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<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Report scores and results to 425-339-3470 or 1-866-6-SCORES (Call after 4:30 p.m.) E-mail information including items for Tuesday's Communities Sports Roundup and Thursday's Outdoor Calendar, to sports@heraldnet.com Kevin Brown, Sports Editor kbrown@heraldnet.com   Published: Monday, October 12, 2009 MLS explores playing indoors to shift schedule By ROB HARRIS AP Sports Writer LONDON — Major League Soccer is exploring how to align itself closer to the sport’s international calendar to show it is listening to FIFA president Sepp Blatter as the United States bids to host the World Cup. Blatter has expressed concern about the inability of the MLS to rival the top European league since its inception in 1996, two years after the Americans last hosted the World Cup. The U.S. is bidding to win the right to host either the 2018 or 2022 World Cup at the vote in December 2010. While accepting that standards are rising in the MLS, Blatter has stated regularly that it needs to switch to Europe’s August-May schedule, rather than its current March-October to entice top players. “We have to manage our league in a way so that we can continue this careful growth, but at the same time satisfy the requests and — in many cases — the requirements of the world governing body,” MLS commissioner Don Garber told The Associated Press. “FIFA’s goal is to work with us to turn this country into valuable soccer nation and a passionate one. In order to do that our league does need to be closer to the sport internationally.” Key to achieving that will be building more stadiums with roofs to protect against the worst of the American winter, Garber said. “We play across a continent of 300 million people, across three time zones and weather that varies from zero to 30 degrees at any given point,” Garber said. “It’s impossible to think we can be playing games in December outdoor in Toronto or Boston or New York or Denver where it can be well below freezing with a foot of snow on the ground. So we have to evolve to get closer to that calendar. “Perhaps we have to start thinking about roofed stadiums at some point. But do we have to have a fan base that is developed enough to be immune to the weather, like they do for American football where they will come out to watch a game regardless of the climate? We are not at that point yet, but we hope to achieve that at some point.”

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