MLS season might resume in June with all 26 teams in Orlando. Here’s how it would work
Major League Soccer executives and the players’ union are exploring possibly resuming the season in June with all 26 teams sequestered at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex in Orlando.
For weeks now, as the nation quarantined because of the coronavirus pandemic, the league has been considering bringing teams to one or a few centralized locations to re-start the season without fans. The ESPN Wide World of Sports, which sits on Disney property, has been proposed as a likely venue.
According to a report in The Athletic, all MLS teams would gather and begin individual training in Orlando on June 1. They would progress to group practices by mid-June, and resume games at the end of June. It is unclear how long they would stay there, or whether games could eventually be played at home stadiums to finish the season, as each MLS city has different COVID-19 restrictions.
The Disney venue is no stranger to soccer. It has hosted MLS All-Star Weekend events, MLS preseason training, Orlando City regular season games, and countless youth tournaments involving hundreds of teams. The complex includes 17 fields that are equipped for cameras from the on-site ESPN Broadcast Center. The 2,500-square foot broadcast facility features 56 high-def cameras, eight edit bays and uplinks to ESPN studies in Bristol, Conn., New York and Los Angeles.
Several Disney resorts are within a mile of the complex, including Pop Century, All-Star Sports, Art of Animation, the Swan, and All-Star Music.
DeSantis welcomes MLS to Orlando
Florida governor Ron DeSantis welcomes the idea. He said at a news conference in Tallahassee on Wednesday that several sports leagues have floated the idea of bringing teams to a centralized facility for games without fans.
“There’s been reports that Major League Soccer may have their season in Orlando,” DeSantis said. “Do it.”
DeSantis also specifically mentioned bringing Major League Baseball and the NBA to Florida.
“Our people are starved to have some of this back in our lives,” DeSantis said. “I think we can certainly do it in a way that’s safe.”
Meanwhile, Inter Miami coach Diego Alonso is trying to keep his team fit and motivated to play whenever the league deems it is the right time.
“The league is working very hard to be able to play the maximum number of matches, while also being careful about the health and safety of players with all the protocols they are discussing,” Alonso said by phone Wednesday. “Hopefully, in the coming days they will choose the best option.”
Alonso said he is confident the league won’t resume until all the necessary safeguards are in place.
“We feel very safe at the moment with how the league and club have taken precautions so far. We feel well taken care of,” the coach said. “The protocols have been very strict and surely, when we begin play, it will be the same. We know testing will be a key factor in us returning.”
Inter Miami players returned to their Fort Lauderdale training complex for individual training last week, and Alonso said he has been pleased with his players’ conditioning, considering they had been training on their own at home through seven weeks of quarantine.
All but a few of the players have participated in the workouts. One who has not is defender Nico Figal, who has been on site but has not practiced for an unspecified reason.
“Nicolas is a player that surely will be back with us soon,” Alonso said. “We’re happy with how he has gone about his work and everything he’s done to this point. I am happy to have almost all the players training again at 100 percent.”
Asked how long it would take to get his team game-ready, Alonso said: “Under normal circumstances, the minimum we would need to get ready to play matches would be four to six weeks to get ready, but we understand these are not normal circumstances and we’ll have to adapt and be ready in two to three weeks.”
MLS youth league adds three local clubs
In other league news, the MLS youth academy program added 65 clubs that previously played in the defunct U.S. Development Academy system. Three South Florida clubs – Miami Rush Kendall SC, South Florida Football Academy in Boca Raton and Weston FC join Inter Miami CF Academy in the merged program.
The program is just for boys for now, with the possible inclusion of girls in the future, according to a league spokesman.
“Our entire organization here at South Florida Football Academy is extremely excited and proud to become one of the Founding Members of the new MLS elite youth development platform,” said South Florida Football Academy director Eric Eichmann, the former U.S. national team forward. “I feel that this new MLS platform will be pivotal in dramatically improving the landscape of youth soccer and will put our professional league fully in charge of elite player development for the first time in time in the history of our country.”
Renatto Soriano, technical director at Miami Rush Kendall SC added: “The creation of this new elite youth development program will be remembered as the most valuable win for soccer in the USA.”
Reporter Kirby Wilson of the Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau contributed to this report.
This story was originally published May 13, 2020 at 6:05 PM.