Major League Soccer 2013
MLS is the top level professional league in North America, sitting above the North American Soccer League (NASL), termed the "second division." There is no promotion or relegation between these levels although teams from both competitions compete in the US Open Cup. The Canadian teams play in the Canadian Championship (contested by only four teams), their only route into the CONCACEF Champions League (CCL). MLS is unique in that it operates under a single-entity structure with teams centrally owned by the league and run as franchises.
MLS is organised into Eastern and Western Conferences: teams play each other twice, home and away with additional games organised within each section. The top five teams in each section play off with the winners then meeting in a single match for the MLS Cup. The team with the best overall record at the end of the regular season is awarded the Supporters' Shield.
It is widely known that the MLS favours a second franchise in New York and the re-formed New York Cosmos, who start playing in the NASL this year were the most likely candidates until a rival bid was but together by Manchester City FC and the New York Yankees baseball team in May.
This year MLS has introduced "Jersey Week" (25-28 February) during which twelve clubs launched new kits. All 14 teams are expected to participate in future. An unwelcome development is the introduction of "replica" and "authentic" shirts for sale to supporters, the latter being $35 more expensive. In HFK's opinion, this is blatant exploitation and we hope Adidas will not try the same trick in the UK.
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Success has eluded the team since 2006, when Chicago moved into Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.
Chivas USA is the sister club of Mexican team CD Guadalajara, popularly known as Chivas (Goats) in Spanish. They draw support from the large Mexican-American population of Los Angeles and share The Home Depot Center with LA Galaxy. Their policy is to recruit only players of Hispanic or Mexican descent. 
Colorado play in Commerce City, a suburb of Denver and wear the corporate colours of Kroenke Sports Enterprises, who bought the franchise in 2007. 
"The hardest working team in America" have retained both of their strips from last season.
Representing Washington DC, the Black and Red are the most successful team in the history of professional league soccer in the US. Plans to build a stadium of their own have so far come to nothing and the team still play in the 45,600 seat RFK stadium, owned by the District of Columbia. 
Charter members of MLS (as Dallas Burn), the team was re-branded in 2004 and has played as FC Dallas ever since. They play at Pizza Hut Park in the City of Frisco, a northern suburb. FC Dallas have won the US Open Cup once (1997). The team are wearing last season's strips with the sponsor that first appeared last July.
Houston have introduced new home and away strips in orange and white, dropping the "space city blue" trim accent colour. The flag of Texas is discretely placed on the front and "Forever Orange" is repeated on a ribbon inside the collar.
So it's farewell to Beckham after he helped the team to the MLS Cup last season for the second year in succession and their fourth championship overall, equalling the record of DC United. The home strip is unchanged, a new change kit is introduced. The third kit was designed by a fan, Carlos Rodriguez, whose design (one of 8,000 entries) was chosen from a shortlist of five finalists by suppporters. The red, green and yellow trim represent the colours of the flag of Los Angeles.
In their first MLS season, Montreal finished a respectable seventh in the Eastern Conference. There is no change to their first and second choice strips but a new third kit was launched during Jersey Week.
"The Revs" strips are unchanged.
There is speculation that if New York Cosmos do ever join MLS, the owners will rebrand their franchise as New Jersey Red Bulls since they play in Harrison, NJ and draw most of their support from the Jersey area rather than New York city.
Philadelphia have retained their very distinctive first and second strips. The new third kit is a tribute to Bethlehem Steel FC, one of the oldest and most successful sides in the US until they disbanded in 1930.
The Timbers have introduced two new strips that maintain the themes from their previous versions. The home kit in ponderosa green is meant to evoke the Oregan forests while the away shirt, with a thorn motif, suggests the cultivation of roses for which the city is famous. The third strip with a simplified crest is retained.
Salt Lake are keeping both of their strips from last season.
San Jose Earthquakes won the 2012 Supporters' Shield with 66 points and under a conventional league system would have been champions. Under the MLS' rules, however, they were knocked out in the Western Conference semi finals by Los Angeles who had finished 12 points behind them and in fourth place. Their compensation is a place in the CONCACEF Champions' League.
Seattle have introduced a pair of smart new kits for 2013. The home strip has less fussy detailing than its predecessor while the away shirt has an interesting vertical stripe made up of diagonal strips that grade from green to blue. The deeply unpleasant third strip is, unfortunately retained.
Kansas City won the Eastern Conference for the second year in succession in 2012 but were knocked out of the play-offs by Houston. They did, however, win the US Open Cup.
Toronto finished 2012 with the worst record in MLS. but they still qualified for the CONCACEF Champions' League after winning the Canadian Championship for the fourth successive season.
Whitecaps made it to the Conference West knock out phase, an improvement on their first season in MLS.