Photo Marjorie Elzey

Now that MLS NEXT Pro has published its 2026 regular season schedule, it is time to analyze it and its ramifications. Then we will present what we know so far about the league’s competition and composition for the coming season.

Calendar

 A qualitative point to make about MLS NEXT Pro’s calendar placement is that we have seen no public announcement how Major League Soccer’s own post-World Cup calendar shifts will or will not affect its affiliates’ league. Since MLSNEXT Pro’s 30 teams have 27 wholly owned MLS professional development affiliates and only three independents, it is easy to assume that little brother will follow older. But we have not seen any official confirmation of it.

 Schedule

Qualitatively, the 2026 MLS Next Pro schedule presents a stark contrast to that of its parent. As usual there only one annual extra in-season tournament and only some league members may participate in it (U. S. Open Cup). But there is also no two-month cession of play for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Playing through previous World Cups  has been customary for lower leagues around the world, and MLSNEXT Pro and Union II will follow suit. Those MLSNEXT Pro teams that employ players called up for World Cup participation will have to play through without them.

Quantitatively, the contrast mentioned lies between MLS’s surfeit of midweek games and MLS NEXT Pro’s absence of same.

We use the proper rest matrix we have developed from observation, experience, and several Jim Curtin public explanations.

Playing on the third or fourth day after the previous match’s final whistle is short rest.
The fifth day is a grey area. Superbly conditioned young adults can do it. Growing adolescents need more recovery, as do aging veterans whose minds and experiences increasingly must compensate for growing bodily limitations.
Six to ten days provide rehabilitation and recovery sufficient to sustain a fresh 90 minutes of soccer.
More than 10 days suggests days off, friendlies, or other formal, game-like intrasquad or other scrimmages.

2026 Union II Recovery Times Compiled

Recovery
3-5 Days
6-10 Days
Beyond 10 days

Frequency
2 games
23 games
3 games

Percentage
7%
82%
11%

 

Elsewhere we discussed the first team’s schedule challenges (click here). Illustrating the two schedules’ contrasts are the first team’s almost-certain opening month of nine matches in the first 32 days and  Union II’s opening month of only four

Home Venues

Soccer schedules north of the Rio Grande get adjusted during the year. The weather sometimes forces variation, and other circumstances such as multipurpose field availability can change. We think Philadelphia Union II will almost certainly experience such adjustment this year.

We think Philadelphia’s soccer campus, the WSFS Sportsplex and Subaru Park, will have extra occupants using its facilities this summer. It has been designated as a FIFA Team Base Camp hosting national teams for training during the World Cup.

Lincoln Financial Field will host actual scheduled matches that feature Cote D’Ivoire, Ecuador, Haiti, Brazil, France, Curacao, Croatia, Ghana, a playoff team to be determined, and the participants in the July 4th quarterfinal. Ten or 11 teams will need practice venues.

And after the World Cup in early August during the Leagues Cup, Philly’s campus will serve similar functions for three unannounced Liga MX teams as well as staging Philadelphia’s three matches with them during it.

We are guessing that some of Philadelphia Union II’s summer home games will not be played at Subaru Park itself. Instead they will happen on the Championship Field at the Sportsplex. That field has the extra lighting, the bleacher seating capacity, and the other basic amenities to qualify as an official U. S. Soccer Division III game venue.

We have tried to anticipate some of the games. Such specifics are an even riskier guess.

Of the Union II games scheduled during the FIFA International break that precedes the World Cup, the Cup itself, and the group stage of the Leagues Cup, eight are away and three are at home. Unofficially using logic only, we guess that perhaps maybe those three home games might be played on the Championship field.

Sunday, June 14, vs NYC FC II
Sunday, July 12, vs Huntsville
Sunday, August 9, vs FC Cincinnati 2

We have no confirmation of these guesses and no idea whether more venue changes might be needed. A FIFA World Cup side’s practice needs might “outrank” an U. S. Soccer Division III game, for example.

Days & starts

There are three different start times for Union II home games and five for away ones. The third home game start is skewed by being Decision Day with its special requirements.

Eleven Union II home games start at 3:00 PM. Two start at 7:00. Decision Day starts at 2:00.

Nine of the 14 away matches start at 7:00 PM, two start at 6:00, and the other three start at 3:00, 4:00 and 5:00 respectively. We believe all the times above are eastern time zone. We assume the greater variation in away starts reflects both the preferences of specific markets, and perhaps the requirements of venues when the club may lease rather than own.

2026’s MLSNEXT Pro competition

There are now 30 teams in the league, Connecticut United FC of Bridgeport having joined for 2026. Philadelphia Union II’s game schedule continues the past’s pattern of no interconference regular season play. The separation reduces travel drastically.

Colleague Alex Hayden has discovered that Chicago Fire FC II now describes itself as a member of the Eastern Conference’s Southeast Division.  We infer that Connecticut has displaced Fire II from the Northeast since Union II play them three times, and that the two divisions now have eight teams each. Hayden’s discovery further suggests that the Eastern conference has 16 teams; and the Western, 14.

Philadelphia plays each of the seven other teams in the Northeast Division three times and seven of the eight in the Southeast once to create a 28-game season. We presume venues for Northeast Division third — aka, rubber — matches would alternate year by year were the 30 teams and the 16:14 split to continue, but they probably won’t (see below).

Union II does not play Inter Miami II in 2026.

2 0 2 6     C O N F E R E N C E S     &     D I V I S I O N S

Eastern Conference
Western Conference

Northeast Division
Southeast Division
Frontier Division
Pacific Division

Connecticut
Atlanta
Austin
Los Angeles FC

Cincinnati
Carolina Core
Colorado
Portland

Columbus
Chattanooga
Houston
Salt Lake

New England
Chicago
Kansas City
San Jose

New York City
Crown Legacy
Minnesota
Tacoma

Red Bull NY
Huntsville
North Texas
Ventura County

Philadelphia
Miami
St, Louis
Vancouver

Toronto
Orlando

Change not continuity

The 2026 competitive format will almost certainly last only this year. More expansion is said to be coming. Two possible teams are on the east coast, and two more are in the Midwest. The geographic asymmetry — all four are east of th Mississippi — suggests future reorganization.

MLS Next Pro’s official website currently lists four expansion teams, one of which has already formally announced itself as joining in 2027, AC Grand Rapids in western Michigan.

The Jacksonville Armada and Cleveland Pro Soccer are listed by both MLS Next Pro itself and Wikipedia as other 2027 expansion teams. Both claim appropriate stadiums either existing or under construction.

The Island FC (Suffolk County, NY on Long Island) is listed by MLS Next Pro only.

All four have websites depicting academies, and all four websites claim to join in 2027. But experience advises caution in committing resources and making concrete plans based of such claims absent details of stadiums, named front office and technical staffs, and announced, contracted players. Even those criteria did not prevent Rochester from ceasing operations at the Next Pro level at the last minute before season two.

AC Grand Rapids will change MLSNEXT Pro’s 2027 season. Probably so will Major League soccer’s 2027 transition “season” and its concurrent calendar shift.