MLS primer

History

Major League Soccer began in 1996 with 10 teams, with D.C. United winning the first two MLS Cups. The league expanded to 12 teams in 1998, adding Chicago and Miami. But in 2001, Miami and Tampa Bay disbanded and the league contracted to 10 teams.

In 2005, the league expanded again, with Real Salt Lake and Chivas USA. Toronto FC joined in this year, and the San Jose Earthquakes will be added in 2008. Seattle and likely Philadelphia or St. Louis will bring the number of clubs to 16 in 2009.

The MLS also began a youth-development initiative this year and hired its first full-time professional referees.

Sanctioning

MLS is the top-tier professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is sanctioned by the U.S. Soccer Federation and the Canadian Soccer Association.

The season

The 2007 season opened April 7 and closes this Sunday with its championship game, the MLS Cup, featuring the New England Revolution against the Houston Dynamo at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C.

There are 13 teams in two conferences: Western and Eastern. Each team plays 30 games, including 15 at home.

The playoffs

The top two teams from each conference advance to the playoffs, as well as the next four teams with highest point totals, regardless of conference. In the first round, aggregate goals over two matches determine the winner; the conference championship has one match to determine who plays in the MLS Cup. Ties throughout the playoffs are broken with two 15-minute overtime periods, followed by penalty kicks, if necessary.

Beyond the playoffs

The MLS Cup champion qualifies for the CONCACAF Champions Cup (Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football), as does the team with the best regular-season record. If that is the same team, then the next best also qualifies for CONCACAF. If a team makes the final, then it qualifies for the Copa Sudamericana (South American Cup). If it wins the Champions Cup, it qualifies for FIFA Club World Cup.

Ownership

It's a single-entity ownership structure in which the teams are controlled by the league. Revenue is shared by all clubs, and the league negotiates player contracts. Individual club owners have the rights to players who come through their own development systems.

Designated Player Rule

A new rule this past season — the Designated Player Rule — allows for a team to pay one player's salary beyond the salary cap. Each team can sign one, and clubs are allowed to trade them, but no team can have more than two designated players.

Seattle's Adrian Hanauer said the new franchise would look into signing a designated player.

Salary cap

Each club's salary cap is $2 million for an 18-man roster and 10 developmental players. The designated player doesn't count toward the cap.

Stadiums

In the beginning, most of the clubs played in pro football stadiums, but that is changing. Since 1999, six new soccer stadiums have entered the picture: Columbus Crew Stadium (Columbus, Ohio), The Home Depot Center (Carson, Calif.), Pizza Hut Park (Frisco, Texas), Toyota Park (Bridgeview, Ill.), Dick's Sporting Goods Park (Commerce City, Colo.) and BMO Field (Toronto).

SuperDraft

MLS has the SuperDraft each January that drafts players who have graduated from college or otherwise have become available. The "superdraft" was first used in 2000, as a combination of the college draft and the supplemental draft. The draft is divided into four rounds of 14 picks, the order determined by the clubs' playoff and regular-season finishes.

League economics

The L.A. Galaxy turned a profit in its first season at The Home Depot Center in 2003, the first team in the league to do so. FC Dallas has since joined the team in the black and more clubs could declare a profit after this season, largely because of the new soccer-specific stadiums. In 2004, Business Week magazine reported that MLS had lost more than $350 million since it was founded, and commissioner Don Garber said he's aiming for overall profitability by 2010. The clubs also began selling ad space on the front of their jerseys at a cool $500,000 per shirt.

SOURCES: Seattle Times, Major League Soccer, mlsinseattle.com, Wikipedia.org