MLS sets February 19 kickoff for shortened 2027 season

Major League Soccer announced its 2027 Sprint Season schedule on October 29, confirming a February 19 opener and a May 8 finish to the regular season. Inter Miami will host FC Cincinnati at Nu Stadium at 8 p.m. Eastern time in the opening match, according to the league's official announcement.

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The opening weekend runs through February 21, with 13 more matches following the Miami fixture. Decision Day on May 8 will have Eastern Conference games starting at 5 p.m. Eastern and Western Conference games at 8 p.m. MLS Cup is scheduled for Memorial Day weekend, although the full postseason timetable remains unannounced.

The league's format guide says every club will play 14 regular-season games, divided equally between home and away fixtures. Each team faces its conference's other 14 clubs once, with no interconference games in the regular season. The top eight sides in each conference will qualify for the playoffs, producing a 16-team postseason field.

Those playoffs will use single-elimination brackets to decide the two conference champions, who then meet for MLS Cup. According to the league's published rules, every playoff match, including the final, will be hosted by the team placed higher in the final 2027 Supporters' Shield standings. Regular-season position therefore also determines home advantage throughout the knockout competition.

The abbreviated campaign will also decide places in international competitions. MLS says the Sprint Season will provide qualification routes to the 2028 Concacaf Champions Cup and Leagues Cup. Its format guide specifies that the top nine teams in each conference qualify for the latter, extending that qualification field beyond the eight playoff places available on each side.

The Sprint Season precedes a July 2027 move to a summer-to-spring calendar, with the following MLS Cup scheduled for May 2028. The league's calendar guide retains a 34-match regular season for 2027-28 and provides for a winter pause beginning in mid-December. No matches will be played in January, with competition resuming in February.