[22] Beginning with the 2023 edition all MLS and Liga MX teams participate in the competition, which functions as the regional cup for the North American zone of CONCACAF.

[48] MLS features some of the longest travel distances for a domestic soccer league, with Vancouver Whitecaps FC and Inter Miami CF the furthest apart teams at 2,801 miles (4,508 km).

[51] Pelé's arrival attracted other well-known international stars to the league including Johan Cruyff, Gerd Müller, Eusébio, Bobby Moore, and George Best.

[66] Following decreased attendance and increased losses by late 2001, league officials planned to fold but were able to secure new financing from owners Lamar Hunt, Philip Anschutz, and the Kraft family to take on more teams.

[82] The departures of Clint Dempsey and Jozy Altidore, coupled with the return of former U.S. national team stars Claudio Reyna and Brian McBride, highlighted the exchange of top prospects to Europe for experienced veterans to MLS.

[89] In 2012, the Montreal Impact became the league's 19th franchise and the third in Canada, and made their home debut in front of a crowd of 58,912,[90] while the New York Red Bulls added Australian all-time leading goalscorer Tim Cahill.

Beginning in summer of 2013 and continuing in the run up to the 2014 World Cup, MLS began signing U.S. stars based abroad, including Clint Dempsey, Jermaine Jones, and Michael Bradley from Europe; and DaMarcus Beasley from Mexico's Liga MX.

[116] After negotiations between Precourt and Jimmy Haslam, owner of the Cleveland Browns, were announced, MLS made it clear that Austin would receive an expansion team only after a deal to sell Columbus to a local buyer had completed.

[117] The purchase of Crew SC by Haslam's group was finalized in late December 2018,[118] and on January 15, 2019, Austin FC was officially announced as a 2021 MLS entry.

[129][130][131] The 2020 season resumed in July with the MLS is Back Tournament, a competition in which 24 out of the 26 teams competed at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando for a spot in the CONCACAF Champions League.

The presence of Lionel Messi and other star players was credited with contributing to the record crowds, which included several matches moved to larger venues.

[140] Despite being announced in January 2018, Inter Miami CF only paid a $25 million expansion fee due to a clause in part-owner David Beckham's original playing contract signed in 2007.

[141] $150 million was paid as an effective entrance fee by a group that bought Columbus Crew in 2018, which led to that team's previous operator receiving rights to Austin FC, which joined MLS in 2021.

[150][153] For the 2014 season, the league assumed control of the former Chivas USA club, which had suffered from mismanagement and poor financial results under its individual operator relationship.

[154][9] The league eventually dissolved the team,[155] in favor of awarding rights to a second soccer club in the Los Angeles area to a new investor group on October 30, 2014.

However, MLS teams often obtain green cards for their non-domestic players in order to qualify them for domestic status and thus free up international roster slots.

[182] MLS roster rules allow teams to sign an unlimited number of players straight from their academies and bypassing the draft process.

[186] The Generation Adidas program has been in place since 1997, and has introduced players such as Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, Tim Howard and Michael Bradley into MLS.

[194] The soccer-specific stadiums have yielded positive financial results as teams were no longer required to pay to rent out facilities and gained control over revenue streams such as concessions, parking, naming rights, and the ability to host non-MLS events.

[200] The following season, in 2011, the Portland Timbers made their MLS debut in a newly renovated Jeld-Wen Field, now renamed Providence Park, which was originally a multi-purpose venue but turned into a soccer-specific facility.

[149] In the same year, the Montreal Impact joined the league in an expanded Stade Saputo, which reopened in June 2012, when renovations pushed the seating capacity to over 20,000.

In 2013, D.C. United announced the signing of a public-private partnership term sheet to build a new soccer stadium in Washington, D.C., and a final deal was reached in late 2014.

The Vancouver Whitecaps FC joined the league with Portland in 2011 and temporarily held matches at Empire Field before moving into the refurbished BC Place in October 2011,[209] a retractable-roof stadium that hosts Canadian football as well as soccer.

[221] In September 2012 the league extended its distribution agreement with London-based Media rights agency MP & Silva until 2014 in a deal worth $10 million annually.

[254] Sleeve sponsorship was introduced to MLS in the 2020 season, with the teams able to sell a 2-by-2-inch (51 by 51 mm) section on the right arm where the league logo patch is normally positioned.

[256][257][258] In November 2013, Forbes published a report that revealed that ten of the league's nineteen teams earned an operating profit in 2012, while two broke even and seven had a loss.

[267] Major League Soccer has been implementing fines and suspensions since the 2011 season for simulation (diving) through its Disciplinary Committee, which reviews plays after the match.

[271] In the early years of MLS, teams were typically given official nicknames in the style of other U.S. sports leagues (e.g., Columbus Crew, Los Angeles Galaxy, New England Revolution).

[133][277] Following their departures, Fox Sports joined Apple as MLS's linear broadcast partners in the U.S., with Bell Media's TSN and RDS doing so in Canada.

[282] 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.