Please, NYCFC, vote for the changes to the MLS calendar and structure

On Wednesday, New York City FC and the rest of Major League Soccer supporters found out interesting news. The Athletic's Paul Tenorio and Tom Bogert reported that MLS owners are supposed to vote on a change to the league calendar and the structure. Ideally, the ownership of the Boys in Blue will vote for these changes.

As everyone knows, teams currently play an odd schedule, where the season begins in late February and ends with the MLS Cup Final in December. For teams that do not make the playoffs, which thankfully was not the case for NYCFC this year, the season ends in October. Then, the league is split into the Eastern Conference and Western Conference.

NYCFC would benefit from the proposed changes to MLS

According to the report, "the board of governors is prepared to make official a change to a fall-spring calendar that syncs up with many top European leagues". The regular season would take place "from mid-to-late July or August to April, with playoffs staged in May", with a pause in play "in December and January".

Then, rather than two conferences, MLS would "move the league to a single-table format, but that also includes five divisions" of six teams. NYCFC would play the other teams in their division twice and everyone else once. In other words, there would still be two crazy Hudson River Derbies every year. It is also believed the playoffs would be decided by the table, but "division winners would be guaranteed a playoff spot."

These changes would be great for NYCFC and MLS. Of course, the big item is that the league would align with most of the other leagues around the world. This would allow MLS to have the same transfer windows, give or take, and big European stars would not join halfway through the season over the summer. Plus, stars in MLS who want to make the jump overseas are more likely to leave at the end of a campaign than in the middle.

Plus, it would work out better for teams in the CONCACAF Champions Cup. MLS teams would not enter the competition rusty due to the MLS season just starting. It does raise the question about what that means for the U.S. Open Cup. Although, most matches would take place during the season. In addition, there would be the question of whether the Leagues Cup will remain.

Moreover, it would be great for NYCFC to play every team at least once each year. That way, the Pigeons will not sometimes go multiple years between meetings with some of the Western Conference sides.

Of course, there are concerns about the colder weather months, which is probably why the league will have a winter break. Yes, teams will have a few more winter games compared to the current calendar. However, the counter-argument is that teams will not have to play in the southern states when it is 90 degrees or higher, which will happen at points during the summer.

There might also be a concern about game congestion, which already causes issues for NYCFC and the rest of the league at times during the season. The calendar change should still reflect the same amount of time with the season itself, but this is all speculation based on the report.

In the end, NYCFC should vote for these changes, and ideally, this will be approved by the clubs and the players. There is plenty of time to work out concerns and all of the details for the changes.