Walt Disney Resort in Orlando, Florida, to train and stage matches. The NBA is exploring a similar plan to resume its 2019-20 season.

Carlisle reported MLS would have teams travel to Florida around June 21 and remain at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex for roughly a month before the tournament begins.

According to Goff, the initial proposal would've had the Orlando training camp starting June 1 and games beginning July 1.

For the time being, individual clubs are left to practice in their home cities. Carlisle reported one justification for a shorter tournament is that players would be able to stay longer in their local markets and spend less time in Orlando.

Carlisle noted, however, one hurdle to the new plan is that the United States hasn't enacted a uniform approach to relaxing COVID-19-related restrictions. The Chicago Fire, D.C. United and San Jose Earthquakes are still unable to resume training, even on a limited basis.

FC Cincinnati manager Jaap Stam said Tuesday he thought a friend was playing a prank when they sent him a Twitter post by the club about his hiring that instead showed a photo of Ajax youth coach Tinus van Teunenbroek.

Stam, a former Manchester United and AC Milan center-back, told ESPN he was "quite surprised" by the mistake but he quickly moved on.

"I got the picture over here from a friend in Holland and I thought he made a practical joke by orchestrating the picture himself," he said. "Afterward, I got a message from somebody else as well, so after that, I was quite curious what was going on. So I saw the picture on the website and I was quite surprised, but mistakes are made and I can laugh about it as well."

The Orange and Blue deleted the mistaken picture and reposted the Tweet with a proper one:

Other MLS clubs took the opportunity to jokingly jab at the error, though:

Stam most recently guided Dutch club Feyenoord from June to October of 2019 before stepping down.

He replaces Ron Jans, who resigned in February amid an investigation into the alleged use of a racial slur.

The 2020 MLS season has been on hold since March 12 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Major League Soccer reportedly has a plan in place for training to resume at Orlando's ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex with a tournament involving the league's 26 clubs to follow roughly one month later, ESPN's Jeff Carlisle relayed May 13.  

"Sources told ESPN that one proposed format for the tournament would see the league's teams divided into groups, with each team playing around five games during the group stage," Carlisle added. "This would be followed by a knockout stage, with 'consolation games' staged to make sure each team played the same number of matches."

The proposal needs to be approved by the MLS Players Association, and Philadelphia Union attacker Alejandro Bedoya is not in favor of it:

Bedoya isn't the only player with concerns:

MLS suspended its 2020 season on March 12 due to the coronavirus pandemic, and the hiatus was initially intended to last 30 days:

An update was provided April 17:

Clubs were permitted to return to their respective outdoor training facilities for voluntary individual workouts on May 6. However, small group and team training remain suspended through June 1.

The league announced the cancellation of the 2020 MLS All-Star Game, Leagues Cup and Campeones Cup on Tuesday.

Bedoya's Union were 0-1-1 when the season was halted.

Major League Soccer announced the cancellation of the 2020 All-Star Game, Leagues Cup and Campeones Cup in a statement Tuesday. 

The decision was made in collaboration with Mexico's Liga MX, which was supposed to compete against MLS in all three events. Both MLS and Liga MX remain in a state of uncertainty because of the coronavirus pandemic and have not yet returned to play.

The MLS All-Star Game was set to take place July 29 in Los Angeles, pitting MLS against Liga MX. Tickets were not yet on sale, but MLS is giving automatic refunds to fans who purchased tickets to the All-Star Skills Challenge.

MLS said it expects the 2021 All-Star Game to return to Los Angeles and feature Liga MX as the opponent, though negotiations with the Mexican league are ongoing.

The Leagues Cup was set to take place from July through September between the best teams of Liga MX and MLS. The Campeones Cup was set for Aug. 12 in Seattle, featuring the winner of the MLS Cup taking on the Liga MX champion.

MLS is currently considering a World Cup-style tournament event in Florida when/if its season resumes. 

Major League Soccer reportedly has a proposal for a return to play that could see teams training again by June 1.

According to Jeff Carlisle of ESPN, the proposal, which would need to be approved by the league's players association, calls for every team to descend on the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex in Orlando, Florida, to start training on June 1 for a summer tournament that would begin three to four weeks after training starts.

The league has been on hiatus since March 12 because of COVID-19 concerns.

The tournament would be played without fans present, but there are still a number of other challenges the two sides would have to agree on such as widespread testing for players and staff and what the plan would be if someone tested positive for the coronavirus.

Carlisle noted one proposed format would divide the league's 26 teams into groups to play approximately five games each in the group stage. While those who emerge at the top of the tables would advance to the knockout stage, there would still be consolation matches to make sure teams played the same number of games.

That is because the games could count toward the regular season standings in the MLS. The tournament could also be for a spot in the CONCACAF Champions League, although there is no set plan at this moment.

There is also the reality that the league and players association are currently engaged in negotiations regarding potential salary cuts.

Carlisle and Noah Davis reported MLS issued a proposal to the players association calling for a 20 percent pay cut across the board and "additional financial reductions apart from salary cuts that could run into the tens of millions of dollars."

Both sides would surely have to reach a financial agreement before any plan was finalized regarding a potential tournament in Florida.

Every team in the league played two games before the season was put on hiatus. The Colorado Rapids, Atlanta United FC, Sporting Kansas City and Minnesota United FC were the only teams to win both of their games.

Major League Soccer announced five clubs—Atlanta United, the Houston Dynamo, Inter Miami, Orlando City and Sporting Kansas City—returned to their team facilities Wednesday for individual workouts after being given league clearance amid the coronavirus pandemic.

"All player workouts are voluntary and must be conducted in compliance with detailed health and safety protocols created in consultation with medical and infectious disease experts," an MLS statement read.

In April, MLS commissioner Don Garber told ESPN's Taylor Twellman the league was exploring alternative options on how to handle the 2020 season.

"From tournament formats and neutral locations, ultimately playing an abridged regular season, but doing everything to get as many games," Garber said.

He added: "We might be playing further into the winter. That's even hard to imagine because we had a zero Celsius MLS Cup in Toronto in mid-December in 2017, but we're going to have to push this season as far as we can so that we can crown a champion in 2020."

MLS' new campaign, which started Feb. 29, was halted March 12 because of COVID-19 and will remain suspended at least through June 8.

There are 26 clubs across the United States and Canada, which means there are 21 more teams that must return to training before a resumption of play is possible.

The Seattle Sounders are the reigning MLS Cup champions.

The MLS season has been suspended since March 12 because of the coronavirus pandemic, which could lead to significant financial losses for its franchises.

"The losses at the team level in MLS will be astronomical. Hundreds of millions, billions, really big numbers," Seattle Sounders owner Adrian Hanauer said on Wednesday's episode of the Sounder At Heart podcast. "But the MLS ownership is solid and committed to the league and their teams long term. That is fantastic."

According to Jeff Carlisle of ESPN, the league could remain suspended through June 8.

The Sounders are one of the most valuable franchises in MLS at $405 million, with $47 million in revenue in 2019, per Chris Smith of Forbes. However, the team had only $1 million in operating income during the season.

Even with the infusion of money from 11 new investors last August, there is still a limited margin.

With a significant portion of the season potentially lost, each team will have minimal opportunities to generate revenue. But despite the problems, Hanauer has faith in MLS to survive the year.

"There's been lots of criticism of single entity structure—no promotion-relegation, salary cap—heard over the years," he explained. "But some of those principles are what will allow this league to survive and thrive coming out the other end."

Seattle has also taken care of its employees during the suspension. According to Pablo Maurer and Sam Stejskal of The Athletic, the team has not furloughed any staff and doesn't plan to, while only senior staff have taken pay cuts.

Major League Soccer will postpone the resumption of the 2020 season until at least June 8 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to ESPN FC's Jeff Carlisle. 

MLS previously announced a delay through May 10, which followed a recommendation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to halt events with 50 or more people for eight weeks.

The league issued a statement Tuesday confirming a mid-May target date was "extremely unlikely based on the guidance of federal and local public health authorities."

Many wondered whether an additional delay was imminent after MLS extended the closure of all team facilities through April 24. That didn't leave much time for players to prepare for meaningful matches.

League commissioner Don Garber told ESPN's Taylor Twellman officials were discussing a number of alternative plans to a traditional 34-game season, including tournaments and a shorter format, after only completing two matchdays before the suspension of play:

Garber added that the campaign could extend well beyond the fall.

"We might be playing further into the winter," he said, per ESPN.com. "That's even hard to imagine because we had a zero Celsius MLS Cup in Toronto in mid-December in 2017, but we're going to have to push this season as far as we can so that we can crown a champion in 2020."

Elsewhere in the world, some major soccer competitions are making slight progress toward a return.

The Bundesliga's chief executive, Christian Seifert, told the New York Times' Tariq Panja that Germany's top two divisions were looking at early May to restart their seasons. In addition, the Mirror's David Maddock reported the Premier League had opened conversations with British government officials to clear the way for a June restart.

Major League Soccer released a statement Tuesday saying it is "extremely unlikely" the league will meet its targeted mid-May return to play because of the coronavirus pandemic:

"Major League Soccer continues to regularly evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, including how it will affect our plans for the 2020 season. Although we hoped to return to play in mid-May, that is extremely unlikely based on the guidance of federal and local public health authorities. Our goal remains to play as many games as possible, and while we currently have enough dates to play the entire season, we recognize at this time that it may become difficult to do so. 

"We continue to learn more every day from the medical experts, and we expect to have additional details in the coming weeks regarding when we can return to play. As we have throughout this process, we will update our fans with every decision, and we thank them for their support and understanding during this extremely challenging time."

MLS suspended its 2020 season in March, along with nearly every major sports league in the United States. Teams had played only two games in a campaign that was scheduled to run through October.

Sports leagues continue to await word from public health officials on the viability of continuing their seasons. It's considered highly unlikely that venues will be allowed to hold major crowds for the foreseeable future, so the soonest possible return would include games without fans. 

Most states have issued stay-at-home orders through at least the end of April. There have been nearly 600,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus as of Tuesday, with 23,607 deaths.

Major League Soccer is contemplating multiple ways to restart and conclude the 2020 season, which has been suspended indefinitely because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"From tournament formats and neutral locations, ultimately playing an abridged regular season, but doing everything to get as many games," MLS Commissioner Don Garber said to Taylor Twellman of ESPN.

Garber added that matches would likely occur behind closed doors should play resume this year.

MLS completed two matchdays before the pandemic forced an indefinite stoppage. The league announced it would remain in a holding pattern until at least May 10. All team training facilities are also closed until April 24, which would make hitting that mid-May return difficult given the relatively small window for players to prepare.

The Bundesliga's chief executive, Christian Seifert, confirmed to the New York Times' Tariq Panja that Germany's top two divisions are aiming to get their campaigns back on track by early May. The Mirror's David Maddock reported the Premier League was in discussions with officials from the British government to get the pieces in place for a return in June.

Garber told Twellman that MLS is aiming to keep its 34-game regular season for 2020 but that things could change. He added that moving games to neutral locations would be one way to avoid any problems that might arise from different states having different stay-at-home orders in place.