NEW YORK - Major League Soccer (MLS) today released a statement which announced that they would be abandoning the current schedule of MLS teams against MLS teams to have their franchises run 9 friendlies against different teams around the world for about 3 months during the summer.

The Nutmeg News spoke to Don Garber about the issue and he had the following to say,

"We realized that we could pull in 93,000 for LA Galaxy against Barcelona. We aren't getting 93,000 for LA Galaxy v Colorado Rapids so why not dispense with the competition mechanism of this season and just focus on making money."

Teams will now not travel at all during the season and instead will be visited by barnstorming teams from Europe and South America until the interest in these international teams dries up.

"We already are having teams like Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona, Chelsea, Manchester United playing our clubs, and we have seen teams like Athletic Bilbao, Club Tijuana, and Club America playing in the United States as well. It only makes sense to just dispense with the machinations about the 'club season' and just get down to brass tacks. IE: Let's sell out some stadiums, sell some European merchandise and pack people in for a few months. If we really focus on making sure our product is decent enough to not lose 10-0, then we can really say that we are on the competitive level with the rest of the world."

The Nutmeg News will have more on this change as it happens.