MLS won’t resume games until at least June 8 as coronavirus’ impact on soccer continues

Major League Soccer announced Friday that it will not resume its season until at least June 8, as it waits with the rest of North America for progress in combating the coronavirus pandemic.

The league had previously hoped to return to action May 10, with a ban on practices through April 24. A league spokesperson said the practice ban has not yet been officially extended. It’s not hard to imagine that it will be, though.

“MLS remains focused on exploring a wide variety of formats for playing the entire 2020 season, including pushing back MLS Cup into December or later,” a league statement Friday said.

Earlier this week, the league formally conceded that the odds of playing a full 34-game regular season are decreasing. A statement on Tuesday said that “while we currently have enough dates to play the entire season, we recognize at this time that it may become difficult to do so.”

Commissioner Don Garber told ESPN on Monday that a resumption of play would likely begin with tournament-style competition at a set of locations, followed by standard home games played without fans in attendance.

An extended version of that interview was published Wednesday, a few hours after Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government’s top infectious-disease expert, offered a pathway for sports leagues to resume games.

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“The plan is to play as many games of the 34-game season as possible,” Garber said, but the whole thing is contingent on widespread testing for COVID-19 — which isn’t happening in the United States right now.

“We’re used to making decisions in any business, and in life, with some understanding of what the future holds," Garber said. “Anything we do as it relates to returning to play, returning to training, requires us to have access to testing that’s not yet readily available. … The difficulty is not knowing what the facts are, so that we can make the right decisions and then effectively communicate them.”

The only reported coronavirus case among MLS players came from the Union, announced April 1. All the other known cases — in Seattle, New York and most recently Montreal — have been among coaching or front-office staff.

Two MLS teams, Real Salt Lake and D.C. United, have publicly announced pay cuts or furloughs for team staff, and the league’s headquarters has also enforced some pay cuts on executives and staff. Real Salt Lake also runs the National Women’s Soccer League’s Utah Royals and the United Soccer League’s Real Monarchs, and those teams have been similarly affected.

The Union have not authorized any pay cuts, furloughs or layoffs, and have set up a relief fund for game-day workers at Subaru Park.

ESPN reported Friday that the league and the MLS Players Association met Thursday via conference call to discuss potential pay cuts for players. The league proposed a 50 percent pay cut for players making over $100,000 that would only take effect if games are canceled.

Following that report, the league acknowledged that discussions have taken place.

“We are seeking to work collaboratively with the MLSPA to find a solution that provides a safety net for all players, opportunity to earn full salary in the scenario where all matches are played with fans, and in particular provides protection for the players at the lower end of the salary scale," a league statement said.

That language implies the league could ask for pay cuts if games are played behind closed doors, which would cut off gate revenue that many teams rely on.

MLS and the MLSPA agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement in February, but according to ESPN it has yet to be ratified by either side.

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The NWSL is targeting the end of June to begin a season that was originally to start this coming weekend. The opening game — the Washington Spirit hosting Tacoma, Wash.-based OL Reign — was to be on CBS on Saturday afternoon.

NWSL commissioner Lisa Baird and Garber were among many sports league leaders on a conference call with President Trump on Wednesday about resuming games.

The USL announced Thursday that the practice ban for teams across its men’s minor leagues has been extended through May 3.

“While we were hoping that a return to play in May would be possible, we understand that it is no longer feasible given the guidance being received from local, state and national health authorities,” USL vice president of communications Ryan Madden said. “We’re going to use the next two to three weeks to further assess the situation and gather the information needed to make an informed decision on an appropriate extension to the leagues’ current temporary suspension timeline. As things stand today, we are still in a position to reschedule all matches affected to date."

The first suspended domestic league to return worldwide is likely to be Germany’s Bundesliga, thanks to that country’s rigorous government-run testing program. Teams were able to resume small-scale practices just over a week ago, and the league hopes to resume games in early May.

Bundesliga CEO Christian Seifert told the New York Times that the league was likely to play games without fans present for the rest of the year.