On the other hand, midwinter games in places like Chicago could be ridiculously cold. What do the Russian leagues do? I know they play during the winter, but do they take some sort of break? I seem to recall an MLS official saying once that they'd considered the idea of the winter schedule but that they would either have to take a several-week break or else schedule the northern teams (at least Toronto, Chicago, and New England; Montreal hadn't yet been added) exclusively on the road during that time.
("MLS" makes me think of some people who refer to it as "the MLS." That's one I've NEVER understood. "The NFL" or "the NHL" makes perfect sense because the long form is "the National Football League" or "the National Hockey League." But you don't say "the Major League Soccer," so why would you add "the" when you abbreviate it to "MLS"? As I type that it occurs to me that precisely the same reasoning applies to DC United. Nobody, except maybe the one forum member here, refers to the team as "the DC United." It's always just "DC United"—I guess some people put periods in "D.C." So when you shorten it, you don't add "the." Teams like the Redskins or the Capitals are different because you don't say, for example, "On Sunday Washington Redskins will play at FedEx Field." You say "the Washington Redskins." So truncating it with "the" makes sense. In DC United's case, it doesn't make any sense at all.)