It took place on October 15, 2000, at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington, D.C., and was contested by the Kansas City Wizards and Chicago Fire to decide the champion of the 2000 MLS season.

[2] The other bidder, Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, had been favored by the league and was unable to resolve a scheduling conflict with a college football team until too late in the selection process.

[8] A pre-match gala was held at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C. to present the 2000 season awards for MLS players and coaches.

[7] The Kansas City Wizards (originally the "Wiz") qualified for the playoffs in their first two seasons, finishing atop the Western Conference in 1997, but had never appeared in the MLS Cup final.

[23] Gansler and new general manager Curt Johnson made several key signing in the offseason, beginning with the acquisition of Danish forward Miklos Molnar from Sevilla F.C.

[31][32] The streak was broken by Chicago, who won 3–2 at Soldier Field on June 4, but Kansas City remained atop the league standings with an eight-point lead over the Los Angeles Galaxy in the Western Division.

[33] Kansas City went winless in four league matches for most of June, in part due to the absence of Molnar while playing for the Danish national team, but maintained their home shutout streak.

[36] After a 2–0 defeat of the Galaxy and a scoreless draw with the San Jose Earthquakes, the Wizards were shutout in three consecutive losses and ended July with a 3–1 victory against the Columbus Crew.

[39] Kansas City then lost Meola to a national team call-up and forwards Molnar and Mo Johnston to injuries, but were able to win 3–0 in San Jose with a starting lineup of reserve players.

[42][43] Kansas City clinched the Western Division title with a 1–0 road victory against the New England Revolution, which was followed by the Supporters' Shield through a draw against the Tampa Bay Mutiny with several reserve players.

[49] The Wizards opened their playoff run with a 1–0 victory at home through a Molnar goal in the 18th minute, but were held to a scoreless draw at Mile High Stadium in Denver to force a third match in the series.

[57] In the deciding third leg at Arrowhead Stadium, the Wizards went ahead in the 22nd minute through a Molnar penalty kick and won 1–0 in regulation time, tying the series at four points apiece.

During the sixth minute of the ensuing sudden-death overtime, Molnar scored the team's first golden goal of the season by collecting an errant ball from Danny Califf, who had also conceded the penalty kick in regulation time.

[61] The Fire were able to retain most of their starting players over the offseason, but released veterans Roman Kosecki and Jerzy Podbrożny to Polish clubs and lost Frank Klopas to retirement.

[62][63] In early February, Chicago acquired midfielder DaMarcus Beasley from Los Angeles and selected defender Carlos Bocanegra with the fourth pick in the MLS SuperDraft to add younger talent to their starting lineup.

[66] After a month-long preseason in Florida and Costa Rica, the Fire began their regular season campaign with four consecutive away matches and played without goalkeeper Zach Thornton due to a calf injury.

[74] The Fire settled into a stretch of five home fixtures over seven matches, winning four times and improving their record to 6–5–1 to overtake Dallas and Tampa Bay for first place in the Central Division.

[75] Stoichkov was left out of the starting lineup for most of May due to a groin strain and replaced by Ante Razov, who recorded 10 goals in 12 matches to lead MLS in scoring and earned the first hat-trick in club history.

[81] As the team entered a crowded stretch of league and U.S. Open Cup matches, they lost several players to international call-ups as well as both Stoichkov to a torn groin muscle and defender Luboš Kubík to a sprained knee for a month.

[88] Following a victory against the Los Angeles Galaxy and tie with Tampa Bay, the latter ending with two injured defenders,[89] Chicago won three consecutive home matches to reach second place in the overall league standings.

[90] The Fire finished the regular season with a 3–2 victory in Columbus and tied Kansas City atop the league standings with 57 points, but lost the Supporters' Shield through a tiebreaker.

[94][95] The first leg, played on damaged turf at Soldier Field after a National Football League game, remained scoreless at half-time but opened with a goal in the 50th minute by Wolde Harris to give the visiting Revolution a lead.

[98][99] The Fire hosted the final quarterfinal leg and set an MLS record for largest margin of victory in the playoffs by winning 6–0, scoring four times during the first half.

Stoichkov and Razov each scored twice, the latter earning four assists to set a team record, while Nowak added a first-half stoppage time shot and Sam George finished off the match in the 75th minute with his goal.

The English broadcast was led by play-by-play announcer Jack Edwards and color commentator Ty Keough, who were joined by studio hosts Rob Stone and Alexi Lalas.

[112] The ceremonial pre-game coin toss was conducted by retired Dutch player and coach Johann Cruyff, who formerly played for the Washington Diplomats in the North American Soccer League.

[120][121] In the 54th minute, a Stoichkov free kick was deflected by the Kansas City wall and bounced towards goal, where Gutiérrez attempted a shot from close range that hit the crossbar.

[125] A public celebration for the team with 2,000 fans was held at Arrowhead Stadium on October 16 after their return from Washington, D.C.[126] It was the first championship for Lamar Hunt since the Kansas City Chiefs won Super Bowl IV in 1970.