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Major League Soccer

"MLS" redirects here. For other uses, see MLS (disambiguation).

Major League Soccer
FoundedDecember 17, 1993 (1993-12-17)[1]
First season1996
CountryUnited States (26 teams)
Other club(s) fromCanada (3 teams)
ConfederationCONCACAF
ConferencesEastern Conference
Western Conference
Number of teams29
Level on pyramid1
Domestic cup(s)U.S. Open Cup
Canadian Championship
International cup(s)CONCACAF Champions Cup
Campeones Cup
Leagues Cup
Current MLS CupColumbus Crew (3rd title)
(2023)
Current Supporters' ShieldFC Cincinnati (1st shield)
(2023)
Most MLS CupsLA Galaxy
(5 titles)
Most Supporters' ShieldsD.C. United
LA Galaxy
(4 shields each)
Most appearancesNick Rimando (514)
Top goalscorerChris Wondolowski (171)
TV partnersMLS Season Pass
(Apple TV)
Websitemlssoccer.com
Current: 2024 Major League Soccer season

Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States.[2][3] The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the United States and 3 in Canada—since the 2023 season.[4][5] MLS is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan.

Major League Soccer is the most recent in a series of men's premier professional national soccer leagues established in the United States and Canada. The predecessor of MLS was the North American Soccer League (NASL), which existed from 1968 until 1984.[6] MLS was founded in 1993 as part of the United States' successful bid to host the 1994 FIFA World Cup.[7] The inaugural season took place in 1996 with ten teams.[8] MLS experienced financial and operational struggles in its first few years, losing millions of dollars and folding two teams in 2002.[9] Since then, developments such as the proliferation of soccer-specific stadiums around the league, implementation of the Designated Player Rule allowing teams to sign star players such as David Beckham, and national TV contracts have made MLS profitable.[10] In 2022, with an average attendance of over 21,000 per game, MLS has the fourth-highest average attendance of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada, behind the National Football League (NFL) with over 69,000 fans per game and Major League Baseball (MLB) with over 26,000 fans per game, and the Canadian Football League (CFL) with over 21,700 fans per game.[11][12] MLS was the eighth-highest attended professional soccer league worldwide by 2018.[13]

The MLS regular season typically starts in late February or early March and runs through mid-October, with each team playing 34 games;[14][15] the team with the best record is awarded the Supporters' Shield. Eighteen teams compete in the postseason MLS Cup Playoffs in late October and November, culminating in the league's championship game, the MLS Cup.[16]

Instead of operating as an association of independently owned clubs, MLS is a single entity in which each team is owned by the league and individually operated by the league's investors.[17] The league has a fixed membership like most sports leagues in the United States and Canada, which makes it one of the few soccer leagues that does not use a promotion and relegation process.[18]

The LA Galaxy have the most MLS Cups, with five. They are also tied with D.C. United for most Supporters' Shields, with four each. The Columbus Crew are the defending champions, as they defeated Los Angeles FC 2–1 on December 9, 2023, to mark the end of the 2023 season.

  1. ^ Borg, Simon (December 17, 2010). "MLS celebrates 17th anniversary of formal debut". MLSSoccer.com. Archived from the original on January 12, 2014. Retrieved November 20, 2022.
  2. ^ "About Major League Soccer". USSoccer.com. Archived from the original on September 23, 2014. Retrieved January 16, 2021.
  3. ^ Fraser v. Major League Soccer, 01 F.3d 1296 (1st Cir. 2002).
  4. ^ "St. Louis City unveil new renderings of state-of-the-art stadium ahead of 2023 MLS debut". Chicago Tribune. Associated Press. Archived from the original on May 18, 2021. Retrieved August 20, 2019.
  5. ^ "MLS announces plans to expand to 30 teams". MLSSoccer.com. April 18, 2019. Archived from the original on April 19, 2019. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
  6. ^ "By The Numbers... North American Soccer League vs Major League Soccer". February 11, 2013. Archived from the original on December 9, 2013. Retrieved September 20, 2014.
  7. ^ "About Major League Soccer". MLSnet.com. September 5, 2008. Archived from the original on June 25, 2008. Retrieved September 5, 2008.
  8. ^ "1996 Season Recap". MLSsoccer.com. Archived from the original on October 1, 2014. Retrieved September 20, 2014.
  9. ^ "Major League Soccer's Most Valuable Teams". Forbes. November 20, 2013. Archived from the original on September 21, 2014. Retrieved September 20, 2014.
  10. ^ Smith, Chris (August 19, 2015). "Major League Soccer's Most Valuable Teams 2015". Forbes. Archived from the original on August 20, 2015. Retrieved August 20, 2015.
  11. ^ Broughton, David (April 10, 2023). "Attendance evolution since 2003". Sports Business Journal. Retrieved March 3, 2024.
  12. ^ Strong, Gregory (May 19, 2023). "Intentional Grounding: CFL coverage to take hit with fewer reporters on the road". Toronto Star. The Canadian Press. Retrieved March 3, 2024.
  13. ^ Poli, Raffaele; Ravenel, Loïc; Besson, Roger (April 2019). "Attendances in football stadia (2003–2018)" (PDF). International Centre for Sports Studies. p. 3. Retrieved March 3, 2024.
  14. ^ "MLS expands playoffs, adds 2 teams in 20th season". USA Today. January 7, 2015. Archived from the original on January 9, 2015. Retrieved January 8, 2015.
  15. ^ "Major League Soccer unveils 2015 schedule, with Decision Day finale and expanded playoff format". Major League Soccer. January 7, 2015. Archived from the original on June 26, 2015. Retrieved June 17, 2015.
  16. ^ "MLS Cup Playoffs 101: How the 2013 postseason works". Portland Timbers. October 29, 2013. Archived from the original on October 31, 2014. Retrieved September 20, 2014.
  17. ^ Fraser v. Major League Soccer, 01 F.3d 1296 (US 1st Cir. March 20, 2002) ("MLS owns all of the teams that play in the league (a total of 12 prior to the start of 2002), as well as all intellectual property rights, tickets, supplied equipment, and broadcast rights. ... However, MLS has also relinquished some control over team operations to certain investors. MLS contracts with these investors to operate ... the league's teams").
  18. ^ Cite error: The named reference pro-rel was invoked but never defined (see the help page).


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