Major League Soccer

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Major League Soccer

Countries	United States Canada
Confederation	CONCACAF
Founded	1993
Number of teams	15
Level on pyramid	Level 1
Domestic cup(s)	U.S. Open Cup Canadian Championship
International cup(s)	CONCACAF Champions League, SuperLiga, Copa Sudamericana (by invitation)
Current MLS Cup	Columbus Crew
Current Supporters' Shield	Columbus Crew
Most MLS Cups	D.C. United (4)
Most Supporters' Shields	D.C. United (4)
TV partners	ABC, ESPN2, ESPN Deportes Fox Soccer Channel, Fox Sports en Español TeleFutura, CBC, Rogers Sportsnet, The Score
Website	MLSnet.com
2009 season

Major League Soccer, or MLS, is the top-flight professional soccer (football) league based in the United States and sanctioned by U.S. Soccer. The league is comprised of 15 teams, 14 in the U.S. and one in Canada. MLS represents the top tier of the American and Canadian soccer pyramids. MLS was founded in 1993 as part of the bid for the United States to host the 1994 FIFA World Cup.^[1] The first season took place in 1996 beginning with 10 teams. Seasons run from late March or early April to November, with teams playing 30 regular season games each. Eight teams from the league compete in the post-season MLS Cup Playoffs, which culminate in MLS Cup.

Contents 1 Competition format 2 History 2.1 Early years 2.2 Resurgence 2.3 2006–present 3 Organization 3.1 Ownership 3.2 Game First 3.3 Stadiums 3.4 Media coverage 3.5 Profitability 3.6 Rule changes 4 Teams 4.1 Expansion 4.2 Team names 4.3 Rivalries and 2-team cup competitions 5 Players 5.1 Regular Season leaders 5.2 Playoff leaders 6 MLS commissioners 7 MLS awards 8 References 9 See also 10 External links

[edit] Competition format

The 2009 Major League Soccer season runs from March 19 to November. The 15 teams in the league are divided into the Eastern and Western Conferences — seven in the Eastern Conference, eight in the Western Conference. Each team plays 30 games, evenly divided between home and away matches. Each team competes against every other team twice, home and away, for a total of 28 games. The remaining two games are intra-conference matches, often highlighting geographic and conference rivalries.

MLS has four berths in the CONCACAF Champions League. For CONCACAF Champions League 2009–10, qualifying teams include MLS Cup 2008 and Supporters' Shield winner the Columbus Crew, Supporters' Shield runner-up the Houston Dynamo, MLS Cup runner-up the New York Red Bulls, and 2008 U.S. Open Cup winner D.C. United. Columbus and Houston are automatically seeded into the Group Stage, while New York and D.C. are required to play in the Preliminary Round.

MLS also has four berths in SuperLiga, a competition jointly organized by MLS and Mexico's national football governing body, the FMF. The top four overall teams from the 2008 season, excluding those participating in the Champions League, qualify for SuperLiga 2009. This includes the Chicago Fire, the New England Revolution, the Kansas City Wizards, and Chivas USA.

[edit] History

[edit] Early years

In 1996, Major League Soccer's original ten teams, the Columbus Crew, D.C. United, the New England Revolution, the NY/NJ MetroStars, the Tampa Bay Mutiny, the Colorado Rapids, the Dallas Burn, the Kansas City Wiz, the Los Angeles Galaxy and the San Jose Clash, began play. The early years of the league gave rise to the Bruce Arena-led dynasty of D.C. United, which won MLS Cups in three of the league's first four seasons. It took the expansion Chicago Fire in 1998 to end United's stranglehold on MLS Cup. Also joining the league in 1998 was the Miami Fusion.

After its first season, MLS suffered from a decline in attendance. The league's quality was cast into doubt when the U.S. men's national team, made up largely of MLS players, was eliminated in the first round of the 1998 World Cup and finished in last place.

The league began to market itself on the talents of American players, both experienced veterans and fresh talents. Breakout stars like DaMarcus Beasley and Landon Donovan began making names for themselves in MLS before breaking into and starring for the U.S. national team, while established players such as Brian McBride, Eddie Pope, and Clint Mathis continued to prove their value to both their MLS clubs and the U.S. national team.

The league's ongoing financial problems led to the departure of Commissioner Doug Logan after the end of the 1998 season. Don Garber, a former NFL International chief, was hired in his place and his leadership became instrumental to shoring up the league's future. Construction of "soccer-specific" stadiums for the league's teams, largely funded by financiers such as Lamar Hunt and Phil Anschutz, became a point of emphasis to bring fiscal health and ensure the league's survival. Hunt's Columbus Crew Stadium, built in 1999, is often cited as a league model.

On the field, the early wave of international players who had joined MLS at its inception drifted into retirement or moved on to clubs elsewhere in the world. The run-up to the 2002 World Cup saw a gradual shift in the league's philosophy toward the development of American talent, a move that would eventually lead to success for U.S. Soccer.

Despite this movement, declining attendances forced MLS to stop the bleeding by contracting the two Florida franchises, the Tampa Bay Mutiny and Miami Fusion, just a few years after their establishment. This left the league with 10 teams, the same number as when the league began.

[edit] Resurgence

MLS Major Trophy Winners

Season	MLS Cup Playoff and League Champions	MLS Supporters' Shield Regular Season Champions
2008	Columbus Crew	Columbus Crew
2007	Houston Dynamo	D.C. United
2006	Houston Dynamo	D.C. United
2005	Los Angeles Galaxy	San Jose Earthquakes
2004	D.C. United	Columbus Crew
2003	San Jose Earthquakes	Chicago Fire
2002	Los Angeles Galaxy	Los Angeles Galaxy
2001	San Jose Earthquakes	Miami Fusion
2000	Kansas City Wizards	Kansas City Wizards
1999	D.C. United	D.C. United
1998	Chicago Fire	Los Angeles Galaxy
1997	D.C. United	D.C. United
1996	D.C. United	Tampa Bay Mutiny

The 2002 World Cup, in which the United States unexpectedly made the quarterfinals through wins against Portugal and Mexico, triggered a resurgence in American soccer and MLS. At MLS Cup 2002, held four months after the 2002 World Cup final, set an attendance record as a sellout crowd at Gillette Stadium saw the Los Angeles Galaxy win their first title.

MLS drew international attention in 2004 with the debut of 14-year-old Freddy Adu for D.C. United, who entered the league with much fanfare and was heralded as one of the top prospects in American soccer history.

MLS underwent a significant transition in the years leading up to the 2006 World Cup. After marketing itself on the talents of American players, the league saw some of its homegrown stars depart for more prominent leagues in Europe. Tim Howard, goalkeeper for the MetroStars, was sold to Manchester United in one of the most lucrative contract deals in league history. DaMarcus Beasley of the Chicago Fire left for PSV, while Landon Donovan, on loan from Bayer Leverkusen, was recalled to Germany. Donovan's stint in Germany was brief; before the start of the 2005 MLS season he was sold back to MLS to play for the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Many more American players, though they factored little in the U.S. national team picture, did make an impact in MLS. In 2005, Jason Kreis of expansion club Real Salt Lake became the first player to score at least 100 career MLS goals. In 2005, the now defunct MLS Reserve Division was created, with each reserve squad playing 12 games, providing valuable playing time to develop non-starters on team rosters.

It was also in this era that MLS expanded for the first time since the contraction of 2001. Real Salt Lake and Chivas USA began play in 2004, with Chivas USA becoming the second club in Los Angeles, sharing The Home Depot Center with the Galaxy. Chivas USA also became the first team in MLS to be directly connected to a foreign club, as they are the sister club of Guadalajara. A year later the San Jose Earthquakes were moved to Texas, becoming the Houston Dynamo, after funding for a soccer-specific stadium could not be found in San Jose. The Dynamo were treated as an expansion franchise, leaving their history behind for the new ownership group that would materialize a few years after the move, in 2007.

[edit] 2006–present

Since 2006, Major League Soccer's leadership has taken steps to "internationalize" the league in an effort to raise the level of play. Among the first moves in this regard was the Designated Player Rule, which helped MLS bring international stars into the league, despite the relatively meager MLS salary cap, and the creation of the SuperLiga, which pits the best of MLS against top Mexican clubs in an effort to provide more meaningful competition for both leagues. MLS changed the rules regarding foreign players in the league to allow more of them.^[2] However, despite the increasing number of foreign players in MLS, the Houston Dynamo were able to establish a domestic dynasty, winning both the 2006 and 2007 titles with mostly American and Canadian talent.

The 2006 season confirmed Major League Soccer as a stable entity within both American and international soccer. Bob Bradley, whose reputation was scarred by disappointing results when coaching the MetroStars, turned around second-year Chivas USA, who in their inaugural season had finished last among all teams in the league.

The 2007 season saw the MLS debut of David Beckham, whose signing has been seen as a coup for American soccer. Beckham's signing by the Los Angeles Galaxy was made possible by the Designated Player Rule. Marcelo Gallardo of Paris Saint-Germain transferred to D.C. United, Cuauhtémoc Blanco of Club América signed for the Chicago Fire, and Juan Pablo Ángel, who moved from Aston Villa to the New York Red Bulls, are just some of the Designated Players who have made major contributions to their clubs.

The departures of Clint Dempsey to Fulham and Jozy Altidore to Villarreal, coupled with the return of former U.S. national team stars Claudio Reyna and Brian McBride to New York and Chicago, respectively, highlight the exchange of top prospects to Europe for experienced veterans for MLS. Several other well-known foreign players have followed Beckham and Blanco to MLS, including Guillermo Barros Schelotto to Columbus and Freddie Ljungberg to Seattle.^[3]

Toronto FC, who joined the league for the 2007 season, were the league's first entrant from Canada.

In the inaugural SuperLiga 2007, which was the product of the league's marketing arm, Soccer United Marketing, the Los Angeles Galaxy lost on penalty kicks to Pachuca, as the league attempted to translate the traditional rivalry between the U.S. and Mexican national teams to the club level. Though it has only two seasons of existence, the tournament has been declared a success for both leagues.^[4] Due to the success of SuperLiga and the expansion of the CONCACAF Champions' Cup into the CONCACAF Champions League it was decided that clubs would no longer be permitted to enter both competitions. This helped solve the problem of fixture congestion during the 2007 and 2008 MLS seasons and gives half the league the opportunity to compete in international competition each season.

At the beginning of the 2009 MLS season, the newest expansion franchise to join the league began play as Seattle Sounders FC. Opening to a 30,000+ capacity crowd at Qwest Field (home of the NFL's Seattle Seahawks), the franchise debuted with a 3-0 win over 2008 MLS Cup finalist New York Redbull. The result was sure to please its owners, incuding minority owner, the new host of The Price is Right, comedian Drew Carey. At halftime, League Commisioner Don Garber announced that the league would be expanding to 16 teams at the start of the 2010 season with the inception of a Philadelphia franchise. Garber also added that the league would jump to 18 teams by the start of the 2011 MLS season, announcing that both Vancouver and Portland had earned the rights to the league's sixth and seventh expansion franchises since 2005.

While the announcement of the leagues expansion has excited the American soccer community, the elimination of the league's reserve system due to economic downturn, has limited each teams roster as well as forced the countries elite college players to seek international opportunities abroad.

[edit] Organization

Recently "expansion," "contraction," and "rebranding" have become buzzwords for the league and its fans. The league has renewed its emphasis on improving the quality of play by its teams via initiatives such as the Designated Player Rule and the creation of a league-wide youth development system.^[5]

[edit] Ownership

MLS operates under a single-entity structure in which teams are centrally controlled by the league. In order to keep costs under control, revenues are shared throughout the league, player contracts are negotiated by the league, and ultimately players are contracted not with individual teams but with the league itself. The league fought a bitter legal battle with its players over its economic system, but this was eventually resolved with the players gaining some improved benefits in return for accepting the single entity structure. A court had also ruled that even absent their collective bargaining agreement, players could opt to play in other leagues if they were unsatisfied.

The league's cost-controlling measures have attracted new ownership that have injected more money into the league, improving it and focusing the league's resources on fewer clubs. Examples include the Anschutz Entertainment Group's sale of the MetroStars to Red Bull, for an "excess of $100 million," according to the New York Times. Commissioner Garber said to the Los Angeles Times that, "the sale was part of a plan to have AEG decrease its holdings in MLS. We're pushing Hunt Sports to do the same thing."

Commissioner Garber has stated that having multiple clubs owned by a single owner was a necessity in the first 10 years of MLS, but now that the league appears to be on the brink of overall profitability and has significant expansion plans, he wants each club to have a distinct owner. In order to help bring this about, the league is now giving more incentive to be an individual club owner, with all owners now having the rights to a certain number of players they develop through their club's academy system each year, sharing the profits of Soccer United Marketing, and being able to sell individual club jersey sponsorships.

At one time AEG owned six teams in MLS, and have since sold the Colorado Rapids, the MetroStars, D.C. United and the Chicago Fire to new owners. AEG's remaining teams are the Los Angeles Galaxy and the Houston Dynamo.^[6] The other major owner-investor in MLS has been Hunt Sports, which owns the Columbus Crew and FC Dallas, having sold the Kansas City Wizards in to a local ownership group in 2006. The league now has 16 owners for their 18 clubs (including the 2010 Philadelphia club and the 2011 Vancouver and Portland teams).

[edit] Game First

The 2006-2007 MLS offseason has been considered by some to be the most productive in the history of the league,^[7] and there were a number of changes made to the league, which have brought about an increase in the league's ability to compete financially as well as on the field. The league announced a youth development initiative,^[5] which will require youth development programs for all of the league's teams. The hope is that by being able to sign up to two of its own youth players to the senior team each year that the league's teams will have an incentive to improve the quality of the league's talent in an organic way that will also benefit the league through transfer fees for outgoing players. Perhaps the first example of a success in "home-grown" talent development was New York's Jozy Altidore, who rose to prominence as one of the league's most skilled young strikers before fetching the league's record transfer fee in his move to Villarreal in 2008.

Furthering the development of the league was the decision to create the Designated Player Rule, which allows for clubs to pay up to two players a salary beyond that covered in the salary cap at their own expense. A host of veteran players including Cuauhtémoc Blanco, Juan Pablo Ángel, Guillermo Barros Schelotto, and David Beckham joined MLS and improved the league's level of play and the game's overall profile in the U.S. and the league's profile abroad.

The league also announced "Game First", a series of initiatives aimed at improving the league in several ways. One of the most immediate changes is that U.S. Soccer hired the first full-time professional referees in league history.^[8] Another part of "Game First" was the creation of an official league anthem similar to other competitions from around the world. There are two versions of the MLS Anthem, an orchestral version that is performed before every regular season game and an orchestral chorus version with a chorus that is played before the MLS All-Star Game and MLS Cup.

[edit] Stadiums

Since 1999, the league has overseen the construction and completion of seven venues specifically designed for soccer. Lamar Hunt broke new ground in this endeavor by financing the construction of Columbus Crew Stadium. The Los Angeles Galaxy followed four years later with the opening of The Home Depot Center in 2003. Chivas USA has shared this venue with the Galaxy since their expansion season in 2004. It also played host to two consecutive MLS Cups, until FC Dallas opened Pizza Hut Park in 2005 and hosted the next two championships. The Chicago Fire began playing their home games in Toyota Park in 2006. 2007 saw the opening of Dick's Sporting Goods Park for the Colorado Rapids and BMO Field for the expansion Toronto FC. Near the end of the 2008 season, Rio Tinto Stadium became the new home of Real Salt Lake.

Other stadiums are currently under construction. Red Bull Arena, the new home of Red Bull New York, began construction in December 2007 with the goal of beginning play there at some point in 2009. D.C. United, the Kansas City Wizards, the Houston Dynamo, the New England Revolution,^[9] and the San Jose Earthquakes are actively searching for ways to finance and build their respective stadiums.

Seattle Sounders FC play at Qwest Field, home of the Seattle Seahawks, and the owners have pledged that only the lower portion of the stadium will be used in order to create a better atmosphere for soccer. The Philadelphia team plans to play in the new Chester Stadium when they enter the league in 2010. In 2011 the Portland Timbers will begin play in a newly-renovated PGE Park, a multisport stadium that will be converted into a soccer-specific stadium before the Timbers begin play. Also starting in 2011, the Vancouver team will begin play in a refurbished BC Place, and they will remain there until at least 2016, by which time the team hopes to complete construction on a planned soccer-specific stadium.

The move to soccer-specific stadiums has been seen by many as essential to building up attendance and fan support for MLS. So far, every club that has built its own stadium has not only seen its game attendance rise, but also has helped MLS achieve profitability. Thanks to their new stadium, the Los Angeles Galaxy became the first club to make a profit, followed in 2006 by FC Dallas.

[edit] Media coverage

At the outset, MLS signed deals for coverage on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC, while Univision, Galavision, and Telemundo broadcasted matches in Spanish. The original Univision deal lapsed after a few years, leaving only the ABC/ESPN family of networks as the league's national broadcasters. Fox Sports World (later rebranded as Fox Soccer Channel in 2005), Fox Sports en Español and HDNet began airing matches in 2003. The 2007 MLS season was the first season, however, for which television rights were sold to networks at a profit. Previously, MLS paid networks to broadcast its games. It is estimated MLS will receive about $30 million from TV revenue alone within the next eight years.^[10]

With the addition of Toronto FC, coverage of MLS expanded into Canada in 2007. The CBC, The Score and Rogers Sportsnet all broadcast Toronto matches nationwide.

The league's MLS Direct Kick package, which broadcasts out-of-market matches, has been expanded to ensure that every league match is broadcast. Univision and its family of networks resumed MLS broadcasts in 2007 as well, with most matches airing on TeleFutura and Galavision on Sunday afternoons and evenings.

The 2007 season was the first in the league's history in which every regular season match was telecast live, and many games were shown on national television. MLS Primetime Thursday on ESPN networks featured a live match for the first time on Thursdays each week, and Fox Soccer Channel's MLS Saturday expanded to a 3-hour format, with both a pregame and postgame show wrapped around the featured match each week. Additionally, Fox Soccer Channel produces their own news on MLS and special original programs on players, such as Beckham Unwrapped, a biographical update for summer 2007 on the Galaxy's David Beckham.

Major League Soccer also offers streaming live video of some matches via its website.

Sports Business Journal reported on December 23, 2008 that MLS and Soccer United Marketing had signed an international television broadcast contract with sports media company MP & Silva through 2013.^[11][12] The figure is reportedly an "eight-figure deal" that covers the "rights to all MLS games, tournaments and events, including MLS regular season, MLS Cup Playoffs, MLS Cup, and the international competitions SuperLiga, InterLiga, and Pan-Pacific Championship."^[11] InterLiga is the only non-MLS competition included in the deal. MP & Silva CEO Carlo Pozzali acknowledged that high profile, international players who were lured to MLS by the designated player rule have raised the international awareness and potential for popularity of MLS in international markets.^[12]

[edit] Profitability

Shirt sponsorships

Team	Sponsor	Value
Chicago Fire	Best Buy	$7.5M over 3 years
Chivas USA	Comex	$2M per year
Columbus Crew	Glidden	$1M per year
D.C. United	Volkswagen	$14M over 5 years
Houston Dynamo	Amigo Energy	$1.9M per year
Los Angeles Galaxy	Herbalife	$4M-$5M per year
Real Salt Lake	XanGo	$500K-$1M per year
New York Red Bulls	Red Bull	Part of $100M deal for club and stadium
San Jose Earthquakes	Amway Global	$2-$3M per year
Seattle Sounders FC	Xbox 360 Live	$20M over 5 years
Toronto FC	BMO	$1M-$1.5M per year

Major League Soccer has lost more than $350 million since its founding, according to a report by BusinessWeek in 2004.^[13] However, there are positive signs for profitability in the near future. As soccer-specific stadiums are built, ownership expands and television coverage increases, MLS has managed to see their revenues increase while costs are kept to a minimum. The 2003 season saw the Los Angeles Galaxy make a profit in their first season at The Home Depot Center,^[13] while FC Dallas turned a profit in similar fashion after moving into Pizza Hut Park in 2005.^[14]

Television coverage has consistently expanded throughout the league's history, as MLS brokered a deal with ESPN in 2006 for rights fees and a greater presence across its networks. The 2007 season saw the return of MLS to Univision and its Spanish-language networks. They joined Fox Soccer Channel and HDNet as the U.S. national outlets, and the league has mandated that every league game receive television coverage either nationally or locally in one or both teams' cities for broadcast on its Direct Kick package.

In 2007, MLS teams started selling ad space on the front of jerseys to go along with the league-wide sponsorship partners who had already been advertising on the back of club jerseys, following the practice of international sport, specifically soccer. The league has established a floor of $500,000 per shirt sponsorship, with the league receiving a flat fee of $200,000 per deal.^[15] Online gambling and hard liquor sponsorships are prohibited. As of January 2009, eleven of the league's fifteen teams have signed sponsorship deals to have company logos placed on the front of their team jerseys.

MLS Commissioner Don Garber said on May 11, 2006 that he expects the league's clubs to be profitable by 2010 overall. He reported that FC Dallas and the L.A. Galaxy are already profitable, with several other clubs nearing profitability. A year later, he revealed that the Chicago Fire, the Colorado Rapids, and Toronto FC were on track for profitability by 2008.^[14]. However in 2008 there were only three profitable MLS franchises; LA Galaxy, Toronto FC and FC Dallas [1].

[edit] Rule changes

MLS experimented with deviations from IFAB rules and standards in its early years, some of which had been used in the NASL and continue to be used in college soccer and many high school associations.

Among them was the use of a countdown clock, rather than a standard progressive clock, with time paused for dead ball situations at a referee's discretion. Halves ended when the clock reached 0:00, rather than at the whistle of the referee as was customary elsewhere.

Also implemented was the use of shootouts to resolve tie games. These best-of-five contests placed a player 35 yards from goal with five seconds to put the ball past the opposing goalkeeper; if needed the shootout progressed into extra frames. A winning team received one standings point (as opposed to three for the regulation win).

While IFAB rules allow teams to substitute three players during games, MLS allowed a fourth, goalkeeper-only substitute. MLS discarded the rule after 2003 and adopted the IFAB standard, prompted in part by a match in which then MetroStars coach and current U.S. national team manager Bob Bradley used a loophole to insert an outfield player as a fourth substitute.

MLS eventually conceded that the rules changes, particularly the shootout, had alienated some traditional soccer fans while failing to draw new American sports fans as hoped. The shootout and countdown clock were eliminated after the 1999 season.

MLS continued to experiment with the settling of tie games in regular season play. In 2000, a 10-minute golden goal period replaced the shootout for tied games. It was abandoned after 2003. The golden-goal overtime remained through 2004 for playoff matches, where it had been used since the league's inception.

In 2005 the league adopted a playoff extra time structure that followed new IFAB standards for such situations: two full 15-minute periods, followed by penalty kicks if necessary. The away goals rule is not used in any playoff round.

[edit] Teams

MLS franchises

Revolution Red Bulls Dynamo Rapids Wizards Crew FC Dallas United Fire Toronto FC Fusion Mutiny Real Sounders Earthquakes Galaxy Chivas USA Locations of the various MLS franchises

There are 15 MLS teams divided between the Eastern and Western Conferences. Each club is allowed 24 players on their full roster.

Before its maiden season and inaugural draft, MLS allocated four marquee players across the initial ten teams. These inaugural allocations consisted of key U.S. national team and international players such as Eric Wynalda and Hugo Sánchez.

The league added its first two expansion teams for the 1998 season: Miami Fusion and Chicago Fire. However, following the 2001 season, Miami and the Tampa Bay Mutiny were disbanded and MLS returned to ten teams. Since the 2004 season, the league has expanded with six new clubs: Real Salt Lake and Chivas USA in 2005, the Houston Dynamo in 2006, and Toronto FC in 2007. After relocating as an expansion team to Houston in 2006, the San Jose Earthquakes returned from hiatus in 2008. Seattle Sounders FC joined MLS for the 2009 season.

As of 2009, MLS has had seventeen different clubs over the years, but only seven have won the MLS Cup.

For the 2009 season, teams are aligned as follows:

Conference	Team	City/Area	Arena	Founded	Joined	Head Coach
Eastern	Chicago Fire	Bridgeview, IL	Toyota Park	1997	1998	Denis Hamlett
	Columbus Crew	Columbus, OH	Columbus Crew Stadium	1994	1996	Robert Warzycha
	D.C. United	Washington, D.C.	RFK Stadium 1 2	1995	1996	Tom Soehn
	Kansas City Wizards	Kansas City, KS	CommunityAmerica Ballpark 1 2	1995	1996	Curt Onalfo
	New England Revolution	Foxborough, MA	Gillette Stadium 1	1995	1996	Steve Nicol
	New York Red Bulls	East Rutherford, NJ	Giants Stadium 1 2	1995	1996	Juan Carlos Osorio
	Toronto FC	Toronto, ON	BMO Field	2006	2007	John Carver
Western	Chivas USA	Carson, CA	The Home Depot Center	2004	2005	Preki
	Colorado Rapids	Commerce City, CO	Dick's Sporting Goods Park	1995	1996	Gary Smith
	FC Dallas	Frisco, TX	Pizza Hut Park	1996		Schellas Hyndman
	Houston Dynamo	Houston, TX	Robertson Stadium 1 2	2005	2006	Dominic Kinnear
	Los Angeles Galaxy	Carson, CA	The Home Depot Center	1995	1996	Bruce Arena
	Real Salt Lake	Sandy, UT	Rio Tinto Stadium	2004	2005	Jason Kreis
	San Jose Earthquakes	Santa Clara, CA	Buck Shaw Stadium 2 3	1995	1996	Frank Yallop
	Seattle Sounders FC	Seattle, WA	Qwest Field 1	2007	2009	Sigi Schmid
Future teams	Philadelphia[16]	Chester, PA	Chester Stadium	2008	2010	TBA
	Portland Timbers[17]	Portland, OR	PGE Park 1 4	2009	2011	TBA
	Vancouver[18]	Vancouver, BC	BC Place Stadium 1 2	2009	2011	TBA

Notes

Former teams

• Miami Fusion (1998–2001)
• Tampa Bay Mutiny (1996–2001)

[edit] Expansion

MLS will expand to 16 teams in 2010, will expand to 18 teams in 2011, and plans to expand to 20 teams in 2012. A Philadelphia club is in place for 2010 with Vancouver and Portland joining the following season, and two yet to be determined franchises would begin play a year after that. The Philadelphia club will play in a 20,000-seat stadium to be built just west of the Commodore Barry Bridge in Chester, Pennsylvania.^[20] No name for the team has been announced.

On March 18, 2009 a press conference announced that a new MLS team in Vancouver will replace the existing USL-1 club in that city, and that it would keep some form of the "Whitecaps" name.^[21] Vancouver will join the league in 2011. For at least its first season the Vancouver MLS club will play in BC Place stadium, which by then will have been renovated to include a soccer-specific configuration. However, the Vancouver ownership group is still hopeful that a new, completely soccer specific stadium will be approved for construction on the waterfront in downtown Vancouver. ^[22]

On March 20, 2009 a press conference announced that a new MLS team in Portland will replace the existing USL-1 club in that city, and would keep the Portland Timbers name.^[23] Portland will join the league in 2011.

[edit] Team names

For more information on MLS team names, see the individual team entries.

Originally, in the style of other U.S. sports, teams were given nicknames at their creation such as the Columbus Crew, San Jose Clash, or Tampa Bay Mutiny. D.C. United and Miami Fusion F.C. were the two exceptions that adopted more traditional names. However, new teams such as Real Salt Lake and Toronto FC have adopted names similar to European clubs, and FC Dallas changed its name from the Dallas Burn. Some of club names have their origins in defunct American professional soccer leagues like the NASL, such as the original San Jose Earthquakes and the Seattle Sounders.

Chivas USA is the only MLS team whose name does not specify a specific city, state or region. The club is named after the Mexican side Guadalajara, who are often known by their nickname "Chivas," which translates to "Goats". The Mexican club (based in Guadalajara, Mexico) and Chivas USA share the same ownership. Though Real Salt Lake was not originally affiliated with Real Madrid, in 2006 the two clubs signed an agreement to play friendly matches every two years, and to co-sponsor a soccer academy and training facility in Utah.^[24] The beverage company Red Bull owns Red Bull New York, the Austrian club Red Bull Salzburg, and the lower-level Brazilian club Red Bull Brasil.

[edit] Rivalries and 2-team cup competitions

• Portland Timbers — Seattle Sounders FC (Cascadia Cup, resuming 2011)
• D.C. United — New York Red Bulls (Atlantic Cup)
• Chicago Fire — FC Dallas (Brimstone Cup)
• Los Angeles Galaxy — San Jose Earthquakes (California Clasico/Interstate 5 Rivalry)
• FC Dallas — Houston Dynamo (El Capitan Clasico/Texas Derby)
• San Jose Earthquakes — Seattle Sounders FC (Heritage Cup,^[25])
• Chivas USA — Los Angeles Galaxy (Honda SuperClasico)
• Columbus Crew — FC Dallas (Lamar Hunt Pioneer Cup, pre-season)
• Colorado Rapids — Real Salt Lake (Rocky Mountain Cup)
• Columbus Crew — Toronto FC (Trillium Cup)

[edit] Players

Bold indicates active MLS players.

[edit] Regular Season leaders

Goals Regular Season only Rank Player G 1 Jaime Moreno 122 2 Ante Razov 114 3 Jason Kreis 108 4 Jeff Cunningham 104 5 Taylor Twellman 99 6 Roy Lassiter 88 7 Landon Donovan 86 8 Raúl Díaz Arce 82 Carlos Ruíz 82 10 Preki 79

Goals Against Average Regular Season only, 1500+ MINS Rank Player GAA 1 Pat Onstad 1.07 2 Bouna Coundoul 1.16 3 Matt Pickens 1.21 4 Jon Busch 1.22 Troy Perkins 1.22 6 Kevin Hartman 1.23 7 Zach Thornton 1.29 8 Matt Reis 1.31 Joe Cannon 1.31 Jonny Walker 1.31

Games Played Regular Season only Rank Player GP 1 Steve Ralston 359 2 Chris Henderson 317 3 Kevin Hartman 307 4 Cobi Jones 306 5 Jason Kreis 305 6 Jesse Marsch 302 7 Chris Klein 297 Jaime Moreno 297 9 Jeff Cunningham 293 10 Jay Heaps 292

Minutes Played Regular Season only Rank Player MINS 1 Steve Ralston 31,645 2 Kevin Hartman 27,495 3 Chris Henderson 26,242 4 Jay Heaps 25,463 5 Jason Kreis 25,242 6 Cobi Jones 25,157 7 Chris Klein 25,049 8 Mark Chung 24,470 9 Jesse Marsch 24,152 10 Jaime Moreno 23,720

Last Updated April 11, 2009

[edit] Playoff leaders

Goals Playoffs only Rank Player G 1 Carlos Ruíz 16 2 Landon Donovan 14 3 Roy Lassiter 13 4 Jaime Moreno 12 5 Ante Razov 11 6 Brian McBride 10 Preki 10 Taylor Twellman 10 9 Raúl Díaz Arce 8 Stern John 8

Goals Against Average Playoffs only, 300+ MINS Rank Player GAA 1 Adin Brown 0.66 2 Jon Conway 0.75 William Hesmer 0.75 4 Matt Reis 0.79 5 Jon Busch 0.88 6 Jeff Cassar 0.89 7 Matt Pickens 0.94 8 Zach Thornton 0.99 Jorge Campos 0.99 10 Danny Cepero 1.00

Games Played Playoffs only Rank Player GP 1 Cobi Jones 45 2 Kevin Hartman 44 3 Diego Gutiérrez 40 4 Jeff Agoos 39 5 Chris Armas 37 Jesse Marsch 37 7 Mauricio Cienfuegos 35 Ante Razov 35 9 Steve Ralston 34 10 Zach Thornton 33

Minutes Played Playoffs only Rank Player MINS 1 Kevin Hartman 4,042 2 Cobi Jones 3,938 3 Jeff Agoos 3,557 4 Chris Armas 3,383 5 Diego Gutiérrez 3,270 6 Jesse Marsch 3,228 7 Steve Ralston 3,164 8 Zach Thornton 3,013 9 Mauricio Cienfuegos 2,992 10 C.J. Brown 2,921

As of MLS Cup 2008

[edit] MLS commissioners

• Doug Logan (1996-99)
• Don Garber (1999-present)

[edit] MLS awards

There are 10 awards given out by the Major League Soccer each year.

1. Major League Soccer MVP Award
2. MLS Best XI
3. MLS Coach of the Year Award
4. MLS Comeback Player of the Year Award
5. MLS Scudetto
6. MLS Defender of the Year Award
7. MLS Goalkeeper of the Year Award
8. MLS Golden Boot
9. MLS Newcomer of the Year Award
10. MLS Rookie of the Year Award

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• United States men's national soccer team
• Major professional sports leagues of the United States and Canada
• ESPN MLS ExtraTime 2002
• ESPN MLS GameNight
• ESPN MLS/Soccer Broadcast Teams
• Generation Adidas
• Index of Professional Sports teams in the United States and Canada
• List of current MLS players
• List of current MLS players with national team caps
• List of foreign MLS players
• List of MLS seasons
• Major League Soccer records and statistics
• MLS Direct Kick
• MLS ExtraTime
• MLS Expansion
• MLS Primetime Thursday
• MLS Game of the Week
• MLS Soccer Saturday
• Carolina Challenge Cup
• MLS Wrap
• National Soccer Hall of Fame
• Sueño MLS
• World Series of Soccer (MLS)

[edit] External links

• Major League Soccer official site
• U.S. Soccer official site
• Major League Soccer Video at FoxSports Video Archive

Preceded by APSL

Division 1 Soccer League in the United States 1996-Present

Succeeded by Current League

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