MLS didn't just survive its six-week World Cup hiatus — it used it. The league restarts this week with Robert Lewandowski at Chicago Fire, Antoine Griezmann now officially on the pitch for Orlando City, and a marketing campaign that is either visionary or desperately optimistic, depending on how the next few months go.
Lewandowski, 37, signed through the 2027-28 season. Poland's all-time top scorer with 89 international goals, he arrives after three seasons at Barcelona where he scored 83 goals in 134 games and won three La Liga titles. Before Barcelona, eight years at Bayern Munich yielded eight Bundesliga titles and a Champions League. That's the resume. The question is what a 37-year-old who hasn't played competitive football since May can do in a league that rewards athleticism and high-intensity pressing.
Gregg Berhalter, who coaches the Fire, didn't undersell it: "This is a massive signing for our football club. We're excited to see how he can change the culture." Chicago finished last in the Eastern Conference in 2024 with seven wins. They more than doubled that the following year and currently sit third in the conference — so Berhalter has already been building something. Lewandowski's debut was postponed after a Vancouver-Chicago match was called off due to wildfire smoke affecting air quality in the city, which is a sentence that tells you everything about playing football in 2025.
Griezmann Hits the Ground Running
Griezmann, 35, made his Orlando City debut last week in a 6-0 rout of USL Championship side Tampa Bay Rowdies — a friendly, yes, but he scored and assisted. Atletico Madrid's all-time leading scorer with 211 goals across two stints, he agreed terms with Orlando back in March and waited out the rest of the Spanish season before crossing the Atlantic. He's signed through 2027-28 with an option for a further year.
"The players are very talented and have great character," Griezmann said. "I already feel at home." What Orlando gets is a 2018 World Cup winner whose reading of the game has never relied purely on pace — which matters more as the mileage accumulates. Orlando's attacking odds just got considerably more interesting.
MLS's Post-World Cup Bet
The league launched a campaign this week titled "Thanks World, We'll Take It From Here" — a confident swing given the U.S. didn't go as deep in the tournament as the host nation fanbase had hoped. Commissioner Don Garber leaned into the international angle instead, pointing to the 45 World Cup players now returning to MLS rosters.
"If you love the World Cup, come to an MLS game and you're going to love it even more," Garber said. Whether casual viewers convert into season-ticket holders is the real test — and MLS knows it. Twenty-two of the league's 30 clubs are running a "First Match On Us" initiative, giving free tickets to first-time attendees.
The league resumed Thursday with four matches, including Portland at Seattle in a Cascadia Cup fixture. Friday's standout is El Tráfico — LAFC vs. LA Galaxy — which doesn't need any marketing campaign to sell itself.
Lewandowski in Chicago, Griezmann in Orlando, and 45 World Cup players filtering back into stadiums across the country. MLS is placing a sizable bet on momentum. Now it has to deliver the product to back it up.
