Major League Soccer 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.
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17 Facts About Major League Soccer
2.
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.
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3.
Major League Soccer is the most recent of a series of men's premier professional national soccer leagues established in the United States and Canada.
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4.
In 1988, in exchange for FIFA awarding the right to host the 1994 World Cup, U S Soccer promised to establish a Division 1 professional soccer league.
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5.
Major League Soccer was officially formed in February 1995 as a limited liability company.
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6.
Major League Soccer took steps to further raise the level of play by adopting the Designated Player Rule, which helped bring international stars into the league.
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7.
Additionally, media noted that Major League Soccer has long-opposed the adoption of promotion and relegation, continuing to utilize the fixed, franchise-based model used in other U S sports leagues.
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8.
Major League Soccer planned to expand to 30 teams with the addition of Austin FC in 2021, Charlotte in 2022, and Sacramento and St Louis in 2023; however, this was reduced to 29 after Sacramento's bid was placed on indefinite hold.
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9.
Major League Soccer operates under a single-entity structure in which teams and player contracts are centrally owned by the league.
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10.
In Fraser v Major League Soccer, a lawsuit filed in 1996 and decided in 2002, the league won a legal battle with its players in which the court ruled that MLS was a single entity that can lawfully centrally contract for player services.
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11.
Major League Soccer now has 30 investor-operators for its 28 current and 2 future clubs, with no member of any club's investor group having a stake in that of any other club.
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13.
Major League Soccer began to demonstrate positive signs of long-term profitability as early as 2004 with the single-entity ownership structure, salary cap, and the media and marketing umbrella Soccer United Marketing all contributing towards MLS's financial security.
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14.
Major League Soccer has been implementing fines and suspensions since the 2011 season for simulation through its Disciplinary Committee, which reviews plays after the match.
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15.
Major League Soccer United Marketing partnered with Google and Bedrocket Media Ventures in 2012 to launch "KickTV", a premium YouTube channel with original soccer programming.
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16.
In 2020, Soccer United Marketing signed a multi-year agreement with Bleacher Report to produce content and highlights for MLS and the U S national teams through the 2022 season.
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17.
Major League Soccer is a playable league in both the FIFA and the Football Manager series.
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