Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber has confirmed that promotion and relegation will not be arriving in the league any time soon.
Garber made the comments on Thursday at a league event held in New York, addressing one of the most debated structural questions in American soccer.
The commissioner pointed to significant owner investments, including new stadiums, as a core reason why a promotion and relegation system would be impractical for MLS right now.
New York City FC’s Etihad Park was specifically highlighted as an example of the financial commitments that make relegation an unreasonable risk for club owners.
Etihad Park is scheduled to open next July, representing a landmark moment for the club and a broader symbol of MLS’s continued infrastructure growth.
Garber acknowledged the league has already shown a willingness to challenge its own assumptions, citing the shift to a new seasonal calendar as evidence of its adaptability.
“I will say this now that I wouldn’t have said five years ago, I never thought we’d change our calendar and we did. I never thought we’d have 30 teams and we do. I never thought we’d have 29 stadiums, and we will. I never thought we’d ever talk about promotion, relegation,” he said.
Despite leaving the door slightly open, Garber was clear that he does not see promotion and relegation as a solution to the problems critics often raise about MLS.
“I don’t think it is the key to solving any issues that people see about our sport. When I’m talking to the football-playing world and investors, they’re not saying, ‘I’m not going to invest unless they have promotion or relegation,'” Garber said.
MLS launched back in 1996 with just 10 teams and has grown into a 30-team closed system, with San Diego paying a $500 million expansion fee to begin play in 2025.
The league’s latest structural shift will see MLS transition to a summer to spring schedule starting in 2027, aligning it more closely with European football leagues.
As part of the calendar changeover, an abbreviated MLS season will run from February to May in early 2027, before a full 2027-28 season gets underway in mid- to late July.
Meanwhile, the United Soccer League is preparing to launch USL Premier in 2028, a top-tier competition that will feature the promotion and relegation system MLS has chosen to avoid.
USL Premier’s structure will link with the second-tier USL Championship and third-tier League One, creating the kind of pyramid system many American soccer fans have long called for.
For now, Garber remains pragmatic, insisting that if promotion and relegation one day makes sense for MLS’s long-term ambitions, the league will act accordingly.
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