Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber confirmed the worst kept secret surrounding the league at this point. Effective immediately, Chivas USA will “cease operations” according to a report from MLSsoccer.com. It goes on to mention that they league will announce an ownership group for the new club based in Los Angeles on Thursday. They will begin play in the 2017 season alongside Atlanta. All of the records and statistics from the old franchise will not follow the new one which will classify this new franchise as an “expansion” franchise.
Commissioner Garber had this quote in the press release sent out to the media, “As part of our new strategy for Southern California -- a major hotbed of soccer participation and fan support -- we believe that engaging with a new ownership group which has the resources and local community ties, and a plan for a dedicated soccer-specific stadium, provides us with the best chance for success.”
That press release also mentions that a Dispersal Draft of the players currently on the roster will take place at some point in the near future but the details will be announced later. It is expected that will take place sometime before December 1.
Along with this news, the league also announced the new conference alignment with the additions of New York City FC and Orlando City SC to the league in 2015. With two Eastern-based clubs joining the league and one Western-based club leaving the league, that would have brought the conference structure to have 12 clubs in the East and 8 in the West. To balance that out, Sporting Kansas City and the Houston Dynamo have been moved to the Western Conference. Here is how the conferences lineup in 2015:
Eastern Conference: Chicago Fire, Columbus Crew SC, DC United, Montreal Impact, New England Revolution, New York City FC, New York Red Bulls, Orlando City SC, Philadelphia Union, Toronto FC
Western Conference: Colorado Rapids, FC Dallas, Houston Dynamo, Los Angeles Galaxy, Portland Timbers, Real Salt Lake, San Jose Earthquakes, Seattle Sounders FC, Sporting Kansas City, Vancouver Whitecaps FC
The league will not be increasing the match total in 2015 meaning that there will still be 34 matches played by each club next season. Each club will play everybody in the opposing conference one time (five home and five away = 10 matches). They will also play everybody in their own conference at least twice (nine home and nine away = 18 matches). Additionally, they will play six teams in their own conference a third time (three home and three away = 6 matches) for a grand total of 34 matches.
One of the biggest positives that may be overlooked with this scenario is that it eliminates that odd numbers of clubs in the league. This should help with the scheduling process and eliminate that odd team finishing their season off mid-week like Real Salt Lake did in 2014.
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