MLS Commissioner Talks Fall-To-Spring Proposal, Messi’s All-Star Absence

MLS Commissioner Don Garber says the league continues to look at shifting to a fall-to-spring season, saying he’d “rather get it right and take our time than get it wrong and do it quick.”

Garber spoke before Wednesday night’s MLS All-Star game in Austin, Texas. While he was peppered with questions about the calendar, looming large over the match between MLS and Liga MX All-Stars was the absence of Inter Miami star Lionel Messi.

Currently MLS plays a spring-to-late fall season. A shift to align the league with its international counterparts would make MLS teams more competitive in the player transfer market, while also freeing up players for national team duty during the summer, when many major global tournaments take place.

But there are obvious challenges, like weather.

“If it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen after the 2026 World Cup. So making this change is seismic. It’s not something we should do lightly. We obviously have teams across multiple climate zones, multiple time zones, unlike any other league in the world,” Garber said. “So I would rather get it right and take our time than get it wrong and do it quickly, because life’s a long time when it comes to something like your schedule.”

The MLS Board of Governors announced in April that it was giving further consideration to the shift, but gave no timeline. Garber suggested there would be an announcement by the end of the year.

Garber declined to say whether Messi or Inter Miami teammate Jordi Alba would face suspension for missing the All-Star game, as league rules have dictated in the past. Miami’s next match is Saturday against FC Cincinnati.

“Yeah, we should have known earlier. We should have addressed it earlier. No doubt about that,” Garber said about the players’ absence. 

“Miami has had a schedule that is unlike any other team,” Garber added. “Most of our teams had a 10-day break. Miami hasn’t. We had Leo playing 90 minutes in almost all the games that he’s played.”

“We have to manage that as a league, but at the same time we do have rules and we have to manage that as well,” Garber said. “So we would have loved to have Leo here. We love to have every player that was selected for the All-Star team here. And after this All-Star game, we’ll figure out what needs to happen this weekend.”

As for the game itself, the MLS All-Stars won 3-1. Nashville SC’s Sam Surridge opened in the 28th minute, Philadelphia Union’s Tai Baribo added a second early in the second half, and Vancouver Whitecaps forward Brian White sealed the win in the 80th. Liga MX’s 16‑year‑old Gilberto Mora, who plays for Tijuana, scored the team’s lone goal.

Reporting by The Associated Press. 

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