Major League Soccer is reportedly planning a shift to a divisional format beginning in the 2027 season. Sources close to The Athletic’s Tom Bogert and Paul Tenorio have indicated how the league’s structure and playoff format could look like.
While it’s not 100% confirmed, FC Dallas will indeed be in a division with fellow Texas rivals Austin FC and the Houston Dynamo, along with the three Southern California teams of LAFC, LA Galaxy and San Diego FC.
Here is what the report’s full divisional structure could look like, along with a quote on another potential group for FC Dallas.
Under the proposal that multiple sources expected to be announced, the five new divisions would look like this:
Portland Timbers, Seattle Sounders, Vancouver Whitecaps, San Jose Earthquakes, Real Salt Lake, Colorado Rapids
LA Galaxy, LAFC, San Diego FC, Austin FC, Houston Dynamo, FC Dallas
Chicago Fire, Minnesota United, St. Louis City SC, Sporting Kansas City, FC Cincinnati, Columbus Crew
CF Montreal, Toronto FC, New England Revolution, New York Red Bulls, NYCFC, Philadelphia Union
D.C. United, Nashville SC, Atlanta United, Charlotte FC, Inter Miami, Orlando City
The league has discussed other potential groupings, including one that would keep the four California teams together and group the Cascadia teams with the Texas teams. The league, however, is putting heavy consideration into equitable travel for divisions where possible.
Under the new divisional format, FC Dallas would play division opponents twice, one home game and one away, and would play every other league opponent once.
The report also dives into what the playoff structure could be under the new calendar.
The league is also still weighing changes to its postseason format, with multiple proposals being considered. One proposal runs similarly to the Australian Football League finals, where higher seeds play “qualifying games” against each other, which gives those higher seeds a second game against lower seeds if they lose the first match, while lower seeded teams play elimination games from the start.
The new format is expected to debut in 2027 when the league shifts its calendar to the fall-to-spring format.
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BDS Take
As big as the United States and Canada are, there really is no ‘great’ way to do a divisional format without some concessions. Of those concessions, one would be not having the four California teams grouped together. Another would be not having D.C. United with the rest of the Northeast teams (though personally, that one doesn’t bother me as much as it may others from that region).
There may be other concessions for some folk out there. I’m not loving the fact that teams like KC and St. Louis (who are geographically closer to Dallas than California) aren’t in the same division as us.
But we knew when this was first being discussed that Dallas would ultimately end up in a division like this.
Is it the best? No. Not by a long shot. But, it may be the least complicated for MLS to go with as they move to a new format.
The big win for me in this shift is that FC Dallas will once again face every other club at least once in a season. That means, getting Brimstone Cup games on an annual basis again with the Chicago Fire. Those old school games withe other fellow MLS originals like Columbus, DC, New York, KC, and New England aren’t dying off.
