LOS ANGELES _ Major League Soccer announced Thursday that it will suspend its season another four weeks, to May 10, a delay that figures to push the MLS Cup into December.
In a one-paragraph statement MLS, which a week ago announced a 30-day halt to the season, said the break was being lengthened "in accordance with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's guidance to postpone events involving more than 50 people over the next eight weeks." The CDC directive is part of a nationwide effort to stall the spread of the deadly coronavirus.
The MLS announcement comes a day after the second-tier USL Championship said it was lengthening its suspension to eight weeks to comply with Sunday's CDC instructions. Major League Baseball has already pushed its Opening Day back to early May and NBA owners are reportedly bracing for a delay that could last until June. The NHL's plan to resume play in early to mid-May may now be on hold after an unidentified Ottawa Senators player tested positive for the virus.
"The ownership groups have been working closely with the league office every step of the way. We're fully supportive of the league's decision to abide by the CDC recommendation," said Paul McDonough, sporting director for expansion team Inter Miami, which has yet to play a game at home. "We're really impressed with the unified efforts of all the players, the teams, the owners and the league office working to try to make sure we handle this properly. We want everyone to stay safe and we look forward to getting back to playing soon."
All 26 MLS teams had played two games before the season was halted last week. Thirty-eight games were going to be affected by the original four-week pause; that number has now grown to 111 and will leave teams with an uneven number of games to make up. The Galaxy, for example, will lose nine league games to the two-month suspension while LAFC will lose seven, although LAFC also must play its two-leg CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal playoff with Mexico's Cruz Azul, which has also been postponed.
In addition to the suspension in games, MLS teams are under a league-mandated training moratorium banning players from practicing in groups. It's uncertain if that moratorium, extended once through Saturday, will be lifted on schedule.
MLS said it intends to play its full 34-game schedule but exactly how it will do that is uncertain. The most likely option has the league picking up the schedule in May and moving postponed games back to the fall, with the league championship pushed back more than a month into late December.
Last season MLS began its playoffs in mid-October and played the MLS Cup on Nov. 10 to avoid the fall FIFA international breaks. That will be unavoidable this year with World Cup qualifying scheduled to begin in late August, during the first of three FIFA breaks this summer and fall.
As a result, many MLS teams will be forced to play late-season and postseason matches without their top players, who will be off with their national teams. Extending the season into the winter could also cause scheduling conflicts for teams that share stadiums with other teams.
Seven teams _ Atlanta United, the New England Revolution, Nashville SC, the Chicago Fire, Toronto FC, the Seattle Sounders and Vancouver Whitecaps _ share stadiums with pro football teams. New York City FC plays at Yankee Stadium and FC Cincinnati's Nippert Stadium is home to the University of Cincinnati football team.
The uncertainty of stadium availability could force the league into placing the MLS Cup in a neutral warm-weather site with LAFC's Banc of California Stadium and the Galaxy's Dignity Health Sports Park, site of six previous MLS Cups, among the venues likely to be considered.
Squeezing 34 games into a newly tightened window could also mean teams would play as many as three games a week. The 16-team Leagues Cup tournament with Mexico's Liga MX and the domestic U.S. Open Cup could also be altered or abandoned entirely.
The U.S. Open Cup, the oldest ongoing soccer competition in the U.S. dating to 1914, has already been suspended.
