Major League Soccer hopes to use bigger goals during its inaugural campaign if it can get the approval of U.S. Soccer and the International Board, the international body that sets the laws of the game.
MLS commissioner Doug Logan announced today that league owners have instructed him to seek this change. It would be the only change in the rules MLS would use. MLS will not experiment with kick-ins or 15-yard walls.
MLS hopes to get the green light from the International Board, which is holding its annual meeting March 8-10 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. No decision on the exact size of the new goals has been made. MLS would want the new goals ready for the beginning of spring training March 13.
MLS also announced that it will award 3 points for a win, 1 point for a win in a shootout and no points for a loss in regulation or in a shootout. MLS will go straight to the NASL-style shootout at the end of 90 minutes of play.
In other news, MLS will move its league headquarters to New York. The move will be phased in over the course of 1996.
MLS will also allow a fifth player to be allocated to a team. All allocations must be concluded by May 15.