MLS has a major scheduling problem

After witnessing a classic three-goal performance by Zlatan Ibrahimovic on Sunday night, Ibra has sadly withdrawn from Wednesday night’s MLS All-Star match against Juventus in Atlanta. According to MLS policy, Ibra is also prohibited from participating in the Galaxy’s next regularly scheduled game on Saturday against Colorado because he withdrew from the Juventus game. While MLS is merely enforcing their rule, one must look a bit deeper and wonder who is really at fault here.

While most sports in the United States choose their All-Star rosters based upon fan votes, the MLS employs a hybrid system based upon votes by fans as well as managerial and league commissioner participation. With Ibra a huge draw anywhere he goes, one has to believe that the league itself would ensure his presence in Atlanta whether the fans voted him in or not.  

But isn’t this the same league that scheduled three games in a week for the Galaxy, with the Juventus match representing 4 games in 10 days for a team that must travel cross-country as well? No one would dispute the exceptional physical condition that Ibra maintains for himself, but at age 36, isn’t MLS expecting too much of him based upon a schedule that they themselves create?

At the culmination of the Sunday night match, Ibra himself half-joked that he might have added another couple of goals to his hat-trick were he not a bit too tired as the game wore on.  The comment itself was par for the course for the Swede, but he has a valid point. And that win against Orlando showed just how crucial he is to the Galaxy. Player fatigue will ultimately lead to an injury, and both Ibra and the Galaxy are doing whatever they can to avoid player down-time in a parity-filled Western Conference.

With the MLS season a little more than half over, teams have played as many as 23 games or as few as 18 games. Other countries have Open Cup play, and of course in Europe there is the Champions League and Europa League matches. Yet those leagues manage to have all their teams play the same number of games throughout the season. With only 23 teams competing in MLS, they continue to have issues with scheduling games.  One would think that Mr. Garber and company could do a bit better after over two decades of experience.

Unlike most other sports in the United States, an MLS player is not given the option to bypass the All-Star game unless he has a more serious injury that would cause him to miss the following game anyway.  Fatigue, which is largely caused by league scheduling, punishes the player as well as the team that pays his salary by giving the player what amounts to a one-game ban.

And that’s just wrong.