In a conversation with Washington Post blogger Steven Goff, MLS Commissioner Don Garber pledges to ease the crowded MLS fixture list for clubs that qualify for next season’s Concacaf Champions League. “But don’t read too much into it,” Goff says, because both legs of the quarterfinal (February and early March) and the first leg of the semifinal (mid-March) occur before the MLS season begins. The first leg of the semifinal (early April) and both legs of the final (late April) present the only potential conflicts. Garber says there’s nothing the league can do about the preliminary and qualifying rounds of the tournament, which begin in August and then run through October.
In England and other European countries, leagues have no problem tweaking their schedules to help out clubs that have conflicts with intercontinental tournaments. Not so in MLS, whose season is condensed into a shorter time period. Goff also points out that MLS clubs don’t have the resources to carry deeper rosters, which makes the mounting club fixture list (Concacaf Champions League, U.S. Open Cup, Super Liga, international friendlies) a tougher burden to bear.
So, in other words, Garber is saying that concessions can only be handed out to those clubs that make the Champions League semifinals. Let’s hope they get that far.