The Los Angeles Galaxy moved into the league's second soccer-specific stadium when the Home Depot Center opened on June 1, 2003.
The Chicago Fire continued to play at Cardinal Stadium in Naperville but returned to the newly renovated Soldier Field for their final regular season game.
Instead of a best-of-three series, the playoffs were tweaked so that the conference semifinals would be determined by a home-and-away aggregate score over two matches.
The San Jose Earthquakes won their second MLS Cup in three years with a victory over Chicago.
The conference finals were played as a single match, and the winners advanced to MLS Cup.