Major League Soccer

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For the defunct indoor soccer league, see Major Soccer League.

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). It is speculated that when the Toronto MLS expansion club enters the league in 2007, MLS will replace the USL First Division as the top soccer league in Canada.

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History

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).

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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.

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. Other current expansion possibilities include San Jose (a return of the Earthquakes), Seattle, Cincinnati, Cleveland, St. Louis, Tulsa, and Milwaukee. Other cities frequently mentioned for future expansion include Rochester -- home of a popular USL team, San Antonio, Philadelphia, Detroit, and a return to Miami, which itself has one of the largest soccer fanbases in the country.

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 was not transferred, with the possibility of an expansion franchise coming to San Jose as early as 2007.

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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.

The Dallas Burn changed their name for the 2005 season to FC Dallas, with the FC standing for "Futból Club" according to the organization. All the changes have reflected a rejection of flashy, "creative" Americanized monikers to more "traditional" European-like soccer names, reflecting an apparent change in marketing strategy.

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 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 and execution of the Texan fighters by the Mexican Army. 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), the MLS will no longer use online polls to name future expansion teams.

In 2006, after being purchased by Red Bull, the MetroStars organization was renamed Red Bull New York, with the squad actually called the New York Red Bulls.

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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 stadium, a major goal of MLS management is to build its own stadiums, which are often called "soccer-specific stadiums".

The Miami Fusion played in Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, which was a former high school stadium converted into a soccer-specific stadium. However, the Miami Fusion ceased operation in 2001 and Lockhart is no longer used by MLS for regular season matches. Lockhart is now the home of the Florida Atlantic University Owls football team.

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 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 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, a 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 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' stadiums: New England plays in Gillette Stadium, and the Wizards play at Arrowhead Stadium, respectively. 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, D.C. United play in Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, Red Bull New York play in Giants Stadium.

From 1996-2005, the San Jose Earthquakes played in Spartan Stadium located at San Jose 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 officals 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. Ground was broken for the stadium in November 2004 and the facility is expected to open in June 2006.

Red Bull New York is planning to move to Red Bull Park in Harrison, New Jersey in June 2007. D.C. United have proposed a new stadium at Poplar Point (Ward 8) in Washington D.C. Their current status requires a ground share at RFK Stadium with the Washington Nationals of MLB.

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. The Los Angeles Galaxy were the first team to make a profit, and other MLS teams are sure to follow eventually.

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. Exhibition Place Stadium 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, Chivas USA, FC Dallas, and the Columbus Crew. This is set to double in the next two years, according to the MLS. The Chicago Fire will be the fifth MLS team to have their own soccer stadium, and have the only new stadium opened in 2006. In 2007 Toronto MLS 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 Bull's 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. The 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 and the Kansas City Wizards are still searching for possible stadium sites, leaving the New England Revolution as the only MLS team with no soccer-specific stadium plans.

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Profitability

Major League Soccer since its founding has lost more than 215 million dollars, according to a report by BusinessWeek last year. However, several signs and trends in media and in the MLS 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 the MLS, various Latin American leagues, the English Premier League, the German Bundesliga and Italian Serie A. The exposure to so much more soccer on television helps to erase the image of the 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 — Pizza Hut Park — 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 the MLS is on its way to profitability, albeit slowly.

Moreover, The Virginian-Pilot reported that the 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 is more interested in soccer than just the 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." Furthermore, it appears that the rights fees the MLS has been searching for are soon to be forthcoming. 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."

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Ownership

The most important reason for the long-term success of the MLS is because of its single entity organization & 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, the 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 the 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 the MLS, and brings the 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 the MLS financially and competition-wise is the MLS Cup, in which AEG owned teams have been in every MLS Cup since the league's founding in 1996. The other major owner-investor in the MLS is the Hunt Sports Group, which owns the Columbus Crew, FC Dallas, and the Kansas City Wizards. AEG and HSG MLS teams can between them lay claim to every single MLS Cup title.

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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 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.

Unfortunately for MLS, 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.

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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.

American soccer leagues have not generally been considered to be successes, for a variety of reasons. Some blame the continual nature of soccer, with relatively few set plays or fixed positions. This may make the sport hard to follow for the average American. Others attribute failures to the low-scoring nature of the game; still others blame the perception of soccer as a "foreign" sport. Still the survival of MLS for several more years appears secure, even if it might never reach the status of the major professional leagues.

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Organization

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.

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.

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. 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, and Philip Salyer. 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^[1] and Ronaldo^[2], 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.

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, both because of lack of popular minor league teams, and certain opposition from team owner/operators in top-level professional leagues, including MLS.

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