D.C. United secured passage to the quarterfinals of the 2015-2016 CONCACAF Champions League tournament on Tuesday night with a 2-0 win over Arabe Unido. But after the game, Olsen accidentally revealed a possible change to the way future tournaments are run.
Responding to a question about what the team could take from being knocked out of the Champions League this spring, and preparations for next year's knockout stages, Olsen first talked about the preseason prep for his side.
"It's always a challenge for MLS teams to get up to speed, to change the way you do your periodization throughout the preseason. To speed that up in a safe way for your players, it's a challenge."
But as he continued, he let out a bit of news, hinting at changes to future tournaments.
"I'm thrilled that they're moving the CONCACAF in a seasonal way. They're changing things, right?"
His comments ended there, as the news of a possible change hadn't been made public yet. But after his press conference, an United official stated that the change would be for future tournaments. Unnamed sources have said that the idea is for the Champions League to take place in one calendar year, with the group stages in the spring, and the knockout stages in the fall.
The United official added that it's "too early to characterize anything as anything", which seems to indicate that discussions have been ongoing at this point.
A change to a calendar year tournament would seemingly help MLS sides, as playing knockout games towards the end of the season would be an improvement over playing those games directly out of the preseason.