Diego Luna’s Real Salt Lake breakout and MLS league history
Diego Luna drives a November 2026 breakout for Real Salt Lake as Chicho Arango pursues the Golden Boot. The league maintains a 23,200 average attendance while navigating new homegrown player contract salary rules.
The RSL Decision Day match
Real Salt Lake faces the LA Galaxy in a decisive Decision Day match. This match determines if the season for Real Salt Lake ends with a postseason spot. The club’s season includes many highs and lows, but this match is part of the intense November playoff period. You need to watch this match to see how the season ends. The Decision Day match is the only thing that matters for Real Salt Lake’s postseason hopes. The match is part of a 34-match regular season. The league has 30 teams. Twenty-seven are in the United States and three are in Canada. The headquarters sit in New York City. Eighteen teams compete in the postseason MLS Cup playoffs. The postseason runs through late October and November. The league’s 2024 average attendance was over 23,200 per match. The LA Galaxy hold the most MLS Cups with six, while the Philadelphia Union and D.C. United both hold four Supporters’ Shields. How will the Decision Day result affect the playoff seeding?
The Golden Boot and Messi
Messi closes in on the Golden Boot. This pursuit happens as the league concludes its regular season. Chris Wondolowski holds the all-time goalscoring record in MLS with 171 goals scored between 2005 and 2021. The league implemented the Designated Player Rule to allow teams to sign star players. This rule helped bring international stars like David Beckham into the league. The league also includes teams like Inter Miami CF, which won its first MLS Cup in 2025. The Philadelphia Union won the Supporters’ Shield in 2025.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Total MLS Teams | 30 |
| US-based Teams | 27 |
| Canadian-based Teams | 3 |
| 2024 Avg Attendance | 23,200 |
The league’s 2024 average attendance of over 23,200 per match was the third-highest among major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada. This figure sat behind the NFL, which had over 69,000 fans per game, and MLB, which had over 26,000 fans per game. In 2005, Jason Kreis became the first player to score 100 career MLS goals. The league expanded in 1998 with the Miami Fusion and the Chicago Fire. The league also expanded in 2005 to include Real Salt Lake and Chivas USA. The league expanded in 2007 to include Toronto FC. In 2003, the league limited teams to three substitutions per game.
The History of MLS
MLS began play in 1996 with ten teams. The inaugural match featured the San Jose Clash and D.C. United with 31,000 fans at Spartan Stadium. The league follows a fixed membership structure. This means MLS does not use a promotion and relegation process. The predecessor to MLS was the North American Soccer League, which existed from 1968 until 1984. The league lost an estimated $250 million during its first five years. It lost more than $350 million between its founding and 2004. The league’s quality faced doubt when the United States men’s national team, which included many MLS players, finished in last place out of the 32 teams at the 1998 World Cup. The early rule changes in MLS alienated some traditional soccer fans. The construction of soccer-specific stadiums like Columbus Crew Stadium in 1999 helped the league. In 1988, U.S. Soccer promised to establish a Division 1 professional soccer league to host the 1994 FIFA World Cup. Major League Professional Soccer was selected as the exclusive Division 1 league in 1993. The league also includes teams such as the Chicago Fire, which won its first title in its inaugural season. In 2002, the league contracted the Tampa Bay Mutiny and Miami Fusion. The league is a single entity where the league owns each team and investors operate them individually.
