MASL Releases 2026-27 Season Schedule
The Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) today announced the complete 2026-27 championship schedule for the thirteenth season of the top indoor soccer league in North America. The Ron Newman Cup champion San Diego Sockers will begin their title defense with a November 28 home opener against the Empire Strykers, when the club’s 17th championship banner will be raised to the rafters of Frontwave Arena.
“We know the MASL is better than ever, and the whole league is coming for us, but that’s the way we like it,” said Sockers president Sean Bowers. “We are ready to provide San Diego County’s indoor soccer fans with a premier experience before and during the match at Frontwave Arena, as we aim for back-to-back championships.”
The 2026-27 MASL season will feature a nine-team league, as the Lehigh Valley Spirits join the returning eight clubs of San Diego, Empire, Baltimore, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Utica, Tacoma and St. Louis. Each club will play a 24-match schedule (12 home, 12 away). The league will utilize a single-table format for the second straight season, with all nine teams battling for six playoff spots at the end of the campaign.
After the November 28 home opener, the Sockers will play four matches in December, six each in January, February and March, and host Kansas City in the home regular season finale on Sunday, April 4, 2027. San Diego will play the Empire Strykers a season-high six times, and battle the Tacoma Stars and Baltimore Blast four times each. The Sockers will match up against their Ron Newman Cup Finals opponent from 2026, the Milwaukee Wave, three times during the season, as well as the St. Louis Ambush. The Sockers and expansion Lehigh Valley Spirits will play twice, home and away, while San Diego faces Utica (away) and Kansas City (home) just once.
The December schedule will test the Sockers on the road, as the club plays three of four matches away from Frontwave Arena. San Diego heads to Toyota Arena in Ontario on December 13 to take on the Strykers at 5:00pm. The club plays twice around the Christmas holiday, first traveling to St. Louis on Sunday, December 20 for a 1:00pm battle at the Family Arena, then hosting Empire at Frontwave Arena on Sunday, December 27. The month—and year—concludes with a Ron Newman Cup Finals rematch against the Milwaukee Wave at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena on December 31 for a 1:00pm PST kickoff.
The new year kicks off with a Sunday, January 3 home match against the St. Louis Ambush, who pushed the Sockers to overtime in their playoff battle last season, set for a 4:30pm kickoff at Frontwave Arena. San Diego two weeks later heads to the East Coast for a weekend road trip through Baltimore and Utica. The Sockers take on the rival Blast—competitors dating back to the MISL 1980’s—at SECU Arena on January 16 (a 9am PST kickoff), before bussing to upstate New York to take on Utica City FC in a rare Monday night showdown at 3:00pm PST. On Sunday, January 24, the Sockers return home to host Milwaukee, the start of a three-match homestand to end the month. San Diego hosts the Tacoma Stars on Friday, January 29 (7:30pm PST kickoff) and Baltimore on Sunday, January 31 (4:30pm PST kickoff).
While the Sockers have no scheduled back-to-back matches during the season for the first time in memory, they will be challenged by some extensive road travel, which features prominently in the month of February. The first road trip of the month will be a simple bus ride up I-15 to take on Empire at Toyota Arena on Sunday, February 7 at 5:00pm PST. After seeing the Tacoma Stars on Friday, February 12 at Frontwave Arena (7:30pm PST kick), the club will embark on an unusual road trip the following weekend, flying to St. Louis for a Friday, February 19 battle against the Ambush at Family Arena (5:00pm PST kick), only to fly right back to California for a Sunday, February 21 match at Empire (5pm PST kick). In similar fashion, the Sockers will host Lehigh Valley for the first time on Friday, February 26 at Frontwave Arena (7:35pm PST kick), then fly up to Tacoma for a Sunday, February 28 clash at accesso ShoWare Center.
Things get even more strenuous the following weekend, when the Sockers open the month of March with a bi-coastal weekend battle. San Diego flies all the way to Baltimore on Friday, March 5, taking on the Blast at SECU Arena (4:30pm PST kick), then has to go all the way back across the country to take on Tacoma on Sunday, March 7 at the accesso ShoWare Center (4:00pm kick), the longest road trip in terms of plane miles covered in MASL Sockers history. This is part of an impacted schedule that will see the Sockers play four times in nine days. They will host Milwaukee for a rare Wednesday night home match on March 10 at Frontwave Arena (7:30pm PST kick). The Sockers go right back across the country on Sunday, March 14, taking on Lehigh Valley at the PPL Center while wiping their eyes after Daylight Saving Time kicks in that morning for a 12:00pm PDT kickoff.
The season ends with a three-match homestand at Frontwave Arena, during which the Sockers will be hoping to ride late momentum to their fourth franchise MASL Shield (awarded to the club with the top record in the league). The Sockers host Empire at home on Saturday, March 20 (6:00pm PDT kick), Baltimore on Friday, March 26 (7:30pm PDT kick), and conclude the season with their one-and-only battle against the Kansas City Comets, a Fan Appreciation Day match on Sunday, April 4 at 4:30pm PDT.
Season tickets to enjoy the 2026-27 San Diego Sockers regular season are available now by visiting frontwavearena.com, with single-match tickets to become available in the coming days. Promotional nights and giveaways will be announced in the coming weeks as the season approaches.