Major League Soccer
| Major League Soccer |
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Major League Soccer logo |
- Founded 1993 (first season in 1996)- Teams 12- 2005 MLS Cup winner Los Angeles Galaxy
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Locations of Major League Soccer teams |
Major League Soccer (
MLS) is the top
soccer league in the
United States in the
American Soccer Pyramid. It is sanctioned by the professional division of the
United States Soccer Federation (USSF or U.S. Soccer), which is a member of
Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). When
Toronto FC enters the league in 2007, MLS will replace the
USL First Division as the top soccer league in
Canada.
The format for the
2006 season is as follows:
*Season runs from
April 1,
2006 to a championship match played
November 12,
2006.
*12 teams split into two conferences of 6 teams each. Each team plays 32 games, 16 home and 16 away. Each team plays four games (two home, two away) against each opponent within its conference and two games (one home, one away) against non-conference opponents.
*The four top teams from each conference qualify for a knockout tournament. The winner of each conference will play for the
MLS Cup, the league championship.
*The team with the best record in the 32 game regular season wins the
MLS Supporters' Shield and qualifies for the next
CONCACAF Champions' Cup. The MLS Champion also Qualifies for the CONCACAF Champions' Cup. If the Supporters Shield winner wins the
MLS Cup, the runner up to the Supporters Shield is the second qualifier.
*During the season, MLS teams may also compete in the
U.S. Open Cup, the current CONCACAF Champions' Cup, select international tournaments, and various exhibitions.
MLS was formed on
December 17,
1993, in fulfillment of U.S. Soccer's promise to
FIFA to establish a "Division One" professional football (soccer) league in exchange for the staging of the
FIFA World Cup USA 1994 in the United States. The league began play in
1996 with ten teams and had strong attendance the first season. Numbers declined slightly after the first year, but have stabilized in subsequent years. The original 10 teams were divided into two conferences: the Eastern Conference (
Columbus Crew,
D.C. United,
New England Revolution,
NY/NJ MetroStars, and
Tampa Bay Mutiny), and Western Conference (
Colorado Rapids,
Dallas Burn,
Kansas City Wiz,
Los Angeles Galaxy and
San Jose Clash).
Expansion, contraction, and relocation
The league expanded to 12 teams in
1998, adding the
Chicago Fire to the Western Conference and
Miami Fusion to the Eastern Conference. In
2000 the league was reorganized into Eastern, Central, and Western Divisions; Chicago, Tampa Bay, Dallas, and Columbus were moved to the new Central Division. However, following the
2001 season, both Florida teams (Miami and Tampa Bay) were disbanded and the league contracted back to ten teams. The league returned to Eastern and Western Conferences, with Chicago now in the Eastern Conference.
Following the 2004 season, the league expanded again, adding
Real Salt Lake, located in
Salt Lake City,
Utah and
C.D. Chivas USA, which shares
The Home Depot Center with the Los Angeles Galaxy. The two new teams were placed in the Western Conference, with Kansas City moving East.
Following the conclusion of the 2005 season, the San Jose Earthquakes (formerly the San Jose Clash) were relocated to
Houston and renamed
Houston Dynamo. However, the Earthquakes' name and history was not transferred, with the possibility of an expansion franchise coming to San Jose as early as 2007.
MLS is expected to expand by two new teams by the 2007 season, with
Toronto having been approved by the league, and whose city council has approved the construction of a
soccer-specific stadium. MLS announced in May 2006 that Toronto's team would be called simply
Toronto FC. Other current expansion possibilities include
San Jose (a return of the Earthquakes),
Seattle,
Tulsa,
Cleveland,
St. Louis,
Milwaukee, and
Portland, Oregon. Other cities frequently mentioned for future expansion include
Rochester (home of a popular
USL team),
San Antonio,
Cincinnati,
Philadelphia,
Detroit, and a return to
Miami.
Name changes
In 1997, after only one year in the league, the Kansas City Wiz changed their name to the
Kansas City Wizards following a trademark dispute.
In 1998, the New York/New Jersey MetroStars dropped the
New York/New Jersey tag, becoming simply the
MetroStars. In 2000, the San Jose Clash changed their name to the
San Jose Earthquakes, an homage to a previous Earthquakes team that played in the
North American Soccer League from 1974 to 1984 and a popular choice with the team's fans.
In 2005, the Dallas Burn changed their name to
FC Dallas, with the FC standing for "Fútbol Club" according to the organization.
After the 2005 season, the San Jose franchise was relocated to Houston (with all records, and the team name, logo and colors held by the league to be used for a possible expansion team in San Jose). An online survey was held to select a name for the team, resulting in the name
Houston 1836. The name was meant to refer to the year the city was founded, and echoed a tradition in some parts of the world (particularly
Germany) of using years in football team names. However, some locals of Mexican descent (one of the primary target demographics for the team) resented the name, since 1836 was also the year of the war for Texan independence from Mexico and the defeat of General
Antonio López de Santa Anna. Sylvia Garcia, Harris County's first Hispanic commissioner in more than a century, rallied a boycott against the
1836 name in a city where Hispanics, most of them of Mexican descent, surpassed Anglos as the largest ethnic group in the city in the 2000 census and are about 42 percent of the population. The name was dropped, due to this political pressure and pressure from potential Hispanic media and sponsors, on
March 6,
2006, the 170th anniversary of the seizure of the
Alamo. The team was renamed
Houston Dynamo to honor Houston's electric industry, and a sliver of Houston's soccer past. The
Dynamo name is also widely used in eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union for teams such as
FC Dynamo Kiev and
FC Dynamo Moscow. Subsequently, MLS announced that after two unpopular online surveys (the other being Real Salt Lake), MLS will no longer use online polls to name future expansion teams.
In 2006, the MetroStars organization was renamed
Red Bull New York after being purchased by
Red Bull with the squad actually called the
New York Red Bulls.Stadiums
When the league was started, most teams played in stadiums built specifically for
NFL or
NCAA (college)
American football. However this is a considerable expense to the league, and to provide better facilities as well as to control revenue for the stadia, a major goal of MLS management is to build its own stadiums, which are often called "
soccer-specific stadiums".
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 team that has built its own stadium has not only seen its game attendance rise, but also has helped MLS to come closer to the ultimate goal of breaking even financially. Thanks to their new stadium, the Los Angeles Galaxy were the first team to make a profit, and several other MLS teams are predicted to make a profit within the next few years.
In
1999,
Lamar Hunt personally financed the construction of
Columbus Crew Stadium, the first major stadium ever built from the ground up specifically for soccer in the United States. The Crew formerly played at
Ohio Stadium on the campus of The
Ohio State University, but were forced to find a new home when the university began renovations on the stadium.
The Los Angeles Galaxy got a new home beginning with the
2003 season,
The Home Depot Center (HDC) located in
Carson, California. In the first year of operation, the HDC hosted the MLS All-Star Game, the 2003 Women's World Cup (including the championship final), and the 2003 MLS Cup Final. The Galaxy previously played at the
Rose Bowl in
Pasadena, California. In 2005, expansion team C.D. Chivas USA joined the Galaxy as tenants at the HDC.
In August 2005, FC Dallas moved to
Pizza Hut Park, a new soccer-specific stadium in the northern Dallas suburb of
Frisco. The team, previously known as the Dallas Burn, played at the
Cotton Bowl until the 2003 season, when they moved to
Dragon Stadium in
Southlake, Texas, an American football stadium belonging to the Carroll Independent School District. Like Chicago's home during this time, Dragon Stadium featured a
FieldTurf surface with permanently-painted American football lines which were unpopular with fans. In 2004 they returned to the Cotton Bowl and announced plans for the Frisco stadium.
Two teams, the New England Revolution and the Kansas City Wizards, are operated by the owners of their cities' respective NFL teams and use those teams' stadia: New England plays in
Gillette Stadium, and the Wizards play at
Arrowhead Stadium. Real Salt Lake plays in
Rice-Eccles Stadium located on the campus of the
University of Utah. The remaining teams rent stadiums to play in: Colorado Rapids play at
INVESCO Field at Mile High, D.C. United plays in
Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, and Red Bull New York plays in
Giants Stadium.
From 1996-2005, the San Jose Earthquakes played in
Spartan Stadium located at
San José State University. Attempts were made to finance a soccer-specific stadium in the Bay Area, but failed, resulting in the club's relocation to Houston.
The Houston Dynamo plays its home matches at
Robertson Stadium, located on the campus of the
University of Houston. The club has a three-year lease with the university, allowing club officials to secure a deal for a soccer-specific stadium within that time frame.
The Colorado Rapids broke ground on an, as yet, unnamed new facility in
Commerce City,
Colorado in 2005, while Real Salt Lake recently announced plans for a new stadium to be located in
Sandy, Utah. The Colorado Rapids new stadium is currently under construction and set to be finished in time for the 2007 season, while Real Salt Lake's
Sandy Stadium was delayed by the Utah legislature, which only recently approved a taxing authority that would allow the team and Sandy, Utah to build the facility. Its completion is expected by 2009.
The Chicago Fire played at
Soldier Field from 1996-2005, excluding the 2002 and 2003 seasons, which was when the stadium was undergoing renovations. While renovations took place, the club played at
North Central College's
Cardinal Stadium in
Naperville, Illinois. The
artificial turf permanently marked with lines for American football was a disappointment to the fans. In late 2003 renovations were completed and the Fire returned to Soldier Field, and that same year they announced plans for a new soccer-specific stadium in
Bridgeview, Illinois, to be named
Toyota Park. Ground was broken for the stadium in November 2004 and the facility played its first game in June
2006.
Red Bull New York is planning to move to
Red Bull Park in
Harrison, New Jersey in June 2008. D.C. United has proposed the new
Poplar Point Stadium in Washington D.C. to open in 2009. Their current status requires sharing
RFK Stadium with the
Washington Nationals of
MLB.
MLS announced its first non-US team may be based out of a brand new, public and privately funded, provincially approved soccer-specific stadium in
Toronto. The stadium will be owned by the City of Toronto and will be operated by
Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment.
National Soccer Stadium at Exhibition Place would hold approximately 20,000-25,000 fans, and cost roughly 80 million
Canadian dollars. This team will be the sole expansion team to join the league in the 2007 season, with MLS receiving bids from several other major cities for league franchises to join in 2008.
Current MLS teams with a
soccer-specific stadium include the Los Angeles Galaxy, C.D. Chivas USA, FC Dallas, the Chicago Fire, and the Columbus Crew. This is set to double in the next two years according to MLS. The Chicago Fire were the fifth MLS team to have their own soccer stadium, and have the only new stadium opened in 2006. In 2007
Toronto FC is expected to have their own for their first year, and the Colorado Rapids will join them as the 6th and 7th teams in the league with their own stadiums. Following them will be the New York Red Bulls'
Red Bull Park in 2008. For the 2009 season Real Salt Lake will open their own new stadium in
Sandy, Utah, while a possible Philadelphia area team may play in a new stadium being planned for
Rowan University's west campus in
Glassboro, New Jersey, a close suburb of Philadelphia. D.C. United's planned
Poplar Point Stadium, seating some 27,000, is expected to start construction soon and be completed by 2010. Houston Dynamo, New England Revolution[
1], and the Kansas City Wizards are still searching for possible stadium sites.
Profitability
Major League Soccer since its founding has lost more than $350 million, according to a report by
BusinessWeek in
2004.
[Soccer: Time To Kick It Up A Notch.] However, several signs and trends in media, a landmark TV rights deal, and trends in the league itself suggest that situation is going to change within the next decade or so. The first reason for this change is the much greater availability of soccer on American television, with the Fox Soccer Channel, ESPN, ABC, ESPN2, and other channels now having coverage of MLS, various Latin American leagues, the
English Premier League, the German
Bundesliga and Italian
Serie A, as well as the World Cup. The exposure to so much more soccer on television helps to erase the image of MLS as being a league of a 'niche' sport.
The second trend noticed is the growing amount of money and profit to be had in soccer (in the US) thanks to increasing advertisements and the idea of building soccer-specific stadiums to better control revenue and earnings. All new MLS franchises are now expected to have soccer-specific stadium plans, and only a few of the old teams in the league do not have stadiums under construction or on the drawing board.
According to
The Virginian-Pilot (
Norfolk, VA), "The Los Angeles Galaxy made a profit the year they opened their new stadium, the Home Depot Center, in 2003. They've made a profit every year since. FC Dallas, which opened its new stadium â€" Pizza Hut Park â€" in August, is projecting a profitable season in 2006. Several more MLS stadiums are in various stages of development." Some say the Chicago Fire are also on their way to being profitable, with
Fox Soccer Channel's
Jamie Trecker reporting that "Season tickets sales have doubled; 31 of the 42 club suites (which range from $25,000-$60,000) are spoken for and 80% of the 1000 'swanky' club seats are locked down." Official site information shows however that shortly after his visit to the Fire's new stadium, the central club seat section was sold out for the entire season, with the others filling up rapidly. With more soccer-specific stadiums being built, increasing TV coverage, and a steadily growing fanbase, it appears MLS is on its way to profitability, albeit slowly.
Moreover,
The Virginian-Pilot reported that MLS may get its first ever rights fees for television, greatly improving its chances as a league to outlive the old
NASL and
MISL. According to the article, American media has more interest in soccer than just covering the World Cup, saying "The interest also extends beyond the World Cup. Part of the agreement for
2010 and
2014 includes a handshake deal that likely will extend the MLS television contract with ABC/ESPN, and give the league its first rights fees. The fees may even be enough to immediately make MLS profitable, and thus do the same for nearly all its teams."
The Los Angeles Times reports "As a further indicator of the league's health, MLS season-ticket sales rose by 25% this off-season, the highest jump in league history, Garber said." The LA Times quotes Commissioner Garber as saying, "In addition, MLS soon will announce new television contracts with ABC, ESPN and Univision". These will take effect in 2007 and will include "the first rights fees that MLS, and I believe professional soccer, has ever had from major network broadcasters."
Less than a year after that article was written, MLS and
ESPN announced that the network would be paying the MLS its first ever rights fees to air its games, and would produce the games instead of MLS and also promote the sport on its networks with more time on Sportscenter and a primetime slot on Thursday on ESPN2 right after Sportscenter [
2]. The deal is said to be worth between 7-8 million dollars a year, and will extend from the 2007 season through to 2014. This deal is said to be a landmark event for professional soccer in the United States. Combined with other broadcasting rights deals (Fox Soccer Channel, HDNet, and Univision), the league in 2007 will take in almost 20 million dollars in TV rights for the first time.
Major League Soccer has several other things beginning to turn its way as well, not least of which is money invested in it. In the last two years, over 1 billion dollars of investment money was poured into the league investing in everything from new stadiums, to the Adidas shirt/soccer promotion sponsorship, to
Soccer United Marketing's (marketing arm of MLS) 400 million dollar plus sale of the US broadcast rights for the next two World Cups. Besides investment, fan support appears to be strengthening, with season tickets sales some 20% higher than last season's. With the addition of 6 more stadiums by 2010, MLS will finally have a solid majority of its teams in venues that will allow them to earn more, create a better atmosphere (and more die-hard fans), and will be able to expand in a more careful manner because the league will be much more financially stable and may make a profit for the first time. Time will tell when, if ever, MLS has its "breakout year" in terms of profits, growth, media exposure, and an improved quality of play.
[A Breakout Year For Soccer?]Recently MLS Commissioner Don Garber said
[MLS:Franchises to profit by 2010] that he expects the league overall to be profitable by 2010, saying that the FC Dallas and LA Galaxy franchises are already profitable, with several other franchises nearing profitability according to earlier remarks: the Chicago Fire and New England Revolution. Once the league expands to 16 teams and 10 stadiums by 2010, it is anticipated that the MLS will make a profit overall for the first time ever. That combined with the new television rights fees may finally push the MLS over the edge to profitability. The only difficulty for the league is getting the stadiums constructed, as many international clubs like
Chelsea and others have expressed interest in or already have formed partnerships with teams and owners in the league, meaning ownership issues are no longer as acute as they once were.
Ownership
Arguably, the most important reason for the long-term success of MLS is because of its single entity organization and ownership structure. In this organization structure, revenues are shared amongst the league, and player contracts are negotiated by the league with team salary caps of 2 million dollars being sometimes ruthlessly enforced by League management. This has kept costs under control, player salaries centrally controlled, losses minimized, and thanks to this and the decision to terminate the two money losing Florida franchises, MLS has managed to survive its first decade of existence. This in turn has attracted new ownership that can put more money into the league and improve it by focusing their money and attention on fewer franchises. Examples include the
Anschutz Entertainment Group's sale of the MetroStars to
Red Bull. According to the Los Angeles Times, MLS Commissioner Garber said 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."
It appears that Commissioner Garber and MLS management has said it is pushing these changes as part of a new ownership strategy, one in which each owner has a single team, and is better able to focus their resources upon that team, like the owners of the New York Red Bulls (all Red Bulls matches will now be televised). Commissioner Garber has stated that having multiple teams 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, it wants each team to have its own owner.
An example of this is the recent diversification of MLS ownership, with some teams being sold off to local investors or major international companies, like Red Bull. According to the The
New York Times, Red Bull paid the Anschutz Entertainment Group "in excess of $100 million" for the MetroStars, which includes complete ownership of the team, naming rights to their new stadium (now known as Red Bull Park), and a 50% stake in the stadium itself, with AEG being responsible for the stadium's operations. This transaction is a record for MLS, and brings MLS closer to having the more diversified owner-investors group it wants. For an example of just how undiversified MLS ownership was, the elimination of the league's two
Florida franchises left MLS with 10 teams, six of which were owned by
billionaire Philip Anschutz's AEG.
Since that time AEG has sold two of those teams, and has attempted to also sell D.C. United and at one time, their former San Jose franchise, the San Jose Earthquakes. AEG's remaining teams are the successful L.A. Galaxy (leads the league in attendance and profit), the popular Chicago Fire, the accomplished D.C. United, and the recently moved Houston Dynamo. An example of AEG's utter dominance of MLS financially and competition-wise is the MLS Cup: AEG-owned teams have been in every Cup since the league's founding in 1996. The other major owner-investor in MLS is the
Hunt Sports, which owns the Columbus Crew, FC Dallas, and the Kansas City Wizards. AEG and HS MLS teams can between them lay claim to every single MLS Cup title.
Rule changes
In an attempt to "Americanize" the sport, MLS experimented with rule changes in its early years. The clock, which counts up in international soccer, would instead count down, and would stop on dead ball situations, at referee's discretion. Once the clock hit 0:00, the game would be over. The other major change was the inception of shootouts to resolve tie games. If the game ended in a draw, a situation similar to a
penalty shootout would ensue. A shootout attempt mimicked a
penalty shot in
ice hockey in that it consisted of a player getting the ball 35 yards from the goal and five seconds to put it past the goalkeeper. Just like with penalties, it was a best-of-five competition, and if the score was still tied, the tiebreaker would head to an extra frame. The winning team would get one point (as opposed to three for the regulation win), the losing team zero.
The rule changes, especially the shootout, failed to bring in a wider American audience, and alienated some traditional fans. The tiebreaker was gone after the 1999 season. MLS experimented in settling tie games with
golden goal overtime periods from 2000 to 2003 (the tie would stand if no team scored after ten minutes), but in 2004 dropped the extra session, turning to a more traditional model of letting ties stand.
Previous 1st division professional soccer leagues
There have been several previous professional soccer leagues in the US and Canada, most notably the
North American Soccer League (NASL;
1968-
1984), which featured, among others, soccer legend
Pelé. The NASL failed for a number of reasons, ranging from short-sighted spending policies to overexpansion to over reliance on foreign players. Following the collapse of the NASL, only the
Major Indoor Soccer League operated as a first division league in the United States. However, this league was disdained by soccer purists and faced many of the same problems as the NASL. It ceased operation in
1992, and there was no major first division league in the United States until the formation of MLS.
Top-level American soccer leagues have generally struggled, even though the amateur and semipro levels of the game have flourished. (On an amateur participation level, it is arguably the most popular team sport in North America, with the exception of
baseball.) There are a variety of theories which have been offered to explain this fact. Some blame the continual nature of soccer, with relatively few set plays or fixed positions. This pace has a feel that may be relatively unfamiliar to the average American, as the action in the most popular American sports comes in fairly distinct units (i.e., the baseball at-bat, the football play, even the basketball possession). Others attribute failures to the low-scoring nature of the game; still others blame the perception of soccer as a "foreign" sport.
In the age of
cable TV and the
internet, American professional soccer also suffers from the comparison with European and Latin American competitions whose games can easily be followed in the states (basketball, ice hockey, and baseball are also truly international sports, but the best clubs in all three sports are all located in North America).
However, even though MLS is not expected to reach the perceived status of a
major professional league in the foreseeable future, the survival of the league for at least several more years appears secure.
In contrast to most other established professional sports leagues in the United States and abroad, but like most recently founded leagues, MLS is organized as a "single-entity" organization, in which the league (rather than individual teams) contracts directly with the players, in an effort to control spending and labor costs, share revenue, promote parity and maximize exposure. Each team has an owner/investor and the league allows an owner to have more than one team, although this may be more because of the lack of willing investors than the single-entity structure itself.
Unlike most European leagues, which generally have fairly loose roster limits, the full roster for each MLS team is limited to a maximum of 18 senior players, plus a maximum of ten roster-protected players. Of the 18 senior players, MLS teams are allowed a maximum of four senior (over the age of 25) international players on their active roster, as well as three youth international players (under the age of 25). In MLS, a player is not considered an international (regardless of eligibility to play for the U.S. National Team) if he is a U.S. citizen, is a resident alien (
green card), or is under asylum protection. International players are so defined by U.S. Soccer to accord with U.S. Immigration and Naturalization laws, which prohibit an employer from limiting the number of permanent or temporary residents, refugees, and asylees.
As a result of these restrictions, most of the players in the league are from the United States, but some are renowned international players, with
Latin America and the
Caribbean being the home region for the largest number of international players.
Toronto FC, the new MLS team for 2007, is negotiating a different set of rules with MLS regarding internationals. Due to Canadian immigration laws, there can be no restrictions on the number of Canadians playing for a Canadian team — and International players will be considered non-Canadians.
In Europe, MLS is often viewed as a 'retirement league' on par with the old
NASL, where stars who are past their prime can collect easy paychecks. Although this may have been true of the early years of the league, far fewer older players have been imported recently.
Lothar Matthäus spent a forgettable year with the MetroStars, Mexican star
Luis Hernández was a big flop in LA, Korean star
Hong Myung-Bo failed to earn a position in the Galaxy's starting lineup, and the league has seen a high percentage of failures from less notable foreign veterans. One of the few recent exceptions to this trend, both as a veteran and as a success, is current Red Bull New York player
Youri Djorkaeff. The league has instead focused more on acquiring talented young players from the
CONCACAF region, such as recent successes
Amado Guevara,
Carlos Ruiz, and
Damani Ralph. MLS has also become a springboard for young American players looking to join wealthier European teams, with
Tim Howard,
Carlos Bocanegra,
Clint Mathis,
Bobby Convey and
DaMarcus Beasley being the most notable recent exports. Mathis has since come back to MLS, currently playing for the Colorado Rapids. A number of young Americans have also chosen to come back to play in the league instead of languishing on Europe's benches and reserve teams including
Gus Kartes,
Taylor Twellman,
Philip Salyer, and
Kenny Cooper. Another young American,
Landon Donovan, was, at his request, loaned to MLS by his
German Bundesliga club,
Bayer Leverkusen and, after briefly returning to Germany, subsequently purchased by the league. Currently, he plays for the Los Angeles Galaxy.
A number of high-profile players, such as
David Beckham[Beckham might end career in United States] and
Ronaldo[MUTUAL ADMIRATION SOCIETY Red Bulls interested in Ronaldo and vice versa], have made statements about playing in MLS towards the end of their career. However, how such players would fit under MLS's tight salary cap is unknown; a one-player-per-team salary exemption has been rumored (See also:
Beckham rule).
Unlike most other nations, there is currently no system of
promotion and relegation in American soccer; although repeated suggestions for such a system have been made, such an organization does not exist in any sport in America, and the disparity in attendance between divisions makes such a vertical integration impractical. It is highly unlikely that any professional sport in the United States will have any such system in the foreseeable future due to lack of popular minor league teams, certain opposition from team owner/operators in top-level professional leagues (including MLS) and even geographical considerations (America's huge landmass is often cited as a reason promotion and relegation never took hold there in the first place).
Eastern Conference;Western Conference2007 Expansion
* Toronto FC [TFC Talks - "Light The Fire"]Defunct teams
*Miami Fusion (1998-2001)
*Tampa Bay Mutiny (1996-2001)
*San Jose Earthquakes (1996-2005)Possible future expansion/relocation candidates
Plans/Negotiations underway
* Atlanta, Georgia [Twenty questions with Commissioner Garber]
* Cleveland, Ohio (located in/around Macedonia, OH) (possible 2008 or 2009 expansion) [Real estate fee hike could pay for stadium] [Meeting the Don: Notes on a Media Round Table]
* Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Possible 2008 or 2009 expansion, pending stadium deal) [Fire work done, Wilt hopes to get franchise in Milwaukee]
* Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (located in Glassboro, New Jersey) (2009 expansion) [MLS supports Rowan's stadium plan]
* San Jose Earthquakes (possible 2008 or 2009 return)[Oakland A's ownership group purchases option to bring Major League Soccer back to Bay Area] [Dear Earthquakes fans...]
* St. Louis, Missouri [Meeting the Don: Notes on a Media Round Table]Other frequently mentioned cities for expansion
* Detroit, Michigan
* Hartford, Connecticut
* Las Vegas, Nevada
* Miami, Florida
* New York City, New York
* Orlando, Florida
* Phoenix, Arizona
* Portland, Oregon
* Rochester, New York
* San Antonio, Texas
* San Diego, California
* Seattle, Washington
*1996 D.C. United 3-2 (OT) Los Angeles Galaxy (match report)
*1997 D.C. United 2-1 Colorado Rapids (match report)
*1998 Chicago Fire 2-0 D.C. United (match report)
*1999 D.C. United 2-0 Los Angeles Galaxy (match report)
*2000 Kansas City Wizards 1-0 Chicago Fire (match report)
*2001 San Jose Earthquakes 2-1 (OT) Los Angeles Galaxy (match report)
*2002 Los Angeles Galaxy 1-0 (2OTs) New England Revolution (match report)
*2003 San Jose Earthquakes 4-2 Chicago Fire (match report)
*2004 D.C. United 3-2 Kansas City Wizards (match report)
*2005 Los Angeles Galaxy 1-0 (OT) New England Revolution (match report){|valign="top"|
* Freddy Adu, D.C. United
* Chris Armas, Chicago Fire
* Joe Cannon, Colorado Rapids
* Ronald Cerritos, Houston Dynamo
* Brian Ching, Houston Dynamo
* Jimmy Conrad, Kansas City Wizards
* Clint Dempsey, New England Revolution
* Dwayne De Rosario, Houston Dynamo
* Youri Djorkaeff, New York Red Bulls
* Landon Donovan, Los Angeles Galaxy
* Amado Guevara, New York Red Bulls
* Kevin Hartman, Los Angeles Galaxy
* Shaka Hislop, FC Dallas
* Eddie Johnson, Kansas City Wizards
* Cobi Jones, Los Angeles Galaxy
* Pablo Mastroeni, Colorado Rapids
* Clint Mathis, Colorado Rapids |
* Tony Meola, New York Red Bulls
* Jaime Moreno, D.C. United
* John O'Brien, Chivas USA
* Pat Onstad, Houston Dynamo
* Francisco Palencia, Chivas USA
* Eddie Pope, Real Salt Lake
* Ramón RamÃrez, Chivas USA
* Ante Razov, Chivas USA
* Matt Reis, New England Revolution
* Carlos Ruiz, FC Dallas
* Claudio Suárez, Chivas USA
* Zach Thornton, Chicago Fire
* Taylor Twellman, New England Revolution
* Josh Wolff, Kansas City Wizards
* Christian Gomez, D.C. United | 
