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Major League Soccer

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Major League Soccer
File:MajorLeagueSoccer.png
Founded1993
CountryUnited States United States
Canada Canada
ConfederationCONCACAF
Number of teams14
Domestic cup(s)United States Lamar Hunt
U.S. Open Cup
Canada Canadian Championship
International cup(s)CONCACAF
Champions League
SuperLiga
Copa Sudamericana
Current MLS CupHouston Dynamo
(2006 & 2007)
({{{mlscupseason}}})
Current Supporters' ShieldColumbus Crew (2008)
({{{shieldseason}}})
Most MLS CupsD.C. United (4)
Most Supporters' ShieldsD.C. United (4)
TV partnersABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Deportes
Fox Soccer Channel, Fox Sports en Español
HDNet
TeleFutura
CBC
Rogers Sportsnet
The Score
WebsiteMLSnet.com
Current: 2008 season

Major League Soccer (MLS) is the top-flight professional soccer league in the United States and Canada with 14 teams, 13 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, and the league began with 10 teams. Seasons run from late March or early April to November, with teams playing about 30 regular season games each. Eight teams from the league compete in the post-season MLS Cup Playoffs, which culminate in MLS Cup.

Competition format

The 2008 Major League Soccer season ran from March 29 to October 26. The 14 teams in the league are divided into the Eastern and Western Conferences, each with seven teams. Each team plays 30 games over the course of 31 weeks, evenly divided between home and away matches. Each team plays every other team twice, home and away, for a total of 26 games. The remaining four games are intra-conference matches, often highlighting geographic and conference rivalries. The 2008 MLS Cup Playoffs will run from October 30 to November 23, culminating with MLS Cup 2008 at The Home Depot Center in Carson, California.

With its win in MLS Cup 2007, the Houston Dynamo qualified for the final CONCACAF Champions' Cup. D.C. United also qualified for the 2008 CONCACAF Champions' Cup by winning the MLS Supporters' Shield in 2007.

Four teams from MLS are also playing in the CONCACAF Champions League, which will replace the Champions' Cup, from late 2008 and early 2009. The 2007 MLS Cup Champion Houston Dynamo, 2007 Supporters' Shield winning D.C. United, 2007 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup winning and 2007 MLS Cup runner-up New England Revolution, and 2007 Supporters' Shield runner-up Chivas USA are participating in the tournament.[2] D.C. United and the Houston Dynamo were automatically seeded into the group stage, while New England and Chivas USA were required to play in the preliminary round.

The SuperLiga, an MLS-FMF competition, entered its second season. The top four overall teams from the 2007 MLS season were D.C. United, Chivas USA, the Houston Dynamo, and the New England Revolution, and they competed in the 2008 SuperLiga from July to August.

History

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 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 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.

Resurgence

MLS Major Trophy Winners
Season MLS Cup
Playoff and League
Champions 		Supporters' Shield
Regular Season
Champions
2008 TBD 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 back 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 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 2008.

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.[3] 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 Luciano Emilio to D.C.[4]

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

In the inaugural 2007 SuperLiga, 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.[5]

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.[6]

Game First

The 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,[6] 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.

Stadiums

When the league began, most clubs played in stadiums built specifically for professional or college American football. This was based on the record attendances from the 1994 World Cup. However, this policy turned out to be a considerable expense to the league because of modest attendances from the league's second season on and poor leasing deals. To provide better facilities and control revenue for the stadium, a major goal of MLS is to build its own stadiums, which are often called soccer-specific stadiums, or SSSs.

Since 1999, the league has overseen the construction and completion of six venues specifically designed for soccer. Lamar Hunt broke new ground in this endeavour 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 will play at Qwest Field, home of the Seattle Seahawks, but 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 franchise plans to play in the new Chester Stadium when they enter the league in 2010.

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.

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.

"Profitability"

Major League Soccer has lost more than $350 million since its founding, according to a report by BusinessWeek in 2004.[11] 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,[11] while FC Dallas turned a profit in similar fashion after moving into Pizza Hut Park in 2005.[12]

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 team and stadium
Seattle Sounders FC (2009) Xbox 360 Live $20M over 5 years
Toronto FC BMO $1M-$1.5M per year

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.[13] Online gambling and hard liquor sponsorships are prohibited. As of July 2008, ten of the league's fifteen teams (including Seattle Sounders FC, who will begin play in 2009) 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 profitibility by 2008.[12]

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, MLS' media and marketing arm, 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.[14] 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 14 owners for their 16 clubs.

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.

Teams


There are 14 MLS teams divided between the Eastern and Western Conferences. Each club is allowed 28 players on their full roster. This is further divided to an 18 player senior roster and 10 player developmental roster. All 28 players are eligible for selection to the game-day squad.

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: the Chicago Fire and Miami Fusion 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 four new teams: Real Salt Lake and Chivas USA in 2005, Toronto FC in 2007, and the San Jose Earthquakes return in 2008. Although the San Jose Earthquakes relocated to Houston and became the Dynamo, the Earthquakes name and history were not transferred, making the Dynamo an expansion team.

As of 2008, MLS has had sixteen different clubs over the years, but only six have won MLS Cup.

For the 2008 season, teams are aligned as follows:

Eastern Conference
Team Stadium Founded
Chicago Fire Toyota Park 1997
Columbus Crew Columbus Crew Stadium 1994
D.C. United RFK Stadium1 1995
Kansas City Wizards CommunityAmerica Ballpark1 2 1995
New England Revolution Gillette Stadium1 1995
New York Red Bulls Giants Stadium1 2 1995
Toronto FC BMO Field 2006
Western Conference
Chivas USA The Home Depot Center 2004
Colorado Rapids Dick's Sporting Goods Park 1995
FC Dallas Pizza Hut Park 1996
Houston Dynamo Robertson Stadium1 2005
Los Angeles Galaxy The Home Depot Center 1995
Real Salt Lake Rio Tinto Stadium 2004
San Jose Earthquakes Buck Shaw Stadium2 3 1995

1 Not a soccer-specific stadium
2 To be replaced by a soccer-specific stadium
3 Select "big" games played at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum

Former teams
Future teams

Expansion

Main article: Expansion of Major League Soccer

MLS plans on expanding to 18 teams by 2011. However, only two of those four teams have been officially chosen and announced. During the week of MLS Cup 2007 MLS Commissioner Don Garber announced that the first of these teams will begin play in 2009 when Seattle Sounders FC enters the league. Seattle's primary ownership group includes the USL's Sounders owner Adrian Hanauer, Seattle Seahawks owner Paul Allen, comedian Drew Carey, and Hollywood producer Joe Roth. The team will play its home games at Qwest Field.[17]

At a February 28, 2008 press conference, Garber announced the 16th franchise would be granted to Philadelphia. Joining the league in the 2010 season, the Philadelphia club will play in a 20,000-seat stadium to be built just west of the Commodore Barry Bridge in Chester, Pennsylvania.[18] No name for the team has been announced, but well before MLS awarded Philadelphia a franchise, a dedicated supporters group dubbed "The Sons of Ben" was formed in the hopes of attracting a team.

While the cities for the 17th and 18th franchises have not been announced, on October 15, 2008 the League announced a list of seven cities that had formally submitted franchise applications. The cities officially in the running for the next two MLS franchises are Atlanta, Miami, Montreal, Ottawa, Portland, St. Louis, and Vancouver. An announcement regarding the success of these applications will be made by early 2009.[19]

Team names

Main article: Football club 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.

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.[20] 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.

Some of the MLS team names have their origins in defunct American professional soccer leagues like the NASL, such as the San Jose Earthquakes and the Seattle Sounders.

Rivalries and 2-team cup competitions

Players

Bold indicates active MLS players

Regular Season leaders

As of the 2008 season

Playoff leaders

Last updated November 3, 2008

MLS commissioners

MLS awards

References

  1. ^ "About Major League Soccer". MLSnet. September 05, 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-05. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ Butler, Dylan (May 14, 2007). "Champions League format unveiled". MLSnet. Retrieved 2008-05-14.
  3. ^ Davis, Steve (December 26, 2007). "Desire to maintain quality drives foreign player rule". ESPNsoccernet. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
  4. ^ Lalas, Greg (2007-04-17). "Foreign exchange program". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 2007-04-22.
  5. ^ Davis, Steve (July 30, 2007). "SuperLiga and Beckham add zest to July". ESPNsoccernet. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
  6. ^ a b "MLS launches Youth Development Initiative". Major League Soccer Communications. November 10, 2006.
  7. ^ Martin (May 4, 2007). "MLS comes out of the gates strong in '07". monstersandcritics.com. Retrieved 2008-05-11. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |irst= ignored (help)
  8. ^ "'Game First' initiatives enhance on-field product". Major League Soccer Communications. April 2, 2007. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
  9. ^ Scott Van Voorhis (2007-08-02). "Revolution's the goal: Somerville talks stadium with Krafts". Boston Herald.
  10. ^ USAToday.com, Sponsors, TV contracts next on USA's agenda. June 26, 2002, retrieved May 1, 2008.
  11. ^ a b Holmes, Stanley (November 22, 2004). "Soccer: Time To Kick It Up A Notch". Businessweek. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
  12. ^ a b Longman, Jere (July 8, 2007). "Beckham Arrives to Find a Sport Thriving in Its Own Way". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-05-11. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  13. ^ Weinbach, John (September 28, 2006). "Major League Soccer to sell ad space on jerseys". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
  14. ^ "Chicago Fire sold to Andell Holdings". Chicago Fire Media Relations. September 6, 2007. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
  15. ^ "Seattle to get expansion MLS franchise for 2009". ESPNsoccernet. 2007-11-09. Retrieved 2008-01-20.
  16. ^ MLS to make major announcement in Philly: http://www.mlsnet.com/news/mls_news.jsp?ymd=20080227&content_id=140899&vkey=pr_mls&fext=.jsp
  17. ^ "MLS announces expansion in Seattle". MLSnet.com. 2007-11-13. Retrieved 2008-07-24.
  18. ^ "MLS awards Philadelphia 2010 expansion team". MLSnet.com. 2008-02-28. Retrieved 2008-07-24.
  19. ^ "Seven submit applications for expansion". MLSnet.com. 2008-10-15. Retrieved 2008-10-15.
  20. ^ Real Madrid will be back in '08
  21. ^ Clark, Dave, To DP, or not to DP, retrieved 2008-10-31

See also

Preceded by Division 1 soccer league in the United States
1996-Present 		Succeeded by
Current League

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