An epic 3–3 final decided by penalty kicks...
It sounds awfully familiar, but it’s not just Sunday’s legendary World Cup final between Argentina and France. It’s also where MLS last left off. LAFC’s dramatic triumph over the Philadelphia Union in early November capped the 2022 season, and it’s not going to be long before the 2023 campaign begins to kick off the road to another title bout.
MLS revealed its schedule for the new season on Tuesday, one that accounts for its 29th and newest franchise, St. Louis City SC; a new media rights partner, Apple TV; and a new competition, the expanded Leagues Cup, which will take place over the course of a month in the summer as MLS and Liga MX put their regular seasons on hold for a World Cup-style tournament.
The 2023 season will begin on Saturday, Feb. 25, when Nashville SC—moved back to the Eastern Conference to account for St. Louis’s arrival—hosts NYCFC. St. Louis’s inaugural match will take place in Texas, where Austin FC hosts the expansion side later in the night. (St. Louis’s first home game at CITYPARK will take place March 4 against the most recent expansion team, Charlotte FC.)
The day is headlined, however, by a curtain-raising edition of El Tráfico, with LAFC beginning its title defense against the LA Galaxy at the Rose Bowl.
Jayne Kamin-Oncea/USA TODAY Sports
As for other highlights for the season that is on the way (the full schedule can be seen here):
- The MLS Cup rematch between LAFC and Philadelphia won’t be until Sept. 23, with the two sides only meeting once this season. With the league’s conferences imbalanced again due to St. Louis’s arrival, the 15 Eastern Conference teams will play twice against each intra-conference foe and once against six select Western Conference teams for a total of 34 games. The 14 Western Conference teams will play every other intra-conference foe at least twice, with one or two additional intra-conference matches and six or seven cross-conference matches to account for their 34 games.
- The MLS All-Star Game will be July 19 at D.C. United’s Audi Field, but the opponent is still to be determined. Given MLS and Liga MX’s overlap for the month that will follow (MLS is pausing from July 15-Aug. 20; Leagues Cup is slated to begin July 21), there’s no guarantee that the same MLS-Liga MX format will continue.
- MLS says teams were given the option of playing through the FIFA windows in June and September, and 13 elected to do so, so the league will not be fully observing the international calendar all year.
- The league says the majority of games will be played at 7:30 p.m. windows, local time, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, with a whiparound show lasting from 7:30 p.m to 12:30 a.m. ET to complement the live broadcasts. While Apple TV is the primary partner, matches will still air on more traditional networks like Fox/Fox Deportes in the U.S., and TSN and RDS in Canada. ESPN is no longer a broadcast partner of the league. MLS Season Pass on Apple TV launches Feb. 1.
- Decision Day (aka the end of the regular season) is slated for Oct. 21. Details of the playoff schedule have not yet been revealed.
- As for teams taking part in continental competitions, the reigning Concacaf Champions League winner Seattle Sounders will head to Morocco for the FIFA Club World Cup, which lasts from Feb. 1-11. Austin FC, Orlando City, LAFC, Philadelphia and the Vancouver Whitecaps will take part in the 2023 CCL, with the first legs of the round of 16 taking place from March 7-9.
- St. Louis’s roster construction is a work in progress. The MLS SuperDraft, for which it has the first pick, takes place Wednesday. It conducted its expansion draft in November, with U.S. international Nicholas Gioacchini and former Aston Villa product Indiana Vassilev the headlining selections. In terms of its marquee players, former Borussia Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Bürki was signed last March, while German midfielder Eduard Löwen and Brazilian forward Klauss have been signed as Designated Players. They’ll all operate under manager Bradley Carnell, the former South Africa international defender and New York Red Bulls assistant.
