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A quick look at North America's top soccer league:
Birth: MLS was officially formed in 1993 and the 10-team league
played its first season in 1996. The league expanded to 12 teams in 1998, but
contracted two clubs at the end of the 2001 season. MLS currently consists of
12 teams after adding two expansion clubs at the start of the 2005 campaign.
Eastern Conference teams: Chicago Fire, Columbus Crew, D.C. United,
Kansas City Wizards, New York/New Jersey Metrostars, New England Revolution.
Western Conference teams: Chivas USA, Colorado Rapids, FC Dallas,
Los Angeles Galaxy, Real Salt Lake, San Jose Earthquakes.
Top MLS stars: Landon Donovan
(Los Angeles), Freddy Adu (D.C.), Carlos Ruiz (Dallas), Ramón Ramírez
(Chivas USA), Youri Djorkaeff (NY/NJ).
Notable Canadians: Dwayne De Rosario, Pat Onstad and Mark Chung
(San Jose), Will Johnson (Chicago), Winston Marshall (Dallas).
Previous expansion: Chicago Fire and Miami Fusion (1998). Chivas
USA and Real Salt Lake (2005).
Defunct teams: Miami Fusion and Tampa Bay Mutiny (contracted
after the 2001 season).
MLS Commissioner: Donald Garber (1999-present).
Television: MLS games are televised on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2, and
Fox Soccer Channel (formerly known as Fox Sports World).
English
soccer needs a salary cap
Talk of a salary cap isn't limited to North American sports.
The
dark heart of Italian soccer
Violence and racism haunt Italian soccer stadia.
What soccer means
to Italy
In Italy, soccer is much more than the national game. It is religion.
Can't
Escape Beckham
England has an obsession with all things Becks.
Backgrounder:
Diego Maradona
World Cups, cocaine abuse, 'Hand of God', paternity suits, goals galore... The
life and times of a soccer legend.
Major
League Soccer
The official website of Major League Soccer.
Bring
Back the Blizzard
A blog designed to restore the Toronto Blizzard name.
Return to Glory
A full blown tribute site to the Toronto Blizzard.
Canada Kicks
Offers a Canadian perspective on the global game.
CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of
external sites. Links will open in new window.
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INDEPTH: MAJOR LEAGUE
SOCCER The beautiful game in Toronto
Toronto FC will begin play in MLS in April
2007 CBC Sports Online | Last
updated May 11, 2006
Toronto FC officially became Major League Soccer's
13th franchise on May 11 when the club's name and logo were presented
for the first time.
The presentation was made by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment,
the investor-operator of the club, at the site of the team's future
stadium along Toronto's waterfront at Exhibition Place.
"This is an exciting day for soccer fans in Toronto who can now
enjoy great quality soccer and have a team they can call their own,"
said Tom Anselmi, executive vice-president and chief operating officer
of MLSE.
(FULL STORY:
TORONTO FC NEW MLS TEAM)
| FREQUENTLY ASKED
QUESTIONS |
What is Major League Soccer?
Major League Soccer is the top professional soccer league in the United
States.
MLS was formed in 1993 in fulfillment of U.S. Soccer's promise to
FIFA, soccer's world governing body, to establish a pro league in
exchange for staging the 1994 World Cup on American soil.
The league kicked off in 1996 with 10 teams and boasted surprisingly
strong attendance the first season. Numbers declined slightly after
the first year, but stabilized in subsequent years thanks to the league's
TV deal with ABC and ESPN.
MLS celebrated its tenth season in 2005 and is looking towards the
future. On Nov. 12, the league's board of governors is scheduled to
meet and vote on whether to admit as many as two new teams for the
2007 season.
Who is the owner of Toronto's expansion franchise?
Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Ltd., which also owns the NHL's
Maple Leafs and the NBA's Raptors, will run Toronto's MLS club.
Where will the team play?
On Oct. 27, Toronto's city council voted 25-13 in favour of helping
to fund the construction of a 20,000-seat soccer stadium, paving
the way for MLS to award the city an expansion franchise.
Construction of the new stadium is slated to
begin in January.
Is the city paying for the construction of the stadium?
The city of Toronto will contribute $9.8 million towards the $62.8-million
stadium project originally put forward by the Canadian Soccer Association.
The city will also provide the waterfront land for the stadium at
Exhibition Place, valued at $10 million.
Ottawa will contribute $27 million, while Queen's Park will chip
in another $8 million. The federal and provincial governments agreed
to make financial contributions after the CSA won the right to stage
the 2007 FIFA world youth championships in Canada.
MLSE will commit $8 million to the construction of the facility.
Naming rights are expected to account for another $10 million.
MLSE will cover all construction cost over-runs. MLSE will also
assume any annual operating losses up to $250,000 and split with
the city any losses beyond that.
So MLSE will own the stadium?
No. The Canadian Soccer Association, the City of Toronto and MLSE
have already come to terms on a 20-year agreement on how to run
the stadium. MLSE will operate the venue, but it will be owned by
the city.
Are there any Canadian teams currently in MLS?
Toronto will become the first Canadian club in MLS history. The
Vancouver Whitecaps, Montreal Impact and Toronto Lynx currently
compete in the United Soccer League (formerly known as the A-League),
which is the soccer equivalent of hockey's American Hockey League.
MLS has indicated further expansion in Canada is an option sometime
down the road.
Will Toronto's team be made up entirely of Canadian players?
Each MLS team is limited to a maximum of 18 players, plus a maximum
of ten roster-protected players. Of the 18 regular players, teams
are allowed a maximum of four international players (over the age
of 25) on their active roster, and three youth (under the age of
25) international players.
According to MLS rules, a player is not considered an international
if he is a U.S. citizen or is a resident alien (meaning he has green
card).
Garber and deputy commissioner Ivan Gazidis, however, have said
that the league's domestic player rules will be different for the
Toronto team.
Canadian players will count as domestic, while all others, including
U.S. citizens, will count as international players. Toronto will
be allowed to have three additional senior internationals, as long
as those additional three are from the U.S. The Canadian team will
also have five youth international spots, rather than three, in
its inaugural season (similar to Chivas USA and Real Salt Lake this
year).
What kind of expansion fee will MLSE have to pay?
Following the 2004 season, the league added two expansion franchises:
Real Salt Lake, located in Utah and Chivas USA, which shares stadium
facilities with the Los Angeles Galaxy.
Those expansion franchises cost $10 million US apiece, but Garber
said the expansion fee for the league's 14th team will be $15 million
until Dec. 31, 2005, at which point it will increase "significantly"
to an as-yet undetermined amount.
It's not known whether this $15-million figure
will apply to MLSE.
In addition to bringing an expansion franchise
to the city, league commissioner Donald Garber has promised Toronto
the 2008 MLS All-Star Game and an MLS Cup (the league's championship
game) by 2012.
Can you tell me anything else about MLS?
Unlike other pro sports leagues, MLS is organized as a "single-entity"
organization, meaning the league (and not the individual teams)
contracts directly with the players. As a result, MLS is able to
control spending and labour costs, implement a revenue-sharing scheme,
and promote parity across the league.
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