Topics: Major League Soccer, Coronavirus
MLS was initially targeting a return in mid-May but plans have changed.

Given that United States is now number one is the list of countries with most confirmed coronavirus cases, many have been wondering when the nation’s sports franchises will be able to return to action. Major League Soccer is one of them, with the American top-flight men’s football competition offering an update on when the season will resume.

MLS was initially targeting a return to action in mid-May -- May 10, to be exact. However, that was before the USA overtook Italy and China with both the most number of confirmed cases and deaths. As a result, plans have changed.

The league announced that it is “extremely unlikely” that the action will resume in mid-May given the current situation. In a statement by the MLS, they stressed that their plan remains to complete the 34-game season but admit that achieving this goal won’t be easy, based on the guidance of federal and local public health authorities.

“Major League Soccer continues to regularly evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, including how it will affect our plans for the 2020 season. Although we hoped to return to play in mid-May, that is extremely unlikely based on the guidance of federal and local public health authorities,” the official statement read.

“Our goal remains to play as many games as possible, and while we currently have enough dates to play the entire season, we recognize at this time that it may become difficult to do so. We continue to learn more every day from the medical experts, and we expect to have additional details in the coming weeks regarding when we can return to play. As we have throughout this process, we will update our fans with every decision, and we thank them for their support and understanding during this extremely challenging time.”

This challenge isn’t exclusive to Major League Soccer. Similarly, in Europe, football fans speculate over when the season will resume or whether it will be abandoned altogether to protect the safety of the general public. Experts have suggested that even if sports were allowed to return, fans won’t be able to attend the stadiums until the fall of 2021 which would be financially crippling for several clubs. As of now, everything remains up in the air.