This season marked the arrival of two new clubs, the Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps FC, who replaced teams of the same name that last played in the USSF D2 Pro League.

The team with the most points in the regular season was awarded the MLS Supporters' Shield and qualified for the CONCACAF Champions League.

The transfer windows for acquisition of players under contract in another country run from January 21 to April 15 and from July 15 to August 14.

[47] The remaining order after Sporting Kansas City is: Chicago Fire¤¤, Columbus Crew, New York Red Bulls, Real Salt Lake, San Jose Earthquakes, Los Angeles Galaxy, FC Dallas, and Colorado Rapids.

The results of 2011 weighted lotteries: Prior to the start of the MLS regular season, Columbus Crew and Real Salt Lake played against each other in the quarterfinals of 2010–11 edition of the CONCACAF Champions League.

On March 1, 2011; the second leg at Rio Tinto Stadium was played, where Real Salt Lake won the series against the Crew 4–1 in the game and on aggregate, this ending Columbus' Champions League campaign.

As a result, Salt Lake became the first MLS team to advance into the semifinals of the Champions League under its current format.

[citation needed] The team won its home fixture against Saprissa of Costa Rica 2–0 on March 15, 2011.

Colorado Rapids and Los Angeles Galaxy have qualified directly into Group Stage for the 2011–12 edition of the Champions League by being the MLS Cup and Supporters' Shield winners, respectively.

Toronto FC secured the Canadian berth in the preliminary round with their Voyageurs Cup victory on July 2.

On March 29, 2011 MLS Commissioner Don Garber confirmed that the 2011 edition of the North American SuperLiga would be replaced by the World Football Challenge,[53] a friendly tournament which started play on July 14 and will end on August 6.

[54] The following MLS sides entered the tournament based on invitation: Los Angeles Galaxy, Philadelphia Union, New England Revolution, Chicago Fire and Vancouver Whitecaps FC.

The MLS clubs that finished first through sixth place overall during last year's regular season earned a direct bye to the third round proper of the U.S. Open Cup.

They competed against two other professional Canadian soccer teams from the NASL for the Voyageurs Cup, as well as a Preliminary Round berth in the CONCACAF Champions League.

The tournament is organized in a knockout format with two-legged ties in both the semifinals and final, with the away goals rule in place.

Four more qualifiers will enter in a play-in round, where these for clubs will be determined by their final regular season standing, regardless of their conference.