Can MLS capitalize on the growing interest from the World Cup? | OneFootball

Over the past five weeks, the 2026 FIFA World Cup has turned millions of soccer atheists into devout believers. Countless Americans who have turned their noses up at soccer are starting to see what all the fuss is about.

They’re no longer ignoring it: they’re planning their entire schedule around watching these games. Whether it’s a high-octane thriller like France-Spain, the knockout match between USA-Bosnia, or a far subdued fixture like Curaçao-Ecuador, these viewers are tuning in and starting to get addicted to the beautiful game.

MLS Looks to Fill the Void

Now comes the withdrawal, with a two-day gap in between the second semifinal and the third-placed match, and Major League Soccer are looking to capitalize on this. They don’t want these fans to have to wait until the 2027 Women’s World Cup or the 2030 World Cup to watch soccer again: they want to convince them to start watching soccer in their own backyard.

Desperate to fill this void, MLS scheduled four games on Thursday and two on Friday. Better yet, five of these six fixtures are local derbies. Thursday’s matches ended as follows: St. Louis CITY SC edging Sporting Kansas City 3-2 in the Heartland Derby. Rivals CF Montréal and Toronto FC shared the spoils in a 0-0 draw in the Canadian Classique. Portland Timbers thrashed Seattle Sounders 5-1 in the Cascadia Derby.

Chicago Fire vs. Vancouver Whitecaps was tipped to be Thursday’s marquee matchup, with Robert Lewandowski set to make his Chicago debut against ex-Bayern Munich teammate Thomas Müller. However, this match was rescheduled to October 6 due to poor air quality conditions in the Chicago area resulting from wildfire smoke.

Later today, Nashville SC will host Atlanta United and then it’s El Tráfico, the LA derby between Galaxy and LAFC.

Use the World Cup Fever

“I think [the World Cup can elevate MLS to a new level of popularity],” stated New York City FC defender Kevin O’Toole to Hooligan Soccer. “The World Cup has been a massive success, every stadium has been filled up for the most part. The venues have been incredible, they’re massive cathedrals of other sports that have been converted for soccer, and everyone has taken part and enjoyed it.”

“I think it’s been a huge healing experience for the world, which every World Cup seems to be. There’s a restored soccer fervor in the country, and I expect a lot of people won’t want to give up on that as soon as the World Cup ends. I think that it could be a good landing point for a lot of fans and newcomers to the sport to support their local teams.”

MLS Born from a World Cup

It has been 38 years since the United States won the rights to host the 1994 FIFA World Cup. At the time, the USA didn’t have a premier soccer league following the collapse of the NASL (North American Soccer League). It’s why FIFA stipulated them to launch a professional soccer league — MLS — which arrived in 1996.

After a tumultuous start to life which saw them lose millions of dollars and squander two franchises, MLS has managed to find its footing and become a viable league thanks to the Beckham rule, which has paved the way for superstars like Thierry Henry and Andrea Pirlo to join the league, as well as the move away from cavernous football stadiums to soccer-specific stadiums.

MLS crossed into a new threshold during the start of 2023, as newly crowned World Cup champion Lionel Messi joined Inter Miami. It wasn’t just that the greatest player of all time made his way to MLS, but the fact that MLS completely changed their TV deal.

MLS Moves and Mis-steps

In 2023, Apple Inc. acquired the global over-the-top streaming rights to the league as part of a 10-year media rights agreement, thereby discontinuing regionally televised matches and streaming every single match globally without any blackout restrictions.

But whilst the Apple TV deal has undoubtedly helped MLS grow its footprint, it’s also clear that MLS overestimated its own appeal by launching MLS Season Pass. All things considered, users would have to pay an annual fee of $99 for the privilege of watching every MLS match (or $79 if they were AppleTV subscribers).

They soon started to recognize that this wasn’t a viable option for a league that was desperate for publicity, and after dropping the price, they eventually removed the paywall entirely during the 2025 MLS playoffs, thus enabling viewers to watch every MLS match with only an Apple TV subscription.

The Calendar Shift

MLS also announced another major change, doing away with the year-long format that has remained ever since their inception. Rather than starting the season in February and ending it in December, MLS will now kick off their season in July, taking a break from mid-December to early February, before wrapping up the regular season in April, whilst the playoffs will occur in May.

The calendar shift is one of the most important decisions in our history,” said MLS Commissioner Don Garber. “Aligning our schedule with the world’s top leagues will strengthen our clubs’ global competitiveness, create better opportunities in the transfer market, and ensure our Audi MLS Cup Playoffs take center stage without interruption. It marks the start of a new era for our league and for soccer in North America.”

This change was multifold: MLS wanted to synchronize with the international calendar, enabling MLS teams to acquire and integrate top talent during the highly active summer transfer window. They also wanted to remove direct competition with the NFL and college football, positioning the league’s pinnacle matches during more favorable weather and a less cluttered sports calendar.

Moreover, they also wanted to reduce scheduling conflicts between MLS matches and international FIFA windows, such as World Cups or regional summer tournaments. Whilst players have often struggled to commit fully to MLS matches due to international commitments, that will change soon.

A great example of the old calendar conflict is the rescheduled Chicago Fire vs. Vancouver Whitecaps match from yesterday. There’s no guarantee that Lewandowski will be available, however, with Poland facing off against Bosnia & Herzegovina on October 5 in the UEFA Nations League.

MLS Should Capitalize on the Soccer Love

Between a new calendar and a new way of watching football, there’s reason to believe that MLS’ new look will help attract a number of previous skeptics. And whilst certain fans have continued to neglect MLS due to its lack of promotion / relegation, Garber is starting to change his tone on that topic as well.

“I will say this now that I wouldn’t have said five years ago, I never thought we’d change our calendar and we did. Never thought we’d have 30 teams and we do. I never thought we’d have 29 stadiums, and we will. I never thought we’d ever talk about promotion, relegation,” said Garber. “There is a time where if it makes sense for Major League Soccer to be what we want it to be, we need to have promotion/relegation, we’ll do it. If it doesn’t make sense, we won’t.”

With NFL, NHL, NBA, MLB as well as college basketball and football already getting a head start, MLS hasn’t had the easiest task when it comes to convincing sports fans of their value. Oftentimes, it’s seemed like being a 5’6″ lad trying to get a perfect view of the concert whilst being stuck behind a bunch of 7’0″ men occupying the front row.

But with soccer starting to climb up the pedestal and establish itself as one of the top sports in America, that might very well be starting to change. The United States has already proven that it is, in fact, a soccer-crazed country. But now, can they finally become an MLS-crazed country?