The NBA will not be the first professional sports league to use the friendly confines of Disney World to restart its season amid the COVID-19 pandemic. That honor will go to Major League Soccer, which will hold its MLS Is Back tournament there from July 8 and end on August 11, at which point a champion will be crowned.
The tournament’s groups have already been laid out, and we already know that things will transition from group play to knockout play once that gets all sorted out. One of the last things that needed to be all sorted out before everyone gets down to Disney for the tournament is information on kick times, dates for matches, and television info, and on Wednesday afternoon, the league announced how things will play out.
Things will kick off on July 8 with a pair of Group A matchups: Orlando will take on Miami at 8 p.m. EST, with Nashville and Chicago going head-to-head at 10:30. From there, every single day up to July 23 will include at least a pair of matches, with the knockout stage beginning on July 25. Here’s how group play will play out:
Here. We. Go.
@OrlandoCitySC & @InterMiamiCF kick things off in 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩 𝐀.#MLSisBack Tournament Group Stage pres. by @Heineken_US. pic.twitter.com/JQaaORo02H
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) June 24, 2020
You ready, Group B?
#MLSisBack Tournament Group Stage pres. by @Heineken_US. pic.twitter.com/MXsmn9Hh9D
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) June 24, 2020
Group C is going to be fun!
#MLSisBack Tournament Group Stage pres. by @Heineken_US. pic.twitter.com/k3l5BP1gR0
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) June 24, 2020
Mark your calendars, Group D.
#MLSisBack Tournament Group Stage pres. by @Heineken_US. pic.twitter.com/6gmdxeifMW
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) June 24, 2020
The matchups in Group E though.
#MLSisBack Tournament Group Stage pres. by @Heineken_US. pic.twitter.com/HmBpa9gRWo
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) June 24, 2020
El Tráfico in Group F? Yes, please.
#MLSisBack Tournament Group Stage pres. by @Heineken_US. pic.twitter.com/cKtFNTyEl2
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) June 24, 2020
Once group play is all wrapped up, the round of 16 will begin on July 25 and run through the 28th. The quarterfinals will occur on July 30 and August 1, the semis are on August 5 and 6, and the final will take place on August 11. As for which teams will make the knockout round, Sam Stejskal of The Athletic explained that finishing in third place for the teams in groups B-F isn’t necessarily a death knell.
Full MLS Is Back tournament schedule, from a source.
Format change: Top-three teams from Group A will advance to knockouts, where they’ll be joined by top-two and the three best third-place finishers from other five groups. https://t.co/BjokGGyQmi
— Sam Stejskal (@samstejskal) June 24, 2020
According to the league, ESPN, ESPN 2, Fox, FS1, and TuDN will air every match of the tournament during its run.