What is MLS’s Orlando Plan?
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With football leagues around the globe returning, North America’s Major League Soccer has taken steps to resume the campaign. It is a convoluted plan and like all things MLS, shows the league taking a simple idea and making it far more complex than it needs to be.
Known as the Orlando Plan, MLS will have all of its teams relocate to Orlando, Florida in early July. Clubs will play at the Walt Disney World Resort over the course of six weeks starting on July 11.
Rather than simply having the teams continue with their regular season MLS schedule and play behind closed doors in Orland, the league’s brain trust decided to create a tournament involving all 26 teams.
The results of some of the competition’s matches will be transferred into the points each club has in the league table. So, depending on a team’s performance in the tournament, they will receive points in the overall league standings.
Once the six-week tournament is finished, teams are expected to return home and play out a reduced schedule. This simply begs the question of why? Would it not be easier for the teams to play a normal regular season fixture list to progress the campaign?
The reason for the tournament is due to the possibility of the campaign not being concluded as planned. Therefore, the winner of the Orlando tournament could be crowned as 2020 MLS Cup champions.
Right now, the MLS Orlando Plan looks like this:
- Clubs are split up into groups ala the World Cup or Champions League. Each team will play three group games with results counting toward the regular-season standings
- At the conclusion of the group-stage, clubs will move to a 16-team knockout tournament. Teams could play up to four additional games once reaching the knockout stage. At this point, the games would NOT count toward the regular-season standings.
- A cash prize and place in CONCACAF Champions League would go to the winner of what is a made up, unnecessary tournament.
- Teams that are eliminated from the tournament are allowed to return home.
Players have already spoken out about the unnecessary tournament and being exposed to other people for up to six weeks living in hotels. It can be said that players are not happy about the Orlando Plan.
MLS has no concrete plans of what to do after the tournament. In fact, things could change once the tournament has kicked off. MLS is a football league that has historically altered rules as the season progresses.
Whether the MLS season continues past August will really depend on the safety for games to be played across the United States and Canada. Teams will need to be able to travel to games which may be difficult.
MLS is not the only North American sports league playing in Orlando. The NBA will also be in the city at the same time playing out its playoffs at the Walt Disney World Resort.
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