Major League Soccer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Major League Soccer | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Sport | soccer |
| Continental FIFA Confederation | CONCACAF |
| National Confederation | U.S. Soccer and Canadian Soccer Association |
| League Founded | 1993 |
| Inaugural season | 1996 |
| No. of clubs | 13 |
| Countries |  USA Canada |
| Current Champions | Houston Dynamo |
| Official website | mlsnet.com |
Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional soccer league with teams in the United States and Canada. It is sanctioned by the professional divisions of both the United States Soccer Federation (USSF or U.S. Soccer) and the Canadian Soccer Association (CSA), which are both members of FIFA. MLS represents the first tier in the American Soccer Pyramid.
[edit] Competition format
The format for the 2007 season is as follows:
- Season runs from April 2007 to a championship match played November 18, 2007.
- 13 clubs split into two conferences: the Western Conference will have six clubs, while the Eastern Conference will have seven, with Toronto FC as the newest addition. Each club plays 30 games, evenly divided among home and away matches. Each club will play every other club twice, home and away, for a total of 24 games. The remaining 6 games will all be intra-conference, with each club playing its fellow conference members an additional game. In the Western Conference, an additional game will be added to the above, highlighting a local or regional rivalry (Los Angeles vs. Chivas USA, Houston vs. FC Dallas, Salt Lake vs. Colorado).
- At season's end, the top two clubs of each conference will make the playoffs; in addition, the next four highest point totals, regardless of conference, will also be in the playoffs. In the first round of this knockout tournament, aggregate goals over two matches determine the winners; the Conference Championships are one match each, with the winner of each conference advancing to MLS Cup. In all rounds, draws will be broken with 2 15-minute periods of extra time, followed by penalty kicks if necessary. The away goals rule is not used.
- The MLS Champion (winner of MLS Cup) qualifies for the next CONCACAF Champions' Cup. Furthermore, the club with the best record in the 30 game regular season wins the MLS Supporters' Shield and 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.
- The two MLS clubs that qualify for the CONCACAF Champions' Cup have the ability to qualify for Copa Sudamericana if they make the final, and the FIFA Club World Cup if they win the championship. If an MLS club were to win Copa Sudamericana they would also play in Recopa Sudamericana.
- During the season, all MLS clubs may also compete in the U.S. Open Cup (except Toronto), select international tournaments, and various exhibitions.
- SuperLiga, a new MLS-Primera División de México club competition, will also make up the 2007 season schedule, with most matches occurring midweek in July and August. FC Dallas, Los Angeles Galaxy, DC United and Houston Dynamo are expected to play at least three matches each.
[edit] History
MLS was formed on December 17, 1993, in fulfillment of Alan Rothenberg and the US Soccer Federation'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 clubs and enjoyed promising attendance numbers in its first season. Numbers declined slightly after the first year, but have increased in subsequent years. The original 10 clubs 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).
[edit] Early years
The league was greeted with indifference by the American mainstream as the 1994 World Cup in the United States faded from memory. The early years gave rise to the Bruce Arena-led dynasty of DC 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 MLS Cup, the championship game which featured several players that would prove to have an impact on MLS and American soccer.
Yet, for most of MLS' early years, the league played to sparsely-attended crowds, and in the shadow of women's soccer, whose prominence had risen on the heels of the United States women's national soccer team's gold medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics and victory at the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup. The 1998 FIFA World Cup in France saw the United States men's national soccer team, largely made up of American MLS players, eliminated from the first round and in last place among the 32 participating countries, casting doubt on the level of play in the American domestic league.
Some of the survivors of the 1998 roster, however, would join new and upcoming players in the 2002 FIFA World Cup. The league began to market itself on the talents of American players, experienced veterans and fresh talents alike. The likes of DaMarcus Beasley and Landon Donovan were making names for themselves in Major League Soccer, while players like Brian McBride and Clint Mathis continued to prove their worth to their domestic and national teams. In the front office, construction of new stadiums for the league's teams, largely financed by the benefactors in Lamar Hunt and Phil Anschutz became the policy for the league's survival.
[edit] Resurgence
The 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 DC United returned to prominence in the 2004 MLS Cup, in the aftermath of an exciting Eastern Conference Championship against the New England Revolution. That year would also witness the professional debut of Freddy Adu, who entered the league with much fanfare and heralded as one of the top prospects in the United States.
MLS faced mixed results in international competition. Both DC United and the Los Angeles Galaxy won titles in the CONCACAF Champions' Cup, though the record of MLS teams in the continental competition has been largely disappointing. Outside of the United States, a collection of MLS players suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Real Madrid in 2005. Despite this, MLS, in the form of its All-Star team for the annual All-Star Game, enjoys a perfect home record against teams such as Club Deportivo Guadalajara, Fulham FC and Chelsea FC.
[edit] 2006-present
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, while former-New England Revolution player Steve Nicol led his team to MLS Cup for the third time in five years. Bob Bradley, whose reputation was scarred by underwhelming 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 DC United and Houston Dynamo, respectively. The Dynamo, once the San Jose Earthquakes in the season prior, 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, while Brian Ching scored the equalizer shortly thereafter, and goalkeeper Pat Onstad secured the win in the subsequent penalty kick shootout.
The 2007 season will see fans greet familiar faces, namely in the MLS debut of David Beckham, whose signing has been seen both as a coup for American soccer and a confirmation of the former England international's decline. The departure of Clint Dempsey to Fulham, and the New York Red Bulls debut of former United States captain Claudio Reyna, highlights an exchange of top prospects to Europe for veteran experience to the United States. Former United States coach Bruce Arena will face his first full season in MLS since leaving DC United to manage the national team, while Taylor Twellman has committed himself in the long-term to the Revolution.
[edit] Organization
Major League Soccer has been known more for its front office and management dealings than its on-field product [1]. 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 [2].
[edit] Expansion, contraction and relocation
After starting with 10 clubs, the league expanded to 12 clubs in 1998, adding the Chicago Fire and Miami Fusion. However, following the 2001 season, Miami and Tampa Bay were disbanded and the league contracted back to ten clubs.
Following the 2004 season, the league expanded again, adding Real Salt Lake, located in Salt Lake City, Utah and Chivas USA, which shares The Home Depot Center with the Los Angeles Galaxy. The two new clubs were placed in the Western Conference, with Kansas City moving to the East.
Following the conclusion of the 2005 season, the San Jose Earthquakes were relocated to Houston and renamed Houston Dynamo. However, the Earthquakes' name and history were not transferred, with the possibility of an expansion club returning to San Jose as early as 2008; Houston is considered an expansion club.
MLS added Toronto FC for the 2007 season with the plan to have three more expansion clubs by 2010. Other current possibilities include the planned 2008 return to San Jose,[1][2] or expansion to Cleveland, [3][4][5] St. Louis,[6], Milwaukee,[7] Philadelphia,[8] or Portland.[9]
[edit] Club names
For more information on MLS club names, see individual club entries.
Originally in the style of other US sports, the clubs were given nicknames at their creation such as the Chicago Fire. DC United and Miami Fusion FC were the two exceptions that adopted more traditional names. However, new teams, such as Real Salt Lake and Toronto FC, have been adopting names similar to popular European clubs. In addition, other established clubs like Dallas and New York have changed their club names to reflect a more "European" nature.
[edit] Stadiums
When the league was started, most clubs played in stadiums built specifically for NFL or NCAA (college) American 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 management 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 tailored for soccer. Lamar Hunt broke new ground in this endeavor by financing the construction of Columbus Crew Stadium. The Los Angeles Galaxy followed four years later with the opening of The Home Depot Center in 2003. The new venue 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 F.C. in the All-Star Game, and a US Open Cup championship for the Fire in their first season in the stadium. 2007 will see the opening of Dick's Sporting Goods Park for the Colorado Rapids, and BMO Field for the expansion Toronto FC.
Future plans include new venues for Red Bull New York and Real Salt Lake by 2008, while DC United and the Kansas City Wizards 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 come closer to the ultimate goal of profitability. Thanks to their new stadium, the Los Angeles Galaxy became the first club to make a profit, and were followed in 2006 by FC Dallas. With the league's new TV rights for the 2007 season, several more clubs are projected to be profitable.
Other MLS teams will, in the foreseeable future, continue to play in larger stadiums designed for football. The New England Revolution play in Gillette Stadium, whose primary tenant is the NFL's New England Patriots, and Houston Dynamo play in Robertson Stadium on the campus of the University of Houston. Both teams have expressed interest in securing their own soccer-specific stadiums.
[edit] Profitability
Major League Soccer has lost more than $350 million since its founding, according to a report by BusinessWeek in 2004.[10] but some signs are positive. 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, while FC Dallas turned a profit in a similar fashion after moving into Pizza Hut Park in 2005.
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. 2007 will also see a return of MLS to Univision and its Spanish-language networks. They will join 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 by at least locally in one of the two teams' cities.
In another new commercial development, MLS has announced it will start selling ad space on the front of jerseys next year to go along with the league-wide sponsorship partners who are already advertising on the back of club jerseys currently [3]. The league has established a floor of $500,000 per shirt sponsorship, with the league receiving a flat fee of $200,000 per deal. Real Salt Lake will be among the first teams to feature a sponsor on their team jerseys.
Recently MLS Commissioner Don Garber said[11] that he expects the league's clubs to be profitable by 2010 overall, saying that FC Dallas and LA Galaxy clubs are already profitable, with several other clubs nearing profitability according to earlier remarks: the Chicago Fire and New England Revolution.
[edit] Ownership
MLS operates under a single-entity structure in which teams are centrally controlled by the league. In order to keep costs under control, revenues are shared amongst 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 and DC United to new owners. AEG's remaining teams are the Los Angeles Galaxy, the Chicago Fire, and the Houston Dynamo. The other major owner-investor in MLS is the 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 DC United in 2007, the league now has 10 owners for their 13 clubs.
[edit] Rule changes
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 consisted of a player getting the ball 35 yards from the goal with five seconds to put it past the goalkeeper. Just like with penalty kicks, it was a best-of-five competition; if the score was still tied, the tiebreaker would head to an extra frame. The club that won the shootout would get one standings point (as opposed to three for the regulation win), the losing club zero.
MLS did feature a fourth "goalkeeper only" substitute until the end of the 2003 season when MetroStars coach Bob Bradley used a loophole in the rule to insert Eddie Gaven as an extra fourth field player substitute.
The rule changes, especially the shootout, failed to bring in a wider American audience and alienated some traditional fans. The shootout was eliminated after the 1999 season and the upward-counting clock came into use in 2000. MLS experimented in settling tie games with golden goal overtime periods from 2000 to 2003 similar to those in college soccer (in MLS, the tie would stand if no club scored after ten minutes and each club would get one point). Overtime was phased out for the 2004 season, due to new FIFA regulation.
From 1996 to 2004, MLS playoff games did feature golden goals if a tie needed to be broken. Golden goals were scored in the 1996, 2001 and 2002 MLS Cups by D.C. United, San Jose Earthquakes and Los Angeles Galaxy, respectively.
[edit] Major League Soccer clubs
S Soccer-specific stadium
P To be replaced by a soccer-specific stadium
[edit] Former clubs
- Miami Fusion (1998-2001)
- Tampa Bay Mutiny (1996-2001)
[edit] Clubs on hiatus
- San Jose Earthquakes (originally the San Jose Clash) (1996-2005)
[edit] MLS Cup and regular season champions
| Season | MLS Cup details |
Regular Season details |
|---|---|---|
| 1996 | D.C. United (1) | Tampa Bay Mutiny (1) |
| 1997 | D.C. United (2,1) | |
| 1998 | Chicago Fire (1) | Los Angeles Galaxy (1) |
| 1999 | D.C. United (3,2) | |
| 2000 | Kansas City Wizards (1,1) | |
| 2001 | San Jose Earthquakes (1) | Miami Fusion (1) |
| 2002 | Los Angeles Galaxy (1,2) | |
| 2003 | San Jose Earthquakes (2) | Chicago Fire (1) |
| 2004 | D.C. United (4) | Columbus Crew (1) |
| 2005 | Los Angeles Galaxy (2) | San Jose Earthquakes (1) |
| 2006 | Houston Dynamo (1) | D.C. United (3) |
[edit] MLS Cup Finals
[edit] Top regular season scorers
| Player | Goals |
|---|---|
| Jason Kreis* |
108 |
 Jaime Moreno* |
105 |
| Ante Razov* |
98 |
| Jeff Cunningham* |
90 |
| Roy Lassiter |
88 |
 Raul Diaz Arce |
82 |
| Preki |
79 |
| Taylor Twellman* |
75 |
 Carlos Ruiz* |
74 |
| Ronald Cerritos |
71 |
*-Denotes active MLS player
[edit] Notable players
|
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[edit] Notable former players
[edit] MLS commissioners
- Doug Logan (1996-99)
- Don Garber (1999-present)
[edit] MLS awards
- Major League Soccer MVP Award
- MLS Scoring Champion Award
- MLS Golden Boot
- MLS Goalkeeper of the Year Award
- MLS Defender of the Year Award
- MLS Rookie of the Year Award
- MLS Coach of the Year Award
- MLS Comeback Player of the Year Award
- MLS Best XI
- MLS Supporters' Shield
- MLS Scudetto
[edit] Average attendances
[edit] Regular season/playoffs
- 1996: 17,406/17,673
- 1997: 14,619/16,015
- 1998: 14,312/17,885
- 1999: 14,282/16,339
- 2000: 13,756/10,274
- 2001: 14,961/11,805
- 2002: 15,821/13,872
- 2003: 14,899/13,776
- 2004: 15,559/13,954
- 2005: 15,108/14,390
- 2006: 15,504/15,179
[edit] MLS Cup Attendance
- 1996: 34,643
- 1997: 57,431^
- 1998: 51,350
- 1999: 44,910
- 2000: 39,159
- 2001: 21,626^
- 2002: 61,316^
- 2003: 27,000^
- 2004: 25,797
- 2005: 21,193^
- 2006: 22,427^
- All Time Average: 36,987
^=sell-out crowd
[edit] Sources
- ^ Oakland A's ownership group purchases option to bring Major League Soccer back to Bay Area
- ^ Dear Earthquakes fans...
- ^ Cleveland Expansion: NEO Pro Soccer
- ^ Real estate fee hike could pay for stadium
- ^ Meeting the Don: Notes on a Media Round Table
- ^ Meeting the Don: Notes on a Media Round Table
- ^ Fire work done, Wilt hopes to get franchise in Milwaukee
- ^ MLS supports Rowan's stadium plan
- ^ MLS takes a look at Portland
- ^ Soccer: Time To Kick It Up A Notch.
- ^ MLS:Franchises to profit by 2010
[edit] See also
- American Soccer Pyramid
- Lamar Hunt Pioneer Cup
- Lamar Hunt US Open Cup
- List of current MLS players
- List of foreign MLS players
- List of MLS drafts
- List of MLS seasons
- MLS All-Star Game
- MLS Cup
- MLS Extratime
- MLS Soccer Saturday
- MLS Soccer Thursday
- ESPN2 Major League Soccer
- ESPN MLS/Soccer Broadcast Teams
- North American SuperLiga
- World Series of Football
[edit] External links
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Major League Soccer 2007
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Eastern Conference |
Western Conference |
| Former teams | On hiatus |
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| Miami Fusion | Tampa Bay Mutiny | San Jose Earthquakes |
| Miscellaneous | |
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MLS Cup | All-Star Game | SuperLiga | USSF | CSA | Central Division | U.S. Open Cup |
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Major League Soccer Seasons
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1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 |
| Preceded by APSL |
Division 1 Soccer League in the United States 1996-Present |
Succeeded by Current League |
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