Sports Teams in Alphabetical Order: NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL and MLS

Looking up NFL teams in alphabetical order sounds simple until you realize how many people need it for surprisingly practical reasons. Fantasy football draft boards, sports trivia nights, filling out bracket sheets, building databases for sports apps, or just settling an argument about how many teams have a city name that starts with "New." The sorted list below covers all 32 franchises from Arizona to Washington, and the tool above will alphabetize any custom team list you throw at it.

The National Football League has exactly 32 teams split evenly between two conferences - the AFC and NFC - with four divisions of four teams each. That clean structure took decades to build. The league started with just a handful of teams in the 1920s, merged with the AFL in 1970, and reached its current 32-team format when the Houston Texans joined as an expansion franchise in 2002.

AFC vs. NFC: How the League Is Organized

The NFL's two conferences each hold 16 teams across four geographic divisions: North, South, East, and West. The AFC (American Football Conference) traces its roots to the old American Football League that merged with the NFL in 1970. The NFC (National Football Conference) is made up of the original NFL franchises plus a few that shifted during realignment.

Conference alignment matters because it determines who plays who during the regular season. Teams within the same division play each other twice a year - once at home, once away. That's why rivalries like Cowboys-Eagles, Steelers-Ravens, and Packers-Bears burn so hot. You're guaranteed to face those opponents every single season.

The AFC currently has teams like the Kansas City Chiefs (back-to-back-to-back Super Bowl champions from 2023 to 2025), the Buffalo Bills, and the Baltimore Ravens. The NFC features storied franchises like the Dallas Cowboys, Green Bay Packers, and San Francisco 49ers. The two conferences don't meet head-to-head until the Super Bowl, which is why winning your conference championship is such a big deal.

The Oldest and Newest Franchises

The Arizona Cardinals are the oldest continuously operating professional football team in the country, founded in 1898 as the Morgan Athletic Club on the South Side of Chicago. They played as the Chicago Cardinals, then the St. Louis Cardinals, then the Phoenix Cardinals before settling on Arizona in 1994. The Green Bay Packers (1919) and Chicago Bears (1920) are the next oldest, and both have stayed in their original cities - which is remarkable given how often NFL teams relocate.

At the other end of the timeline, the Houston Texans (2002) are the youngest franchise. Houston had lost the Oilers to Tennessee in 1997 and spent five years without a team before the NFL awarded an expansion franchise. The Jacksonville Jaguars and Carolina Panthers, both founded in 1995, were the previous newest additions. The 1960 class was the biggest - eight of the 32 current teams were founded that year as part of the AFL's launch, including the Bills, Broncos, Chargers, Chiefs, Dolphins (as AFL), Jets, Patriots, and Raiders.

Stadiums and Cities

Every NFL team has a home stadium, though not all of them are in the city the team is named after. The New York Giants and New York Jets both play at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey - not in New York at all. The Dallas Cowboys play in Arlington, Texas. The Washington Commanders play in Landover, Maryland. The San Francisco 49ers moved to Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara in 2014, about 40 miles south of San Francisco.

Two teams share a stadium in only one case: the Giants and Jets at MetLife, and the Rams and Chargers at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. SoFi opened in 2020 and cost roughly $5.5 billion to build, making it the most expensive stadium in the world. Lambeau Field in Green Bay is on the opposite end of the spectrum - it opened in 1957 and seats over 81,000 fans who brave subzero temperatures. The Packers have a season ticket waiting list with over 130,000 names on it. The estimated wait time is around 30 years.

Teams by Division

The four-team division structure creates natural groupings that drive scheduling and rivalries. The NFC North (Bears, Lions, Packers, Vikings) features some of the coldest weather games in football - the legendary "Ice Bowl" between the Packers and Cowboys in 1967 was played at -13°F. The AFC West (Broncos, Chargers, Chiefs, Raiders) spans from Missouri to Nevada. The NFC East (Cowboys, Commanders, Eagles, Giants) is often called the most valuable division in sports, with the Cowboys alone valued at over $9 billion.

Division standings determine playoff seeding, so the regular-season race within each four-team group drives the most intense competition. Win your division and you're guaranteed a home playoff game. Every team plays all three division opponents twice, so 6 of your 17 regular-season games are divisional matchups. Those games tend to be closer, harder-hitting, and louder than everything else on the schedule.

Need all 30 MLB teams in alphabetical order? Whether you're filling out a bracket, building a sports database, prepping for trivia night, or just trying to remember which teams are actually in the American League, the sorted list below has you covered. The tool above will also alphabetize any custom team list you paste in - handy for fantasy baseball drafts or ranking your favorites.

Major League Baseball has 30 franchises split between two leagues - the American League and the National League - each with three divisions of five teams. That structure has held since 1998, when the Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Devil Rays (now just the Rays) joined as expansion teams. But the history behind these 30 teams stretches all the way back to the 1870s, making baseball the oldest of the four major North American pro sports.

AL vs. NL: How the Leagues Work

The American League and National League each have 15 teams across East, Central, and West divisions. The AL was founded in 1901 as a rival to the already-established NL, and the two leagues operated almost independently for decades - they didn't even play each other during the regular season until interleague play started in 1997.

The biggest rule difference between the leagues disappeared in 2022 when MLB adopted a universal designated hitter. Before that, NL pitchers had to bat for themselves, which was one of those things baseball purists loved and everyone else found baffling. Now both leagues use the DH, and the only real distinction is scheduling - you still play more games against teams within your own league.

Division alignment drives the regular season. Teams in the same division play each other roughly 13 times a year, which is why rivalries like Yankees-Red Sox, Dodgers-Giants, and Cubs-Cardinals carry so much weight. You can't escape your division opponents, and every series against them feels like it matters more than it probably should.

The Oldest Franchises in Baseball

The Atlanta Braves hold the claim to being the oldest continuously operating professional baseball team, tracing their lineage to the Boston Red Stockings of 1871. They've played as the Red Stockings, Beaneaters, Doves, Rustlers, Bees, and Braves in Boston, then the Milwaukee Braves, and finally the Atlanta Braves since 1966. The Chicago Cubs started as the White Stockings in 1876 and have been playing in Wrigley Field since 1916 - the second-oldest ballpark still in use.

Fenway Park in Boston beats Wrigley by four years, opening in 1912. It's the oldest active MLB stadium and one of the most beloved venues in all of sports. The Green Monster - that 37-foot-tall left field wall - wasn't built as a gimmick. It was the boundary of the property. They couldn't push the fence back, so they built it up. Everything about old ballparks was dictated by city blocks and lot lines, which is why each one has a unique shape.

The Cincinnati Reds (1881), Pittsburgh Pirates (1881), St. Louis Cardinals (1882), Philadelphia Phillies (1883), Los Angeles Dodgers (1883, originally in Brooklyn), and San Francisco Giants (1883, originally in New York) all predate the automobile. These franchises have survived two World Wars, the Great Depression, multiple relocations, and the steroid era. Their longevity is staggering.

Stadiums and Cities

Like the NFL, not every MLB team plays where its name suggests. The Los Angeles Angels actually play in Anaheim, about 30 miles southeast of downtown LA. The Atlanta Braves moved to Truist Park in Cumberland, Georgia, a suburb outside the city limits. And the Oakland Athletics are currently playing at Sutter Health Park in Sacramento after leaving the Coliseum, with plans for a new stadium in Las Vegas - making them one of the most nomadic franchises in modern sports history.

Dodger Stadium is the largest MLB park by seating capacity at around 56,000. It opened in 1962 and sits in Chavez Ravine, a hilltop location with views of the San Gabriel Mountains and the downtown skyline. On the other end, Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg is the smallest and most criticized venue in the league - it's an indoor dome with artificial turf, catwalks that interfere with fly balls, and a capacity around 25,000. The Rays have been trying to get a new stadium for years.

Teams by Division

The six-division structure creates clean groupings. The AL East (Blue Jays, Orioles, Rays, Red Sox, Yankees) is historically the toughest and most expensive division - the Yankees and Red Sox have two of the highest payrolls in the sport, and the entire division regularly sends multiple teams to the playoffs. The NL West (Diamondbacks, Dodgers, Giants, Padres, Rockies) is dominated by the Dodgers, who have won the division 10 of the last 13 years on the back of a payroll that dwarfs most of their competitors.

The AL Central (Guardians, Royals, Tigers, Twins, White Sox) and NL Central (Brewers, Cardinals, Cubs, Pirates, Reds) are often considered the weakest divisions by win total, but they produce some of the most passionate fanbases. The Cardinals have the second-most World Series titles in history (11), trailing only the Yankees (27). The Cubs went 108 years between championships before finally winning in 2016, which remains one of the most celebrated moments in sports history.

Name Changes and Rebrandings

Several MLB teams have changed names in recent years. The Cleveland Guardians played as the Cleveland Indians from 1915 until 2022, when the franchise changed its name after years of debate. The name "Guardians" comes from the Art Deco guardian statues on the Hope Memorial Bridge near their stadium. The Houston Astros have been the Colt .45s. The Washington Nationals were the Montreal Expos until relocating in 2005. The Miami Marlins were the Florida Marlins. The Los Angeles Angels have cycled through California Angels, Anaheim Angels, and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim before landing on just Los Angeles Angels.

The Oakland A's have changed cities more than almost any franchise - starting in Philadelphia (1901), moving to Kansas City (1955), then Oakland (1968), and now heading to Las Vegas. Their departure from Oakland marks the end of an era for a city that has lost the Raiders (NFL) and Warriors (NBA) in recent years too.

Complete List of All 30 MLB Teams Alphabetically

Here is every MLB team listed from A to Z:

Looking for all 30 NBA teams in alphabetical order? Whether you're making a bracket, building a sports database, studying up for trivia, or just trying to settle a debate about which teams are in the Western Conference, the sorted list below covers every franchise. The tool above will also alphabetize any custom list you paste in - useful for fantasy basketball drafts or ranking your all-time favorites.

The National Basketball Association has 30 teams split evenly between the Eastern Conference and Western Conference, each with three five-team divisions. That 30-team structure has been in place since 2004, when the Charlotte Bobcats (now Hornets) joined as the most recent expansion team. But the league's roots go back to 1946, when the Basketball Association of America launched with 11 franchises - most of which folded before the BAA merged with the National Basketball League in 1949 to form what we now know as the NBA.

Eastern vs. Western Conference

The Eastern and Western Conferences each have 15 teams. Geography mostly determines which conference a team belongs to, though there are some quirks. The Toronto Raptors are in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference despite being further north than any other franchise. The Memphis Grizzlies and New Orleans Pelicans are both in the Western Conference's Southwest Division, even though they're east of the Mississippi River. Conference alignment in the NBA has always been more about competitive balance and travel logistics than strict geography.

Each conference has three divisions: Atlantic, Central, and Southeast in the East; Northwest, Pacific, and Southwest in the West. Division play matters less in basketball than in football or baseball - NBA teams play each division rival four times a year, but that's only slightly more than the three or four games they play against non-division opponents. Still, division titles earn tiebreaker advantages in the playoff seedings, and local rivalries like Celtics-Knicks, Lakers-Clippers, and Bulls-Pacers carry real weight with fans.

Original Franchises and Oldest Teams

Only three of the original BAA franchises from 1946 still exist and have played continuously: the Boston Celtics, New York Knicks, and Golden State Warriors (originally the Philadelphia Warriors). The Celtics are the most decorated franchise in NBA history with 18 championships, including eight straight from 1959 to 1966 under Red Auerbach and Bill Russell. That kind of dynasty is almost impossible to imagine happening again in modern sports.

The Sacramento Kings hold the distinction of being the oldest NBA franchise by founding date, tracing their lineage to the Rochester Seagrams in 1923 - though they went through the Rochester Royals, Cincinnati Royals, Kansas City-Omaha Kings, and Kansas City Kings before landing in Sacramento in 1985. The Detroit Pistons started as the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons in 1941. The Atlanta Hawks began as the Tri-Cities Blackhawks in 1946 before stops in Milwaukee and St. Louis.

The Philadelphia 76ers have one of the richest histories in the sport. Originally the Syracuse Nationals (founded 1946), they relocated to Philadelphia in 1963 and renamed themselves after the year of American independence. Wilt Chamberlain's 1966-67 Sixers team - which went 68-13 - is still considered one of the greatest squads ever assembled.

Arenas and Cities

Madison Square Garden in New York is the most famous basketball arena on the planet. It opened in its current form in 1968 and sits on top of Penn Station in midtown Manhattan. MSG doesn't have the biggest capacity or the newest amenities, but its location and history give it an aura that no other arena can match. Players regularly say that performing at the Garden brings something extra out of them.

The newest arena in the league is the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, which opened in 2024 as the Clippers' first-ever purpose-built home. The franchise spent decades sharing arenas with the Lakers - first the Forum, then Staples Center (now Crypto.com Arena). Steve Ballmer's $2 billion investment finally gave the Clippers their own identity. On the other end, the 76ers are building 76 Place in downtown Philadelphia, set to open soon and end their long stay at the Wells Fargo Center in South Philadelphia.

Like other pro sports, not every NBA team plays exactly where its name suggests. The Golden State Warriors haven't been in Oakland since 2019 - Chase Center is in San Francisco's Mission Bay neighborhood. The Clippers play in Inglewood, not Los Angeles proper. And the Pistons returned to downtown Detroit from the suburbs in 2017 when Little Caesars Arena opened, ending a 30-year stretch in Auburn Hills.

Teams by Division

The Atlantic Division (Celtics, Knicks, Nets, 76ers, Raptors) is the NBA's version of a historical heavyweight division. Boston and New York are two of the three surviving original franchises, and Philly has been a basketball city since Wilt Chamberlain was dropping 100-point games. The division has produced some of the league's greatest rivalries and most passionate fanbases.

The Pacific Division (Clippers, Lakers, Kings, Suns, Warriors) has been the league's glamour division for years, powered by the Warriors' dynasty run from 2015 to 2022 and the Lakers' perennial relevance. The Central Division (Bucks, Bulls, Cavaliers, Pacers, Pistons) produced the greatest player of all time in Michael Jordan's Bulls, plus the "Bad Boy" Pistons who terrorized the late-1980s league.

The Southwest Division (Grizzlies, Mavericks, Pelicans, Rockets, Spurs) was dominated by the Spurs for two decades under Gregg Popovich and Tim Duncan, with five championships between 1999 and 2014. The Northwest Division (Jazz, Nuggets, Thunder, Timberwolves, Trail Blazers) and Southeast Division (Hawks, Heat, Hornets, Magic, Wizards) round out the conference structures.

Name Changes and Relocations

The NBA has seen more franchise movement than any other major American sports league. The Oklahoma City Thunder were the Seattle SuperSonics until 2008, when the team relocated after a bitter ownership dispute - Seattle fans still haven't gotten over it, and expansion talk surfaces every few years. The Memphis Grizzlies started in Vancouver in 1995 and moved south in 2001 after struggling with attendance and the Canadian dollar exchange rate.

The Brooklyn Nets have one of the most traveled histories in pro sports. They started as the New Jersey Americans in 1967, became the New York Nets, moved back to New Jersey (twice), and finally landed in Brooklyn in 2012 when the Barclays Center opened. The Washington Wizards have been the Chicago Packers, Chicago Zephyrs, Baltimore Bullets, Capital Bullets, and Washington Bullets before settling on Wizards in 1997 to distance themselves from the gun violence connotations of "Bullets."

The Charlotte Hornets franchise has its own complicated timeline. The original Hornets left for New Orleans in 2002, eventually becoming the Pelicans. Charlotte got an expansion team in 2004 called the Bobcats, then reclaimed the Hornets name in 2014 after New Orleans rebranded. So technically, the current Hornets franchise dates to 2004, but the name and history belong to Charlotte.

Complete List of All 30 NBA Teams Alphabetically

Here is every NBA team listed from A to Z:

Whether you're filling out a Stanley Cup bracket, building a hockey stats database, playing trivia at a sports bar, or trying to remember which teams are in the Central Division, an alphabetical list of NHL teams comes in handy more often than you'd think. Below you'll find all 32 franchises from Anaheim to Winnipeg, plus a data table with conferences, divisions, arenas, and founding years. The sorting tool above handles any custom list you want to alphabetize.

The National Hockey League has 32 teams split between two conferences - Eastern and Western - with two divisions in each. The league started in 1917 with just four teams in Canada and has grown through waves of expansion, mergers with rival leagues, and more than a few franchise relocations. The most recent addition, the Seattle Kraken, played their first season in 2021-22.

Eastern vs. Western Conference

The NHL's conference structure splits 32 teams into two groups of 16. The Eastern Conference has the Atlantic and Metropolitan divisions. The Western Conference has the Central and Pacific divisions. Each division holds eight teams, which is larger than the NFL's four-team divisions but creates a similar effect - divisional opponents are the teams you play most often and develop the deepest rivalries with.

Geography mostly drives the split, but not perfectly. Detroit and Columbus are in the Eastern Conference despite being further west than several Western Conference cities. That happened during the 2013 realignment when Detroit and Columbus both moved east to be in the same conference as geographic rivals like Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and the New York teams. The Winnipeg Jets ended up in the Central Division even though Winnipeg is further east than Minneapolis.

Conference alignment matters most during the playoffs. The top three teams from each division plus two wild card teams per conference make the postseason. The Eastern and Western Conference champions meet in the Stanley Cup Final, so you won't see two Eastern teams playing for the Cup. During the regular season, teams play divisional opponents four times each and conference opponents three times, with fewer games against the opposite conference.

The Original Six

Ask any hockey fan about the foundation of the NHL and they'll point to the Original Six - the Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers, and Toronto Maple Leafs. These six teams were the entire NHL from 1942 to 1967, a 25-year stretch where no new franchises entered the league. They built the rivalries, traditions, and culture that still define hockey today.

The Canadiens are the most successful franchise in NHL history with 24 Stanley Cup championships, though they haven't won since 1993. The Toronto Maple Leafs hold the longest active Cup drought among Original Six teams - their last championship was 1967. The Detroit Red Wings were dominant in the late 1990s and 2000s with four Cups in 11 years. The Rangers won their famous 1994 Cup after a 54-year drought that spawned the "1940!" chant from rival fans.

The Original Six era created iconic venues like the Montreal Forum, Maple Leaf Gardens, Chicago Stadium, the Boston Garden, the old Detroit Olympia, and the original Madison Square Garden. Most of those buildings are gone now, but Madison Square Garden - opened in its current form in 1968 - remains the home of the Rangers and is the oldest arena currently in use in the NHL.

Expansion and the Growth of Hockey

The NHL doubled overnight in 1967 when six new teams joined: the Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota North Stars, Oakland Seals, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and St. Louis Blues. The league continued expanding through the 1970s, adding the Vancouver Canucks and Buffalo Sabres in 1970, the New York Islanders and Atlanta Flames in 1972, and the Kansas City Scouts and Washington Capitals in 1974.

The biggest influx came in 1979 when the NHL absorbed four teams from the rival World Hockey Association: the Edmonton Oilers, Hartford Whalers, Quebec Nordiques, and Winnipeg Jets. The Oilers immediately became a dynasty behind Wayne Gretzky, winning five Cups in seven years. The other three WHA teams all eventually relocated - Hartford became the Carolina Hurricanes, Quebec became the Colorado Avalanche, and the original Jets became the Arizona Coyotes (the current Jets are a separate franchise that moved from Atlanta in 2011).

The 1990s and 2000s brought another wave: San Jose Sharks (1991), Ottawa Senators and Tampa Bay Lightning (1992), Florida Panthers and Anaheim Ducks (1993), Nashville Predators (1998), Atlanta Thrashers and Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild (2000), and the Vegas Golden Knights (2017). Seattle became team number 32 in 2021. Vegas made the Stanley Cup Final in their very first season - something no other expansion team in any major sport had done.

Arenas and Home Ice

NHL arenas tend to be smaller than NBA or NFL venues, typically seating between 17,000 and 21,000 fans. The Bell Centre in Montreal is the largest at about 21,300 seats, and Canadiens games have been sold out for decades. The smallest is Arizona's temporary setup - the Coyotes have had a tumultuous arena history, playing in a college arena (Mullett Arena at Arizona State, capacity around 5,000) before the franchise's relocation to Salt Lake City was announced.

Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle is one of the newest, built inside the historic shell of the old KeyArena and designed to be carbon-neutral. Little Caesars Arena in Detroit opened in 2017, replacing the beloved Joe Louis Arena. The United Center in Chicago, shared with the NBA's Bulls, is one of the largest multi-purpose arenas in the country at over 19,700 for hockey.

Several NHL teams share their arena with NBA teams. The Capitals and Wizards share Capital One Arena. The Flyers and 76ers share Wells Fargo Center. The Rangers and Knicks share Madison Square Garden. The Kings and Lakers share Crypto.com Arena. Scheduling around two professional sports calendars that overlap for months gets complicated, but these shared venues make economic sense in expensive real estate markets.

Canadian Teams and the Hockey Heartland

Seven of the 32 NHL teams are based in Canada: the Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, Toronto Maple Leafs, Vancouver Canucks, and Winnipeg Jets. That's down from eight Canadian teams in the mid-1990s before the Quebec Nordiques moved to Colorado. Hockey is by far the most popular sport in Canada, and Canadian teams consistently rank among the league leaders in attendance and TV ratings despite several of them struggling on the ice in recent years.

No Canadian team has won the Stanley Cup since the Montreal Canadiens in 1993 - the longest drought in league history. The Oilers came close, reaching the Final in 2006 and 2024. The Vancouver Canucks reached the Final in 2011. But the Cup has stayed south of the border for over three decades, a fact that genuinely bothers Canadian hockey fans in a way that's hard to overstate.

Teams by Division

The Atlantic Division holds Boston, Buffalo, Detroit, Florida, Montreal, Ottawa, Tampa Bay, and Toronto. It's heavy on Original Six history and includes two of the most passionate fan bases in hockey (Montreal and Toronto). The Metropolitan Division includes Carolina, Columbus, New Jersey, the New York Islanders, the New York Rangers, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Washington. It's stacked with recent Cup winners - the Capitals (2018), Penguins (2016, 2017), and Hurricanes (2006) all call it home.

The Central Division has Arizona, Chicago, Colorado, Dallas, Minnesota, Nashville, St. Louis, and Winnipeg. Colorado has been dominant recently, winning the Cup in 2022 with a roster built around Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar. The Pacific Division rounds things out with Anaheim, Calgary, Edmonton, Los Angeles, San Jose, Seattle, Vancouver, and Vegas. The Golden Knights won their first Cup in 2023, just six years after entering the league.

Whether you're setting up a soccer fantasy league, building a bracket for MLS Cup playoffs, quizzing your friends on which teams are in each conference, or just trying to remember if Austin FC is East or West - an alphabetical list of MLS teams saves you a trip to the league website. Below you'll find all 30 franchises from Atlanta to Vancouver, plus a full data table with conferences, stadiums, cities, and founding years. The sorting tool above handles any custom team list you want to alphabetize.

Major League Soccer has grown from 10 teams in 1996 to 30 as of 2025, making it one of the fastest-expanding leagues in professional sports history. The league runs from late February through October, with playoffs continuing into December. Unlike the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL, MLS doesn't use divisions - just two conferences, Eastern and Western, with the top teams advancing to the postseason.

Eastern vs. Western Conference

MLS splits its 30 teams between the Eastern Conference (15 teams) and Western Conference (15 teams). The playoff format sends the top seven teams from each conference to the postseason, with the first round played at higher seeds' home stadiums. The conference finals produce two teams that meet in the MLS Cup final, typically held in late November or early December at the higher seed's venue.

Geography drives the conference split, though not always neatly. Nashville and Atlanta are in the East, which makes sense. But the Western Conference stretches from Vancouver in the northwest all the way to Houston and San Diego in the south. Minnesota, which shares a latitude with Wisconsin and Michigan, sits in the Western Conference rather than the East - partly to balance team counts as the league expanded westward. Columbus, just across Lake Erie from Canada, is firmly Eastern.

The Eastern Conference has historically been more competitive in the regular season, stacking up high point totals, but the West has produced more MLS Cup champions in recent years. Teams like Portland, Seattle, and LA Galaxy have built strong dynasties that tilt the trophy count westward.

The Founding Teams - 1996

MLS kicked off its first season in 1996 with 10 charter clubs. Eight of those original franchises still play today under various names: the Colorado Rapids, Columbus Crew, D.C. United, FC Dallas (founded as Dallas Burn), LA Galaxy, New England Revolution, New York Red Bulls (originally NY/NJ MetroStars), San Jose Earthquakes (who folded and reformed), and Sporting Kansas City (as Kansas City Wizards). The original 10 also included the Tampa Bay Mutiny and Miami Fusion, both of which folded in 2001 during a financial crisis that nearly ended the league.

D.C. United dominated the first few years, winning four MLS Cups in the league's first six seasons. The LA Galaxy became the marquee franchise through the late 1990s and 2000s, winning five championships and signing international stars including David Beckham in 2007 - a signing that signaled MLS was becoming a legitimate destination for elite players.

The founding teams share one thing: they all chose generic, marketable names over local identity. "Galaxy," "Revolution," "Crew" - names that could play in any market. Later expansions went the opposite direction, often adopting European-style naming conventions like FC, United, and SC to signal soccer authenticity. That shift reflects how dramatically American soccer culture changed over the league's first 30 years.

Expansion: From 10 to 30 Teams

The league nearly collapsed in 2002 when the Tampa Bay Mutiny and Miami Fusion folded the same week, cutting MLS to eight teams. Ownership consolidation - with a single entity controlling multiple clubs - kept the league alive while it rebuilt. Real Salt Lake and Chivas USA joined in 2005, followed by Toronto FC in 2007 (the first Canadian club), and the Seattle Sounders in 2009.

Seattle's arrival changed everything. The Sounders averaged over 36,000 fans per game in their first season, more than many NFL markets, and immediately became one of the best-supported clubs in North America. That success accelerated expansion. Portland and Vancouver joined in 2011. Montreal, New York City FC, and Orlando City followed. Then Atlanta United arrived in 2017 and broke MLS attendance records, drawing over 70,000 fans per game to their shared NFL stadium.

The 2020s brought a wave of new clubs with strong local ownership and purpose-built stadiums: Inter Miami CF (2020), Nashville SC (2020), Austin FC (2021), Charlotte FC (2022), and St. Louis City SC (2023). San Diego FC joined in 2025, bringing the league to 30 teams. Each new club came with serious investment, soccer-specific venues, and ownership groups willing to spend on Designated Players - the league's mechanism for signing players above the salary cap.

MLS Cup and How the Season Works

The MLS regular season runs from late February through mid-October, with each team playing 34 games. The top seven teams from each conference qualify for the MLS Cup Playoffs, which starts in late October. The first round is a single-elimination game at the higher seed's stadium. The conference semifinals and finals are two-leg series (aggregate score). The MLS Cup Final is a single match at a predetermined venue, usually the home stadium of the higher-seeded finalist.

There's also the Supporters' Shield, awarded to the team with the best regular-season record across both conferences. It doesn't come with the league title, but it's a real trophy with serious prestige among supporter groups. NYCFC won it in 2021 before winning MLS Cup the same year, a rare double.

MLS also participates in the Concacaf Champions Cup, where league clubs compete against top clubs from Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. The Seattle Sounders became the first MLS club to win that tournament in 2022, beating Liga MX's Club León in the final - a watershed moment for American soccer that helped silence the long-running debate about whether MLS was truly competitive against its Mexican counterparts.

Lionel Messi and the Turning Point

David Beckham's 2007 arrival at the Galaxy is the moment most people point to as when MLS became an international story. But Lionel Messi signing with Inter Miami CF in July 2023 was a different magnitude entirely. Messi - widely considered the greatest player of all time and a World Cup winner with Argentina just months earlier - chose MLS over Saudi Arabia and the chance to return to Barcelona. It sent shockwaves through global soccer.

The effects were immediate. Inter Miami sold out Chase Stadium. MLS viewership spiked dramatically. Apple TV+, which had signed a 10-year broadcast deal with MLS in 2022, saw subscriptions climb every time Messi was on the schedule. Cities across the country sold out stadiums for regular season road games. Messi brought Carlos Busquets and Jordi Alba with him, turning Miami from a mid-table Eastern team into an entertainment spectacle regardless of results.

But Messi's arrival also pointed to something bigger: MLS had quietly become a viable landing spot for elite international talent, not just aging stars looking for a farewell tour. Lorenzo Insigne at Toronto, Xherdan Shaqiri at Chicago, Gareth Bale at LAFC, Riqui Puig at Galaxy, Federico Bernardeschi at Toronto - the talent level in MLS rose steadily through the 2020s. Messi was the most visible piece of a league that had genuinely matured.

Soccer-Specific Stadiums

One of MLS's defining characteristics in its second decade has been the move toward purpose-built soccer stadiums. In the early years, most teams played in cavernous NFL venues where a crowd of 15,000 looked tiny in a 70,000-seat bowl. The atmosphere suffered. The sight lines weren't right for soccer. Supporter sections felt isolated.

Starting with Colorado's Dick's Sporting Goods Park in 2007, clubs began building compact, intimate venues designed specifically for the sport. Portland's remodeled Providence Park has some of the best atmosphere in North American soccer. Subaru Park in Chester, Pennsylvania - tight, close to the field, filled with standing supporters sections - feels more like a European stadium than anything else in the country. Children's Mercy Park in Kansas City helped stabilize what had been a struggling franchise. TQL Stadium in Cincinnati seats about 26,000 and has been praised as one of the best venues in the league since it opened in 2021.

The trend continued with GEODIS Park in Nashville (opened 2022, the largest soccer-specific stadium in the US at over 30,000 seats) and Q2 Stadium in Austin. Each new expansion club now expects to have its own venue within a few years of joining the league, a shift from the early days when sharing with the NFL was the default.

Teams by Conference