Major League Soccer will be leaping into the 2020 season in February.

MLS has decided on a start date for the 2020 season, Sounder at Heart has learned. Two sources with direct knowledge of the league schedule have confirmed that MLS will begin the 2020 season on Saturday, Feb. 29. That’s the earliest a MLS regular season has ever kicked off.

Sounders GM told KJR that preseason camp is scheduled to open on Jan. 11, about 10 days earlier than this year.

Scheduling details have started to leak out with the 2019 season firmly in the rearview mirror after the Seattle Sounders claimed their second championship on Nov. 10 in a 3-1 victory over Toronto FC. The offseason began in earnest on Nov. 11 when the trade window opened ahead of the expansion draft.

MLS made major changes to the schedule ahead of the 2019 season, shortening the playoff schedule and adding an additional playoff spot to each conference. Additionally, there were more midweek games added to attempt to avoid international breaks and finish the season earlier in the year.

Two additional teams will be entering the league next year in Inter Miami and Nashville SC. Inter Miami will presumably end up in the Eastern Conference, while Nashville’s location has not been confirmed.

The Feb. 29 date will of course depend on the status of the Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations between the league and the MLS Player’s Association. In a conference call last week, MLSPA head Bob Foose did not provide a update on the status of negotiations, though did indicate that progress was slow. If the players and the league cannot come to an agreement, a work stoppage would jeopardize the start of the season.