The League Cup will undergo drastic changes in 2025, abandoning the previous format in which it was played during a month-long midseason break for MLS and Mexican teams, Liga MX president Mikel Arriola told reporters on Sunday.

Arriola said the competition would remain on a summer date on the calendar, but insisted ahead of the second leg of the Liga MX final that next season’s League Cup games would be played on weekdays and Mexican teams would fulfill their regular domestic schedule on weekends. While MLS media communications did not immediately respond to requests for comment, a similar situation appears likely for the MLS schedule.

“We have just approved the new League Cup format,” Arriola said. “We will no longer hold camps there.”

Club America’s Mikel Arriola and Luis Malagon on Sunday (Hector Vivas / Getty Images)

During the fully expanded 2023 and 2024 tournaments, all games were played in the United States or Canada, while some Liga MX teams set up base camps at various locations across the United States.

“We will play during the week so that the Mexican teams do not have problems, and on the weekends there will be Liga MX games,” Arriola continued.

Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami won the League Cup in 2023, and the competition provided a memorable backdrop for the Argentine’s first appearance on the pitch since his move, as a superb stoppage-time free-kick secured victory over Cruz Azul in the group stage. Miami would beat Nashville SC in the finals, while the Columbus Crew would beat LAFC in the 2024 playoff.

ESPN reported that only 18 MLS teams will participate in 2025, as well as the 18 Liga MX teams. For the past two years, all MLS clubs have participated. MLS will grow from 29 to 30 members in 2025 with the addition of San Diego FC.

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A streamlined field would be consistent with comments MLS Commissioner Don Garber made in his annual State of the League address this month.

“We need more MLS vs. Liga MX games,” Garber said. “That was really the point of the League Cup in the beginning. We are thinking about modifications that will focus more on what we want to achieve, which is the great rivalry between our two leagues.”

(Top photo: Chandan Khanna / AFP via Getty Images)