MLS releases 2015 schedule, includes new playoff format

The 2015 MLS schedule is out. The season will begin on March 6 and see all 20 teams play 34 matches to whittle the field down to 12 teams for the playoffs. The MLS Cup final will be played in early December.

This will be the first year of MLS's new eight-year TV contract with ESPN, Fox and Univision, and with it comes a slightly new schedule. ESPN and Fox will have a Sunday doubleheader, with a match at 5 p.m. ET on Fox and a 7 p.m. match on ESPN every weekend. Most of those matches will be on Fox Sports 1 and ESPN2. There will also be a weekly Friday night match on a Univision network, usually UniMas, with every non-national TV match played on Saturday with the occasional midweek match.

A new change to the schedule will be "Decision Day," for the final day of the season on Sunday, Oct. 25. All of the Eastern Conference matches will be played at 5 p.m., and all of the Western Conference matches will be played at 7 p.m.

The playoffs have been expanded to 12 teams this season and will begin on Oct. 28 29 with the knockout matches. The two-legged aggregate conference semifinals will be begin on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, with the second legs on Nov. 7 and 8.

As was the case last season, MLS will take a break in the middle of the playoffs for the November FIFA international date, so there will be a weekend off between the conference semifinals and finals. The first legs of the conference finals will be played on Nov. 21 and 22, and the second legs will follow on Nov. 28 and 29.

MLS has yet to announce a date for MLS Cup, but the league has blocked out two weekends. The match could be on the weekend of Dec. 5-6 or the weekend of Dec. 12-13.

Once again MLS is showing little regard for FIFA international dates. The league is playing through them in March, June, September and October, which means league matches with some of the best players missing. Worst of all will be in July, when the league will play through the Gold Cup, which will take most of CONCACAF's best players, but with a schedule that plays through the summer, it would be tough for MLS to take international dates off.

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