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Major League Soccer
File:MajorLeagueSoccer.png
Founded1993
First season1996
CountryUnited States United States
Canada Canada
ConfederationCONCACAF
Divisions2 (Eastern and Western)
Number of teams14 (15 in 2009, 16 in 2010)
Domestic cup(s)U.S. Open Cup
International cup(s)CONCACAF Champions League
SuperLiga
Copa Sudamericana by invitation
Current championsHouston Dynamo
Current ShieldD.C. United
Most championshipsD.C. United (4)
Most Supporters' ShieldsD.C. United (4)
TV partnersABC, ESPN2,
FSC, HDNet, &
TeleFutura
WebsiteMLSnet.com
Current: 2008 MLS season

Major League Soccer (MLS) is the premier men's professional soccer league of the United States and Canada. With thirteen teams located in the U.S. and one in Canada, MLS represents the top tier of the American and Canadian Soccer Pyramids. Seasons run from late March or early April to November, with teams playing 30 regular season games each. Winners of the postseason playoff compete in the league championship game, the MLS Cup.

Founded on December 17, 1993, MLS was established to fulfill a promise to FIFA from Alan Rothenberg and the US Soccer Federation to establish a "Division One" professional soccer league in exchange for staging the 1994 FIFA World Cup. The new league began play in 1996 with ten teams.

Competition format

The 2008 regular season runs from March 29 to October 26. The 14 teams in the league are split into the Eastern and Western Conferences with seven teams each. 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 full schedule for the 2008 Major League Soccer season was announced in February 2008. The postseason runs from October 30 to November 23, culminating with MLS Cup 2008 at The Home Depot Center in Carson, CA.

With its win at the MLS Cup, the Houston Dynamo qualified for the final CONCACAF Champions' Cup. D.C. United also qualified for the CONCACAF Champions' Cup by virtue of its winning the MLS Supporters' Shield for the top regular-season record.

Four American teams will play in the inaugural CONCACAF Champions League in late 2008 and early 2009. The MLS Cup Champion, Supporters' Shield winner, MLS Cup runner-up, and Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup champion will each participate in the tournament. Because the New England Revolution were both the MLS runners-up and Open Cup champions, the MLS team with the next-highest regular season point total, Chivas USA, will participate.[1] D.C. United and the Houston Dynamo will be automatically seeded into the group stage, while New England and Chivas USA will play in a preliminary stage. In addition, Toronto FC may qualify the Canadian slot in the tournament after playing the Vancouver Whitecaps and Montreal Impact of the United Soccer Leagues in the Canadian Championship.

SuperLiga, an MLS-Primera División de México competition, enters its second year during July and early August. Houston Dynamo (MLS Champion), New England Revolution (MLS runner-up), D.C. United (Supporters' Shield winner and Eastern Conference champion) and Chivas USA (Western Conference champion) will play in the 2008 tournament.

History

MLS Major Trophy Winners
Season MLS Cup
Playoff and League Champions 		Supporters' Shield
Regular Season Champions
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

Early years

The league was greeted with indifference by the American mainstream [weasel words] as the 1994 World Cup in the United States faded from memory. By 1996, the original ten teams, Columbus Crew, D.C. United, New England Revolution, NY/NJ MetroStars, Tampa Bay Mutiny, Colorado Rapids, Dallas Burn, Kansas City Wizards, Los Angeles Galaxy and San Jose Clash, were ready for play. The early years gave rise to the Bruce Arena-led dynasty of D.C. United, a championship team in three of the league's first four seasons. It took the expansion Chicago Fire in 1998 to end United's stranglehold on the MLS Cup. The championship game featured several players who went on to have a broader impact on MLS and American soccer.

After its first season, MLS suffered from a decline in attendance. The league's quality of play was cast into doubt when the United States men's national soccer team, largely made up of American MLS players, was eliminated during the first round of the 1998 FIFA World Cup and finished in last place among the 32 participating countries. However, some of the 1998 cup players were kept aboard to join up-and-coming players in the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

The league began to market itself on the talents of American players, both experienced veterans and fresh talents. DaMarcus Beasley and Landon Donovan made names for themselves in MLS, while players such as Brian McBride and Clint Mathis continued proving their worth to their domestic and national teams.

The league's ongoing financial problems led to the departure of Commissioner Doug Logan after the end of the 1998 season. In his place was hired Don Garber, a former NFL International chief whose 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 teams elsewhere in the world. The run-up to the 2002 World Cup saw a gradual shift in league philosophy toward the development of American talent, a move that would eventually reap success for American soccer. One such player was young Landon Donovan, who was loaned from the German club Bayer Leverkusen to the San Jose Earthquakes. He made an immediate impact with the team, scoring a goal against the Los Angeles Galaxy in the 2001 MLS Cup to force overtime in the team's first championship win.

Resurgence

The 2002 FIFA World Cup in Korea and Japan, in which the United States unexpectedly made the quarterfinal round based on wins against Portugal and Mexico, saw a resurgence in American soccer and in MLS. The 2002 MLS Cup, held four months after the World Cup final, set the championship attendance record with a sellout crowd at Gillette Stadium that saw the Los Angeles Galaxy win their first title. From 2001, both Los Angeles and the San Jose Earthquakes would hoist the trophy twice, while D.C. United returned to prominence in the 2004 MLS Cup, in the aftermath of an exciting Eastern Conference championship against the New England Revolution.

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

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

Many American players, while factoring little in the national team picture, did make an impact in MLS. In 2005, Jason Kreis of the expansion Real Salt Lake became the first player in MLS history to score at least 100 career league goals. In Kansas City, goalkeeper Bo Oshoniyi took the place of injured Tony Meola and helped the Wizards return to MLS Cup in 2004, with the team nearly clinching a playoff berth one season later. Herculez Gomez made a name for himself playing with the Galaxy in his first three MLS seasons, scoring the game-winning goal in the 2005 U.S. Open Cup final. In 2005, MLS created its Reserve Division, with each team's reserve squad playing 12 games, providing valuable playing time to develop non-starters on the team roster. The D.C. United Reserves in 2005 won the first Reserve Division title.

2006-present

Since 2006, Major League Soccer's leadership has taken steps to 'internationalize' MLS in an effort to raise the level of play. Among the first moves in this regard was the creation of the Designated Player Rule, which helped MLS bring international star players into the league. The second step MLS took in internationalizing its game was the creation of SuperLiga in 2007. Superliga pits the best MLS teams against the top Mexican sides in an effort to provide more meaningful competition. The competition was judged a success by influential soccer writers, such as Steve Davis at ESPN. MLS further pushed itself into an 'international era' by changing the foreign player rules before the 2008 season.[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 product of both American and international soccer. Piotr Nowak, once a Chicago Fire player, managed the All-Star team to a win in the 2006 All-Star Game over Chelsea F.C., while former Liverpool player Steve Nicol led his team to MLS Cup for the third time in five years. Bob Bradley, whose reputation was scarred by disappointing results when coaching the MetroStars, turned around the second-year Chivas USA, who in their inaugural season finished last among all teams in the league. Among players, Jaime Moreno continued to display his veteran experience, while Christian Gomez and Dwayne De Rosario excelled for D.C. United and Houston Dynamo, respectively. The Dynamo, who moved from San Jose before the season, took the championship in their first season in Houston. The title game featured names familiar to many American soccer fans; Taylor Twellman scored for the first time in three championship games in overtime, while Brian Ching scored the equalizer only moments later, sending the game into a penalty kick shootout where goalkeeper Pat Onstad secured the win for Houston Dynamo.

The 2007 season saw the MLS debut of David Beckham, whose signing has been seen as a coup for American soccer. David Beckham's signing by the Los Angeles Galaxy was made possible by the Designated Player Rule. He has been followed by four more designated players, including Marcelo Gallardo (Paris Saint-Germain) to D.C. United, Cuauhtémoc Blanco (Club América) to Chicago Fire, Denílson (Palmeiras, previously Real Betis) to FC Dallas, and Claudio Reyna (Manchester City) and Juan Pablo Ángel (Aston Villa) to New York Red Bulls. Red Bull's use of two designated players has boosted the club tremendously, with both players already improving the team's on-field performance considerably.

The departure of Clint Dempsey to Fulham, and New York's debut of former United States captain Claudio Reyna, highlights an exchange of top prospects to Europe for experienced veterans to the United States. Several other well-known foreign players have followed Beckham and other designated players to MLS for the 2007 season, including Guillermo Barros Schelotto (to Columbus), Luciano Emilio (to D.C.), Ronald Waterreus (to New York), and Abel Xavier (to Los Angeles).[3]

Poor starts to the 2007 season for the league's once-considered elite teams have contrasted with strong performances by the likes of Dallas and New York. Toronto FC, the league's newest addition, became the last team in the league to earn a point or score a goal in the 2007 season, until sellout crowds at their new BMO Field helped propel them to two straight victories. In the Western Conference, Dallas and the Colorado Rapids have led the way, ahead of a weak field of teams, including both Los Angeles franchises and Real Salt Lake, the last team in the league to notch a win this season. Recently, after poor starts, the defending MLS Cup Champion Houston Dynamo and the Supporters Cup Champion D.C. United have gone on streaks and returned to last season's form, with the Dynamo going on an impressive shutout run of 7 consecutive games where they have not given up a single goal to their opponents, tallying a league record 726 consecutive minutes of scoreless time.

In the inaugural 2007 SuperLiga, the Los Angeles Galaxy lost 4-3 on penalty kicks after tying CF Pachuca with a last minute bicycle kick by midfielder Chris Klein. The victory of Pachuca in the $1 million tournament overshadowed the fact that it was the only Mexican team that made it to the second round (3 MLS teams did so — Houston Dynamo, Los Angeles Galaxy, and D.C. United). ESPN's Steve Davis has declared the first Superliga a success, saying, "First, SuperLiga has been everything its architects could want. The matches have been spirited and tightly contested, spun with quality and layered with just the right amount of acrimony. So the Houston Dynamo, D.C. United, FC Dallas and the Los Angeles Galaxy may have just finished the most meaningful week of matches ever for MLS teams in the month of July".[4] This follows on news that MLS and Primera División de México are considering increasing the size of the tournament from 4 invited teams from each league to eight teams from each league that must fight to qualify for next year's tournament.

At the end of the 2007 season, in a near-repeat of the previous final, the Houston Dynamo defeated the New England Revolution 2-1 in the 2007 MLS Cup. It marked the second victory in a row by the Dynamo over the Revolution in the final in two consecutive years. Following the end of the 2007 season, MLS announced the creation of the Pan Pacific Championship, with two MLS teams taking on teams from Japan and Australia.[5]

Teams


There are fourteen 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 men are eligible for selection to the game-day squad. Throughout its history, a total of sixteen clubs have competed in the league, but only six have won the MLS Cup.

MLS added its first two expansion teams in the 1998 season, the Chicago Fire and Miami Fusion FC. However, following the 2001 season, Miami and Tampa Bay Mutiny were disbanded and the league contracted back to ten. Following the 2004 season to the present, the league has expanded by four new teams: Real Salt Lake and CD Chivas USA in 2005, the Houston Dynamo relocating from San Jose in 2006, and Toronto FC in 2007. Although the San Jose Earthquakes relocated to Houston, the Earthquakes’ name and history were not transferred making the Dynamo an expansion team. The 2008 season saw the Earthquakes return bringing the total number of clubs to fourteen.

For the current 2008 season, teams are aligned as follows:

Team City Founded Arena
Eastern Conference
Chicago Fire Bridgeview, IL 1997 Toyota Park1
Columbus Crew Columbus, OH 1994 Columbus Crew Stadium1
DC United Washington, DC 1995 RFK Stadium2
Kansas City Wizards Kansas City, KS 1995 CommunityAmerica Ballpark2
New England Revolution Foxborough, MA 1995 Gillette Stadium2
Red Bull New York East Rutherford, NJ 1995 Giants Stadium2
Toronto FC Toronto, ON 2006 BMO Field1
Western Conference
CD Chivas USA Carson, CA 2004 The Home Depot Center1
Colorado Rapids Commerce City, CO 1995 Dick's Sporting Goods Park1
FC Dallas Frisco, TX 1996 Pizza Hut Park1
Houston Dynamo Houston, TX 2005 Robertson Stadium2
Los Angeles Galaxy Carson, CA 1995 The Home Depot Center1
Real Salt Lake Salt Lake City, UT 2004 Rice-Eccles Stadium2
San Jose Earthquakes Santa Clara, CA 1995 Buck Shaw Stadium12
McAfee Coliseum (Oakland, CA) big games

Expansion

MLS plans on expanding to 18 teams by 2012 with currently two of the remaining four declared. To begin league play in 2009, the first of these teams will be Seattle Sounders FC. The week of MLS Cup 2007, commissioner Don Garber made the official announcement. The primary ownership includes USL Seattle 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.

At a February 28, 2008 press conference, Garber announced the 16th franchise would be a Philadelphia MLS team based in nearby Chester, Pennsylvania. Joining the league in the 2010 season, the Philadelphia club will play in an 20,000-seat stadium to be built just west of the Commodore Barry Bridge. No name has been announced.

While no other cities have been named for the 17th and 18th spots, St. Louis is considered the next frontrunner.[8] MLS has declared interest in Atlanta, Montreal, Detroit, Portland, San Diego, Vancouver[9], a return to Miami, and a second team in New York.

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 FC were the two exceptions that adopted more traditional names. However, new teams such as Real Salt Lake, Houston Dynamo, and Toronto FC have been adopting names similar to popular European clubs. In addition the San Jose Clash and Dallas Burn were renamed San Jose Earthquakes (1999) and FC Dallas (2005) respectively. In 2008 Seattle Sounders FC used a public vote to select a name. The public vote began with more traditional names (Seattle Alliance, Seattle Republic, and Seattle FC), and because many fans wanted to keep the Sounders name, the team added a fourth "write in" option. A derivative of Sounders won the online vote resulting in team ownership selecting a name that incorporated both a traditional football team name and a nickname with long-held ties to the local soccer culture.

Organization

Major League Soccer has been known more for its front office and management dealings than its on-field product.[dubious – discuss] In the off-season, expansion, contraction and rebranding have become buzzwords for the league and its fans. Recently the league has started to focus on improving the quality of play its teams produces on the field via new rules like the Designated Player Rule and through the creation of a league-wide youth development system.[10]

"Game First"

The 2007 MLS offseason is considered by some to be its most productive,[11] and there have been a number of changes for the league, bringing about a slow rise in its standings both financially and athletically. The league announced a youth development initiative[10], which will require youth development teams for all the league's teams, to help the league develop "home-grown" talent on its own. 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 and talent pool of the league organically and also benefit from the transfer fees they may bring. Perhaps the first example of a success in "home-grown" talent development is New York's Josmer Altidore, who has risen to prominence as one of the league's most skilled young strikers.

Furthering the development of the league was the decision to create the Designated Player Rule, which allows for a league team to pay up to two players a salary beyond that covered in the salary cap at their own expense. Following David Beckham to MLS are a host of veteran players, including Cuauhtémoc Blanco, Claudio Reyna, Juan Pablo Ángel, Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Paulo Wanchope, Abel Xavier, Celestine Babayaro and Denílson. Following the creation of the Designated Player Rule, the league announced in conjunction with the La Primera División del Futbol Mexicano (Mexican First Division) that it would be creating a tournament called Superliga, which would start in 2007, with four teams from MLS and four from Mexico competing for a US$1 million purse to become the champions of North American club soccer.[12] These matches will initially only be covered in Spanish by Univision and Telefutura. Currently an English language broadcaster has not signed to cover the tournament, although an English-language broadcast is streamed online.

Following these announcements the league announced "Game-First", a series of initiatives aimed at improving the league in myriad of ways. One of the most immediate changes is that U.S. Soccer hired the first full-time professional referees in league history.[13]

Stadiums

When the league was started, most clubs played in stadiums built specifically for NFL or NCAA (college) football. This was based on the record attendances achieved at the 1994 FIFA World Cup. However, this turned out to be a considerable expense to the league because of modest attendance and poor lease deals. To provide better facilities as well as to control revenue for the stadium, a major goal of MLS is to build its own stadiums, which are often called soccer-specific stadiums.

Since 1999, the league has seen 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. CD Chivas USA has shared this venue with the Galaxy since their expansion in 2004. It also played host to two consecutive MLS Cups, until FC Dallas' Pizza Hut Park opened in 2005 and hosted the next two championships. Chicago Fire began playing their home games in Toyota Park in 2006, a venue that witnessed the MLS All-Stars defeating Chelsea FC in the All-Star Game, and a US Open Cup championship for the Fire in their first season in the stadium. 2007 saw the opening of Dick's Sporting Goods Park for the Colorado Rapids, and BMO Field for the expansion Toronto FC.

File:PHP 2005.jpg
Pizza Hut Park, home of FC Dallas

Other stadiums are currently under construction. Real Salt Lake Stadium will house Real Salt Lake as early as late 2008, while Red Bull Park, the new home of the New York Red Bulls, began construction in December 2007 with the goal of beginning play there in 2009. D.C. United, the Kansas City Wizards, Houston Dynamo, New England Revolution [14], and the San Jose Earthquakes are actively searching for ways to finance and build their respective 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 club that has built its own stadium has not only seen its game attendance rise, but also has helped MLS to 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.

Other MLS teams will, in the foreseeable future, continue to play in larger stadiums designed for American football. The New England Revolution play in Gillette Stadium, whose primary tenant is the NFL's New England Patriots (both teams are owned by Robert Kraft), and Houston Dynamo play in Robertson Stadium on the campus of the University of Houston. Houston Dynamo has secured an agreement with city officials that has entered them into negotiations to build a soccer-specific stadium in downtown Houston near Minute Maid Park, home of MLB's Houston Astros. The New England Revolution has also expressed interest in securing their own soccer-specific stadium. The new Seattle team, Seattle Sounders FC, will play at Qwest Field, home of the Seattle Seahawks, although team management has indicated that it will consider building its own venue under the right circumstances.[citation needed] The new Philadelphia franchise plans to play in the new Chester Stadium when they enter the league in 2010.

Media coverage

At the outset, MLS signed deals for coverage on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC, while Univision broadcast 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, that television rights were sold to networks. Previously, MLS paid networks to broadcast its games. It is estimated MLS will receive about $30 million from TV Revenue alone within the next 8 years.[15]

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, with many games 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 Galaxy's David Beckham.

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

Profitability

Major League Soccer has lost more than $350 million since its founding, according to a report by BusinessWeek in 2004.[16] 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,[16] while FC Dallas turned a profit in a similar fashion after moving into Pizza Hut Park in 2005.[citation needed]

Television coverage has consistently expanded throughout the league's history, with MLS brokering a deal with ESPN in 2006 for rights fees and 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 MLS' national outlets, while the league has mandated that every league game receive television coverage, if not nationally, then at least locally in one of the two 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 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.[17] Online gambling and hard liquor sponsorships are not allowed. Entering the beginning of the 2008 season, seven of the league's fourteen 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 stated that FC Dallas and LA Galaxy are already profitable, with several other clubs nearing profitability.

Recently there have been some potential investors expressing reservations about the MLS leadership's decisions on bringing in designated players and the raised franchise fee. Adrian Hanauer was quoted by ESPN: "But at this point to me the franchise fee has gone up to $30 million, plus there is the expectation of a stadium being built so it will cost someone another $30 million. So you're up to $60 million and you're going to lose money operationally. Operational costs and start-up costs are what's holding us back, that is fair to say. We have been looking for partners to do it with, but I won't do it alone."[18] Hanauer eventually joined a bigger group, including Seattle Seahawks owner Paul Allen and comedian Drew Carey, to bring MLS to Seattle.

"Underlying the concerns of potential investors such as Mandaric and Hanauer is the belief that while there is good reason to be excited, money is still being lost. Beckham will count for nothing if crowds and viewing figures don't increase when the Galaxy aren't in town, or if his era doesn't produce the first crop of U.S. superstars," ESPN's Andrew Rogers said.[citation needed]

Others, like FC Dallas President & General Manager Michael Hitchcock, while accepting the validity of the concerns, disagree on the future outlook of the league's finances. "We still have some teams losing money," he said, "but the positive thing is they are not losing lots of money because of our single entity structure. Expense on some levels are shared and revenues on some levels are shared. The losses are going down every year for the league. The financials for the league and the individual clubs are becoming more and more positive. We have a slow growth model and key to this is developing the American player and not wanting to dilute the product, which other leagues in the U.S. have done and made the mistake of expanding too quickly."[18]

The Las Vegas Sun, in an interview with MLS President Mark Abbott, noted that "the sale of D.C. United showed that MLS could be turning a major financial corner, with each of its teams eventually being independently owned and the likelihood of each soon playing in a soccer-specific stadium. Los Angeles and Dallas are now making money, and three more plan to be operating in the black by [the 2008] season."[citation needed] According to Don Garber in a statement made to the New York Times, the three newly profitable franchises are expected to be Chicago Fire, Colorado Rapids, and Toronto FC.[19]

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 among the league, and player contracts are negotiated by the league.

Some critics have regularly alleged that the league showed preferential treatment to big-market or profitable clubs with regards to player allocation and the salary cap. The league also 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 controlled costs have attracted new ownership that can put more money into the league and improve it by focusing their money and attention on fewer clubs. Examples include the Anschutz Entertainment Group's sale of the MetroStars to Red Bull, "in excess of $100 million," according to the New York Times. MLS 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."

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 club, and is better able to focus their resources upon that club, as with the owners of the New York Red Bulls and Real Salt Lake. 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 its own 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 any player they develop through their club's academy system, sharing the profits of Soccer United Marketing, MLS' media and marketing arm, and now for the first time, allowing owners to have individual club jersey sponsors, with the approval of the league office.

AEG, at one time, owned six teams in MLS, and have since sold the Colorado Rapids, MetroStars, D.C. United and Chicago Fire to new owners. AEG's remaining teams are the Los Angeles Galaxy and the Houston Dynamo. Most recently AEG sold the Chicago Fire to Andell Holdings for an undisclosed sum of money.[20] The other major owner-investor in MLS is Hunt Sports, which owns the Columbus Crew and FC Dallas, having sold the Kansas City Wizards in 2006 to a local ownership group. With the sale of the Chicago Fire in mid-2007 and announcement of the new San Jose Earthquakes, the league now has 12 owners for their 14 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 conferences.

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 pitted a player 35 yards from goal with five seconds to put the ball past a goalkeeper; if needed the shootout headed 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 MetroStars coach Bob Bradley used a loophole to insert outfield player Eddie Gaven 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 start.

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.

Match officials are chosen by the USSF and CSA (which then nominate some of those officials for the CONCACAF and FIFA lists), although MLS handles its own player discipline.[citation needed]

Rivalries and 2-team cup competitions

MLS commissioners

MLS awards

References

  1. ^ Butler, Dylan (May 14, 2007). "Champions League format unveiled". MLSnet. Retrieved 2008-05-14.
  2. ^ Davis, Steve (December 26, 2007). "Desire to maintain quality drives foreign player rule". ESPNsoccernet. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
  3. ^ Lalas, Greg (2007-04-17). "Foreign exchange program". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 2007-04-22. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ Davis, Steve (July 30, 2007). "SuperLiga and Beckham add zest to July". ESPNsoccernet. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
  5. ^ Baynes, Dan (November 29, 2007). "Beckham's Galaxy to Play in New Pan-Pacific Soccer Championship". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
  6. ^ "Seattle to get expansion MLS franchise for 2009". ESPNsoccernet. 2007-11-09. Retrieved 2008-01-20.
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ STLtoday - St. Louis is next up for new soccer team
  9. ^ Major League Soccer: News: Article
  10. ^ a b "MLS launches Youth Development Initiative". Major League Soccer Communications. November 10, 2006.
  11. ^ 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)
  12. ^ "World renowned soccer rivalry gives rise to SuperLiga". Major League Soccer Communications. January 13, 2007. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
  13. ^ "'Game First' initiatives enhance on-field product". Major League Soccer Communications. April 2, 2007. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
  14. ^ Scott Van Voorhis (2007-08-02). "Revolution's the goal: Somerville talks stadium with Krafts". Boston Herald.
  15. ^ USAToday.com, Sponsors, TV contracts next on USA's agenda. June 26, 2002, retrieved May 1, 2008.
  16. ^ a b Holmes, Stanley (November 22, 2004). "Soccer: Time To Kick It Up A Notch". Businessweek. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
  17. ^ Weinbach, John (September 28, 2006). "Major League Soccer to sell ad space on jerseys". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
  18. ^ a b Rogers, Andrew (March 26, 2007). "Some potential investors still wary of MLS". ESPNsoccernet. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
  19. ^ 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)
  20. ^ "Chicago Fire sold to Andell Holdings". Chicago Fire Media Relations. September 6, 2007. Retrieved 2008-05-11.

See also


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

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