A number of the finest soccer gamers on the earth are making their method from Europe to play on Main League Soccer groups as the game good points momentum within the U.S. amid transformational adjustments over the following couple of years.
And a type of gamers will carry his skills from South Seashore when his membership takes on Actual Salt Lake at America First Area subsequent spring.
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RSL launched its 2026 schedule Thursday, the final season MLS will play earlier than transitioning to a brand new competitors calendar in 2027. The membership will play a 34-game MLS regular-season schedule, with 17 matches at house and 17 away, beginning Feb. 21 in Vancouver.
Actual Salt Lake and Utah Royals FC President John Kimball speaks to the media Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025 at America First Area in Sandy. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret Information
April 22 is the date to circle. That’s when Inter Miami CF involves city with the very best participant on the earth, Lionel Messi.
“It’s a can’t-miss occasion,” mentioned Steve Starks, CEO of the Larry H. Miller Firm, which owns RSL. “He’s the Beatles. He’s Elvis.”
Who’s Lionel Messi?
The 38-year-old Argentine ahead is extensively thought to be one of many biggest gamers in historical past. His many accolades embody main Argentina to the 2022 World Cup title. He performed for Barcelona within the Spanish league for a few years earlier than shifting on to Paris Saint-Germain in France. He joined Inter Miami in 2023. He led MLS in each objectives and assists within the 2025 common season.
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“Many people recall iconic sports activities moments in our lifetimes. Watching the good Lionel Messi play within the coronary heart of the Wasatch shall be inspiring to followers, younger gamers and our neighborhood at massive,” mentioned , RSL chairman and governor.
Messi simply signed a three-year contract extension that can maintain him in Miami till he’s virtually 42 because the staff builds a $1 billion stadium.
“It makes me actually comfortable to remain right here and to proceed with this mission that, in addition to being a dream, has grow to be a stupendous actuality — enjoying on this stadium, at Miami Freedom Park,” Messi mentioned in a staff assertion. “Since I arrived in Miami, I’ve been very comfortable, so I’m really glad to maintain going right here.”
Messi together with South Korea’s Son Heung-Min of Los Angeles FC and Germany’s Thomas Müller of the Vancouver Whitecaps are among the many worldwide stars who’ve signed with MLS groups prior to now 12 months or so.
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Son and Müller will make appearances with their groups in Utah, as will Mexican star Chucky Lozano of San Diego FC and one other German standout, Marco Reus, with the LA Galaxy.
Starks mentioned he expects the Inter Miami recreation alone to spice up season and single-game ticket gross sales. Messi is arguably essentially the most well-known athlete on the planet. Utah hasn’t seen a worldwide megastar like him since Michael Jordan performed in opposition to the Jazz within the Nineties. RSL didn’t play Inter Miami this previous season.
Season tickets and four-game packages, together with the Inter Miami recreation, will be accessed by means of the membership’s precedence ticket waitlist at .
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“Subsequent 12 months’s slate brings gamers and groups to the pitch that can unite and encourage our native sports activities and leisure neighborhood,” mentioned John Kimball, RSL president of enterprise operations. ”Main League Soccer is on the rise, and at present’s announcement highlights this momentum.”
Messi’s anticipated arrival to play RSL is scheduled simply weeks earlier than Argentina will defend its title because the 2026 World Cup takes over the USA. Utah received’t host any video games as a result of it doesn’t have an NFL stadium. However Starks mentioned a number of nations have inquired about taking on residence on the RSL coaching facility for the event.
MLS aligns itself with the world
Beginning in 2027, MLS will align its season with world’s high soccer leagues, adopting a summer-to-spring schedule, one of the vital important developments within the league’s historical past. It additionally may have a 14-game dash season in spring 2027 forward of the brand new common season format.
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MLS commissioner Don Garber mentioned the change marks a brand new period for the league and soccer in North America.
“Aligning our schedule with the world’s high leagues will strengthen our golf equipment’ international competitiveness, create higher alternatives within the switch market, and guarantee our Audi MLS Cup Playoffs take heart stage with out interruption,” he mentioned in a press release final week.
The 2027-28 MLS common season will start in mid to late July 2027 and conclude with the playoffs in late Might 2028. Like different main worldwide leagues, it can take a winter break from mid-December by means of early February, with no league matches scheduled in January.
Starks mentioned that the brand new schedule that enables higher participant transfers backwards and forwards is necessary as a result of MLS more and more attracts the very best gamers on the earth. It additionally strikes the playoffs to hotter climate in Might and out of the shadow of the NFL and faculty soccer seasons, which dominate the airwaves and sponsorship {dollars} within the fall.
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“That’s necessary as a result of folks love the intrigue and drama of playoffs and so this locations it in a a lot better playoff window on the calendar,” he mentioned.
It additionally helps achieve sponsors which can be in any other case crowded out in November, making for a stronger business side to the playoffs, which Starks mentioned is necessary for the expansion of the league.
Child, it’s chilly exterior
The schedule change will affect RSL, which may discover itself enjoying house video games in winter circumstances.
“Will probably be an adjustment. It can even be a house discipline benefit,” mentioned Starks, including he anticipates few house video games within the chilly climate. He additionally expects followers will prove regardless. “We have now a really loyal fan base,” he mentioned. “We’ve seen that, even in colder climate video games.”
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Dave Checketts, who based RSL in 2005 and offered the membership in 2013, mentioned aligning the MLS schedule with the world’s leagues is lengthy overdue.
“It’s by no means felt proper to be on a distinct calendar than the remainder of the world,” he mentioned, including the league mentioned it 22 years in the past. “I simply by no means dreamed that it may occur since you’ve received all these cold-weather cities. Really, Utah is best off, for my part, than Chicago or Boston and even New York.”
Checketts mentioned it’s the appropriate factor to do as a result of it strains up worldwide switch home windows. “You simply received’t have your finest gamers leaving you in the course of competitors to go play for his or her worldwide groups,” he mentioned. “When you’re enjoying in the summertime, that’s what’s going to occur and it creates an uneven enjoying discipline for all the groups.”