By Steven Goff
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, April 1, 2006

On the afternoons of June 10 and 11, soccer fans in this country will gather around television sets and watch the first weekend of World Cup matches being played in Germany.

What they choose to watch those evenings -- in person or on TV -- will be of greater interest to those in charge at MLS.

Confronted with potentially severe scheduling issues later in the season if it decided to suspend play, the 10-year-old U.S. league will maintain its normal routine while the sport's premier event unfolds over a four-week period this summer.

"In a perfect world, we would take a break," MLS deputy commissioner Ivan Gazidis said this week. "But as a league, we're not in a perfect world and we may never be in a perfect world."

Gazidis said MLS would welcome the idea of shutting down for at least two weeks to allow fans to focus squarely on the World Cup and allow teams impacted by national team call-ups to avoid playing short-handed -- an approach the NHL took in February when many of its star players were competing at the Olympic Games in Turin, Italy.

Initially, MLS had planned to lighten its summer schedule, as it did during the 1998 and 2002 World Cups. But with scheduling problems too complicated to resolve, some teams will be confronted with their busiest stretch of the season during those four weeks.

D.C. United will have to play seven games -- three more than it did in '98 and '02. On the field, United probably will not be disadvantaged because none of its foreign players and only one American (midfielder Ben Olsen) have a realistic chance to make a World Cup roster.

However, the distraction of the World Cup could impact the amount of media coverage MLS teams receive and, although all World Cup games will be over by 5 p.m. Eastern time and not conflict with any MLS starting times, it could alter ticket-buying habits. MLS officials say ticket sales during the previous two World Cups were consistent with the rest of the season.

"It's a challenge, and it's something we will need to take a hard look at in the future," said United President Kevin Payne, a member of MLS's board of governors. "But I don't think it will have a negative impact on us. If anything, the World Cup will make people more excited about soccer."

The primary obstacle to suspending play is that "we have to move those revenue dates somewhere else," Gazidis said. Although five MLS teams now have their own stadium -- and with it, the flexibility to pick and choose game days -- the other seven remain secondary tenants in multi-sport facilities.

If United were to pass up an open date in June, it would have to find a new slot later in the year when the Washington Nationals are away. Often, the only option is a weeknight, when MLS crowds are significantly smaller than on the weekend.

As of mid-August, MLS teams in Kansas City, New England, Denver and northern New Jersey have a limited number of available dates because of NFL scheduling conflicts. Clubs in Salt Lake City and Houston have college football issues.

The World Cup also presents problems for MLS because, unlike almost every other soccer-playing country, the U.S. league is active during the summer. (European leagues traditionally play from August until May.)

It means MLS teams are subject to player absences beginning in May and lasting until at least late June, when the first round of the World Cup is completed. Approximately 10 MLS players will report to U.S. training camp on May 10, with several others on call in case of injuries. Kansas City, New England and Los Angeles could be the hardest hit.

Only a few foreign-born MLS players are being considered for World Cup duty, most notably Dallas forward Roberto Mina (Ecuador), Chivas USA defender Claudio Suarez (Mexico), Real Salt Lake defender Douglas Sequeira (Costa Rica) and three from Trinidad and Tobago: Kansas City forward Scott Sealy, New England defender Avery John and Colorado forward Cornell Glen.

"I do think that the MLS games during that time of the World Cup are an afterthought in the minds of many soccer people," U.S. Coach Bruce Arena said. "So I'm not sure about how positive it is. Obviously, the issue the league has is trying to find a way to get all the games into a small window."