The 2023 Major League Soccer season sees a handful of changes in place as the 28th campaign in league history builds up to the MLS Cup final on December 9.
The league is up to 29 clubs, including this year's new expansion club St. Louis City SC, and there is a new playoff format which now includes a best-of-three round.
Last year's champions LAFC will hope to make waves in the regular season and playoffs after becoming the first team since Toronto FC in 2017 to win both the Supporters' Shield and the MLS Cup. However, significant roster turnover will make things difficult as well as competition from other top sides like the Philadelphia Union, Austin FC, NYCFC, Atlanta United, and rivals LA Galaxy.
The other major wrinkle in 2023 is the start of the groundbreaking 10-year broadcast rights deal with Apple TV, which will see every single match available to stream from anywhere around the world via the Apple TV MLS Season Pass.
The Sporting News brings you an overview of everything you need to know for the 2023 MLS campaign.
MORE: Best young players in MLS for the 2023 season
How to watch MLS in 2023
- Dates: February 25, 2023 to October 21, 2023 (regular season)
- Streaming (worldwide): Apple TV MLS Season Pass (all matches)
- USA TV (select matches): Fox, FS1, Fox Deportes (Spanish) all available on fuboTV
- Canada TV (select matches): TSN, RDS (French)
Apple TV is the new home of Major League Soccer, with every regular season and playoff match of the 2023 season streamed on the platform via MLS Season Pass.
It's available to fans anywhere around the world with no local blackouts or broadcast restrictions, no need to change the channel, and no searching for any local networks to find games. The matches are all in one place for the next 10 years.
Fans don't even need a subscription to Apple TV+ to get the MLS Season Pass. Those are two separate services, though the MLS Season Pass is available at a discount for Apple TV+ subscribers.
All any MLS fan needs to do is access or download the Apple TV app, which is available on most set-top devices (Roku, Fire TV, etc.), smart TVs, game consoles, and on the web at tv.apple.com.
Fans can register for a free Apple ID and then either decide to watch select matches for free every week, or get the entire MLS season by subscribing to the Apple TV MLS Season Pass package.
MORE: How much does Apple TV MLS Season Pass cost?
How MLS works
Major League Soccer consists of 29 clubs from the USA and Canada who play a 34-match regular season from February to October with 18 of the 29 clubs (the top nine from each of the Eastern and Western conference) advancing to the playoffs at season's end. The new postseason format for 2023 is explained below.
In addition to league play, MLS clubs also participate in domestic up competition (U.S. Open Cup for U.S.-based clubs or Canadian Championship for Canadian teams), and the best teams also feature in a North American continental competition (CONCACAF Champions League).
Major League Soccer is different from most leagues around the world in that every team follows the same roster and budget rules. Each club ultimately makes its own decisions on how it builds its roster and spends its money, but it must do so within the guidelines set forth by the league.
The owners of every team come together to make collective league decisions, including specific details of the competition structure, and the roster and budget rules. If they feel a change is warranted at any time as the league evolves, they can vote among themselves to implement it. That includes the playoff format changes in 2023.
Among the league rules are maximum salary budgets that prevent clubs from paying players over a certain amount of money, though exceptions exist as in the case of 'designated players.' Teams can pay up to three designated players a salary that exceeds the regular maximum limits. This is meant to allow clubs the freedom to sign players that may demand a higher salary than the budget rules allow for, helping to attract big-name global talent.
MLS teams can also use specific amounts of 'allocation money' (general or targeted allocation money) to pay down a player's salary so that it fits within the club's player budget. There are rules for how general allocation money and targeted allocation money can be used and how much of it teams have every season.
When it comes to building a squad, there are various methods for signing domestic talent, international players, young internationals or academy players. These are all designed in a way to ensure that there is competitive balance and that teams have an equal opportunity at acquiring players. The annual college player draft is one of those examples.
Unlike many top-flight leagues around the world, MLS does not have promotion or relegation even though lower division leagues do exist in the USA and Canada. As a closed league, the same MLS teams compete every year, no matter their position in the standings the season prior. However, teams that finish in the bottom positions typically receive the top picks in the various player selection drafts the following year in the spirit of competitive balance.
MORE FROM MLS: Every MLS club's player roster | MLS roster & salary rules | Competition guidelines
MLS teams and expansion
Occasionally, MLS decides to open new spots in the league for either brand new clubs or lower-league clubs to apply for membership. New clubs pay an expansion fee to join the league with the newest club, St. Louis SC, shelling out $200 million, while Charlotte FC followed that up by paying a league record $325 million to join.
St. Louis SC waited a little longer before finally joining the league in 2023 as the newest club. They were slotted into the Eastern Conference, bringing that conference table to 15 clubs, while the Western Conference boasts 14 teams.
Lower league clubs do occasionally get added as well, such as in 2020 when Nashville SC made the jump from the USL Championship.
Thanks to recent expansion, MLS is at an all-time high 29 teams with the league aiming to reach 30 teams with bids from Las Vegas, San Diego, and Phoenix under consideration.
MORE: MLS expansion in 2023 to 29 teams, and plans for further expansion
First Mic’d Up of 2023, gotta start strong!
— St Louis CITY SC (@stlCITYsc) February 17, 2023
🎙 Coach @Bradzc pic.twitter.com/yzNdYUuPFr
MLS trophies: Supporters' Shield & MLS Cup
Major League Soccer awards two major titles every season, and while one is certainly more coveted than the other, both represent prestigious silverware for clubs to add to the trophy case.
The team that garners the most points throughout the regular season, regardless of conference, finishes as the regular season champion and earns the Supporters' Shield. Last year's regular season champion was LAFC.
While many feel this recognizes the best overall team over the course of a 34-match regular season, it is not thought of as the most coveted award, and the Supporters' Shield winner is not typically referred to as the MLS 'champion.'
That title is reserved for the team that emerges from the MLS playoffs and wins MLS Cup, which is the top prize on offer every season.
New 2023 MLS playoff format
The MLS playoffs received an overhaul this year, with the previous format scrapped. This time nine teams from each conference will reach the postseason, with seeds Nos. 1-7 earning a pass to the first round proper, while seeds No. 8 and No. 9 contest a one-off wild card match.
Once the first round is set with 16 total clubs (eight in each conference), the playoffs will begin in earnest. In the past, teams played a single-elimination knockout bracket to decide a champion. This year, the first round will be a Best-of-three series that features no draws, meaning a winner must be determined in each of the maximum three matches. The first team to notch two victories will advance.
From that point, the playoffs will resume with single-elimination format in the traditional style from the conference semifinals, conference finals, and MLS Cup final.
The last team standing at the end of the knockout bracket wins MLS Cup and is generally considered the MLS champion. Last year's MLS Cup winner was LAFC, who also won the Supporters' Shield. That feat — winning the two major league titles for both the regular season and postseason — is actually quite rare. In fact, last year marked just the eighth time since the league was founded in 1996 that the MLS Cup champion was also the Supporters' Shield winner.
MORE: Best young MLS players in the 2023 season
MLS All-Star Game
During the summer, Major League Soccer puts on an All-Star Game that has evolved over the course of the league's existence.
After playing an East vs. West All-Star format for several years, the league then began to invite other clubs from around the world during their offseason to play a summer friendly against the MLS All-Star squad. In 2021 this format was altered to instead see the MLS All-Stars take on the Liga MX All-Stars from Mexico.
This season, the match will be played in Washington, D.C. on July 19, however the format and opponent have yet to be determined.
Last season, the All-Star game was played in mid-August and featured an MLS All-Star side that beat its counterparts from Liga MX 2-1 behind goals from Carlos Vela and Raul Ruidiaz.
What is Leagues Cup?
The Major League Soccer season will break during the middle of the season for the 2023 Leagues Cup tournament that will see every club from MLS and Mexico's Liga MX taking part in a World Cup-style format.
The tournament will unfold from July 21 to August 19, 2023 with every match also streaming worldwide on Apple TV.
There are three berths to the CONCACAF Champions League up for grabs in the tournament, which will start with a group stage (top two teams advance) and proceed to knockout rounds for a total of 77 matches. The single-match knockout rounds will start with 32 clubs, after 15 teams are eliminated during the group stage.
