Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional soccer league in the United States and Canada, consisting of 30 teams (27 from the US and 3 from Canada) divided into two conferences: Eastern and Western. Each team plays a 34-game regular season, with 17 games at home and 17 away. In the regular season, teams play opponents within their own conference twice (home and away) and six games against teams from the opposite conference. MLS operates as a single-entity structure where the league centrally owns the teams and player contracts, and teams have investor-operators. There is no promotion or relegation. Teams earn points for wins and draws (3 points for a win, 1 for a draw, 0 for a loss), with the Supporters' Shield awarded to the team with the best overall regular- season record. The main competition winner is determined through playoffs called the MLS Cup playoffs. The playoff format includes the top teams from each conference, with an initial round followed by knockout rounds that ultimately lead to crowning the MLS Cup champion, different from many soccer leagues worldwide that crown the champion based solely on regular-season performance. MLS also allows "Designated Players" (sometimes called the "Beckham Rule") who can be signed outside the regular salary cap to boost competition quality. In summary, MLS is structured with a split conference system, regular season and playoffs, single-entity ownership, and salary/player acquisition rules designed to promote competitive balance and league growth.
