Garber: MLS won't rush 'seismic' calendar shift

Major League Soccer 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. He also spoke about the league’s Apple TV streaming deal and the sale of the Vancouver Whitecaps in his state of the league address before the game.

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.

“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, and if we do make the change, we’re not going to go back on that decision,” Garber said.

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.

Messi suspension?

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 in Fort Lauderdale.

Whitecaps sale

The Whitecaps announced in December that the team was for sale. Greg Kerfoot has been owner of the club since 2002, when it was part of the North American Soccer League. Steve Luczo, Jeff Mallett and former NBA star Steve Nash joined Kerfoot in 2008, and the Whitecaps became part of MLS in 2011.

Garber said there are no plans to move the club, although the Whitecaps need a new stadium. Currently, Vancouver plays at the multi-purpose BC Place, which is also the home of the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League.

Apple deal

As for the league’s streaming deal with Apple, Garber said MLS is working with the company to provide fans greater access. Distribution through cable and satellite services this season has helped.

Metrics for viewership have been hard to come by because there’s no system to determine exactly how people are “viewing and consuming” games via a subscription service, Garber said. But he revealed that there have been 120,000 unique viewers per match and vowed greater transparency going forward.

___

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer