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ajor League Soccer (MLS) is expected to lose a further USD$1 billion (AUD$1.28 billion) in the 2021 season.

MLS commissioner, Don Garber, has admitted the North American men’s soccer league will continue to be financially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The league suffered a revenue hit close to AUD$1.28 billion in 2020, with similar figures predicted for this year.

Garber explained the absence of fans at games is the largest factor.

“When you don’t have fans for the majority of your season, it’s just pure math,” Garber said.

“So that being said, our owners have been very, very focused over a long period of time to build a league.

“But their resources are not unlimited.

“We’ve got to drive revenue.

“We’ve got to think about new ways to approach our business,” he said.

The 34-game regular season is set to begin on April 17th, moved back two weeks from when initially planned.

The league has also recently finalised its Collective Bargaining Agreement with the MLS Players Association, which will run until 2027.

As it stands, the three Canadian teams – the Montreal Impact, Toronto FC and the Vancouver Whitecaps – will remain based in the United States for the start of the season.

Once border restrictions are relaxed, the MLS is aiming to return them to their home bases.

Garber is also cautiously optimistic about the effects of the vaccine rollout headed by the US President, Joe Biden’s administration.

“I was pleased to see fans in the stadium at the Super Bowl in Tampa, and I was pleased to see limited numbers of fans in some of our stadiums including in Columbus for MLS Cup,” Garber said.

“But we have no exposure to what those numbers are going to look like though.

“I can assure you that I don’t have any sense that, that fans are going to be in our stadiums in large numbers for probably most if not all of the season,” he said.