AILSA CHANG, HOST:
A huge change is coming to men's Major League Soccer. For decades, MLS has begun its season in the early spring. That season continues through the summer and into the fall. But that is out of step with how the rest of the world does it. And now the league has decided to align its schedule with other international soccer leagues. NPR sports correspondent Becky Sullivan joins us now. Hi, Becky.
BECKY SULLIVAN, BYLINE: Hey there.
CHANG: OK, so explain what this means, and why is it happening?
SULLIVAN: Well, yeah, I mean, like you were alluding to, basically, you know, leagues like the English Premier League, all these other soccer leagues around the world, they run from August around through the winter and into the spring. MLS had had this other schedule that was originally meant to reduce conflict for fans with other major North American sports, especially the NFL. But over time, this lack of alignment with all these other soccer leagues was causing problems for teams trying to acquire or sell players, causing problems for players. Plus, you have all these big international competitions like the FIFA World Cup, which is coming up next year. They generally take place in the summer. That's when these other leagues all have their off season, and so that was a pain for MLS.
CHANG: And what will that look like when games are shifted all around?
SULLIVAN: Yeah. I mean, yeah. So basically, this is going to swap some of those May, June, July games for games in November, December and February, which is obviously a concern for teams in cold-weather places like Minneapolis, Montreal, Toronto, New England 'cause teams make a lot of revenue from ticket sales and sales of concessions and merch at stadiums on game days. And so, obviously, that might be a little harder if it's cold and snowy. And so, you know, yesterday and today, officials are acknowledging that might be tough on their fans, like CF Montreal CEO Gabriel Gervais. Here's what he said.
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GABRIEL GERVAIS: There will be some games where it may be colder, absolutely, and we're going to give the best possible environment for them to be comfortable and to enjoy our product.
SULLIVAN: And so the league says it will take a midwinter break every year. They've also told cold-climate teams that they will limit home games in December and February, and I guess these teams will just have to sell more soccer scarves.
CHANG: Well, what about the players? What do they think about this change?
SULLIVAN: I think, in general, they support the move. Here's Julian Gressel. He is a fullback with Minnesota United. He was speaking about this on his podcast "Player / Manager" back this summer, actually, when this was all just a proposal. And at that time, he guessed that 90% of players would be in favor.
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JULIAN GRESSEL: We wanted this change as a player pool. I wanted this change as a player. I think it would have broken up the season in the right ways, and it would have given more credibility throughout the world.
SULLIVAN: A lot of players spend their careers also going back and forth between the U.S. and Europe and other leagues. This just makes those kinds of transitions a lot easier.
CHANG: So then is this change a done deal?
SULLIVAN: Well, actually the players union does have to agree to this. Switching the schedule around in such a major way will require revisions to the collective bargaining agreement. They haven't really commented on this yet, so that's still a potential obstacle, even if all these players or many of the players ultimately do support it.
CHANG: That is NPR's Becky Sullivan. Thank you, Becky.
SULLIVAN: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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