MLS announces Audi 2017 MLS Cup Playoffs schedule, MLS Cup set for December 9

NEW YORK – Major League Soccer today announced that 2017 MLS Cup will be played on Saturday, Dec. 9 at 4 p.m. ET, hosted once again by the finalist with the best regular season record. The league’s 22nd annual championship game will be broadcast live in the U.S. on ESPN and UniMás, in Canada on TSN and TVA Sports, and across more than 170 countries worldwide.

In addition, Major League Soccer announced dates for the Audi 2017 MLS Cup Playoffs, with postseason action kicking off October 25-26 following the close of regular season play on Sunday, Oct. 22. All games in the Audi 2017 MLS Cup Playoffs will be broadcast nationally across the league’s domestic partners FS1, ESPN and UniMás, with TSN and TVA Sports networks transmitting the games in Canada. Complete Canadian and international broadcast information for the playoffs will be announced at a later date.

Following the same playoff competition format implemented in 2015, the top six teams in the Eastern and Western Conferences will qualify for the Audi 2017 MLS Cup Playoffs.

The postseason begins with four Knockout Round games, to be played Oct. 25-26, during which the third and sixth seeds, and fourth and fifth seeds from each conference, will face off in single-game elimination matches hosted by the higher seeded teams. All four games will be broadcast on UniMás with ESPN2 and FS1 carrying one match each on Oct. 26.

Knockout Round winners advance to the Conference Semifinals – a two-game, aggregate-goal format, home-and-home series held between Oct. 29-Nov. 5. Each conference’s top seed will face their respective conference’s lowest-seeded Knockout Round winner. Each conference’s No. 2 seed will face their respective conference’s highest-seeded Knockout Round winner. The higher-seeded team will host the second leg of the two-game series. The four winning teams of each semifinal series, two from each conference, will advance to the Conference Championships.

After a break in play to observe the international FIFA window from Nov. 6-14, playoff action will resume with the two-game, aggregate-goal format, Conference Championship series to be played on Tuesday, Nov. 21 (Leg 1) and the following week between Nov. 28-30 (Leg 2).

All the passion and excitement of the postseason comes to a crescendo as the two conference champions clash at 2017 MLS Cup. The one-game, winner-take-all event will be played at the home venue of the finalist with the best regular-season record, as it has been since the 2012 season.

For more information about the postseason format, please see the MLS Competition Rules and Regulations.

Audi 2017 MLS Cup Playoffs Schedule 

Subject to change. Canadian and international broadcast information to be announced at a later date.

Knockout Round
(Conference third seed vs. sixth, and fourth seed vs. fifth seed in a single-game elimination match)

Eastern and Western Conference Knockout Round (4 games)

both games will be played on the same day.

Western Conference Semifinal Series

Western Conference Semifinal Leg 1 (2 games)

• Sunday, Oct. 29            5 p.m. ET           (ESPN)
• Tuesday, Oct. 31           Time TBD          (FS1)

Western Conference Semifinal Leg 2 (2 games)
*both games will be played on the same day

    Sunday, Nov. 5             Times TBD         (ESPN, FS1)

Conference Championships
(Two-game series, aggregate-goal format)

Eastern Conference Championship

Eastern Conference Championship Leg 1 (1 game)

•     Tuesday, Nov. 21          8 p.m. ET          (ESPN)

Eastern Conference Semifinal Leg 2 (1 game)

•     Nov. 28 or 29                Time TBD          (FS1)

Western Conference Championship

Western Conference Championship Leg 1 (1 game)

•     Tuesday, Nov. 21          Time TBD          (FS1)

Western Conference Championship Leg 2 (1 game) 

•    Thursday, Nov. 30         Time TBD          (ESPN)

2017 MLS Cup
(Hosted at the home venue of the finalist with the best regular season record)

• Saturday, Dec. 9           4 p.m. ET           (ESPN, UniMás, TSN, TVA Sports)