Why does MLS play through the international break? (But not Inter Miami?) | OneFootball

For Atlanta United on Saturday, their 2-2 draw at FC Cincinnati was a case of two points gained rather than one point lost.

For starters, Atlanta had to come from a goal down to take the point late on when Saba Lobjanidze's cross created a situation that caused defender Alvas Powell to turn the the ball into his own net in the 88th minute.

There was also the fact they hadn't previously taken a point away from home this season, and hadn't scored multiple goals since their season-opening 3-2 win at home to CF Montreal.

But the biggest reason a draw felt like a reason to celebrate was that Atlanta came to Cincinnati with 10 players -- nearly a whole starting squad's worth! -- unavailable to participate in the contest. And for eight of those players, the reason for their absence was international duty.

No rest for the domestic

While the Premier League, Liga MX and other competitions popular with American TV viewers take off during FIFA international windows, MLS continues to play through most of them. (This is an old analysis, but the general point remains.)

The reason, as is often the case with decisions that are bad from a competitive standpoint, is money.

"We can’t afford [to stop the league for Copa America]," MLS Commisioner Don Garber said back in 2024. "If we have to shut the league down [and] lose games, it impacts our players, it impacts our partners, it impacts our fans, it impacts everything that MLS has to deliver for all of our stakeholders."

What Garber doesn't say here is that the league has plenty of other options in terms of scheduling. But most of them involve playing at times of the week, or times of the year, that are known to result in lower matchday attendance. And relative to other leagues, MLS remains disproportionately reliant on matchday attendance compared to TV revenue.

In northern MLS markets, winter weather is far more severe than it is in England, Mexico or most of Western Europe. That's why MLS has played a spring-to-fall schedule similar to Scandinavian leagues rather than the majority of the European calendar.

And when you do that, to take breaks for international windows would mean to go dark for 10 total weeks of your season, if you include summer international tournaments. The only way to realistically make up that amount of schedule time without playing through any international window would be to play more or less every midweek. And that's also unappealing for MLS owners, whose midweek crowds are consistently lower than weekend nights, and whose rosters aren't as deep or balanced as some other leagues.

Numerous reports suggest the league is exploring a switch to a more European-style calendar following the 2026 FIFA World Cup that will be hosted in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Doing so would allow the league presumably to take off for international matchdays. And it's a more realistic option now that a larger share of teams play in what are essentially sub-tropical climates in California, Texas, Florida and the Southeast.

But even so, a workable solution would have to include some sort of winter break a la Germany, Russia or Denmark, and some creative scheduling to minimize the potentia winter climate impacts in the coldest markets, like Montreal, Minnesota, Chicago, New England and Toronto.

So why was Miami spared?

However, Inter Miami was spared from playing on Matchday 5, presumably also for financial reasons.

While most MLS teams struggle to draw during midweek games, Miami have no such problems because of Lionel Messi and the star-studded roster that surounds him. Be it home or away,

But Messi continues to play for the Argentina national team when he's healthy. So from both Miami and MLS' perspective, it makes more financial sense to reschedule the Herons' match in New England to Wednesday, July 9, when Messi is more likely to be available (despite recent injury issues). That meeting in Foxboro could potentially sell out.

The league's decision hasn't sat too well with LAFC fans, who are facing a much busier itinerary ahead of their Concacaf Champions Cup quarterfinal series against the Herons. But any competitive advantage Miami has gained through the league's thinking on this issue is most likely coincidental.