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136-415: The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri . Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With 8,472 square miles (21,940 km) and a population of more than 2.2 million people, it is the second-largest metropolitan area centered in Missouri (after Greater St. Louis ) and

272-660: A best-of-three round; the round is followed by more single-elimination rounds that lead up to the MLS Cup final. Major League Soccer's spring-to-fall schedule results in scheduling conflicts with the FIFA calendar and with summertime international tournaments such as the World Cup and the Gold Cup , causing some players to miss league matches. While MLS has looked into changing to a fall-to-spring format, there are no current plans to do so. Were

408-449: A $ 200 million entrance fee. As of the 2023 season, 32 different clubs have competed in the league, with 15 having won at least one MLS Cup , and 16 winning at least one Supporters' Shield . The two trophies have been won by the same club in the same year on eight occasions (two clubs have accomplished the feat twice). Major League Soccer operates under a single-entity structure in which teams and player contracts are centrally owned by

544-452: A $ 25 million expansion fee due to a clause in part-owner David Beckham 's original playing contract signed in 2007. $ 150 million was paid as an effective entrance fee by a group that bought Columbus Crew in 2018, which led to that team's previous operator receiving rights to Austin FC, which joined MLS in 2021. MLS has also announced the ownership groups of the 28th and 29th teams would each pay

680-528: A bend in the Missouri River that defines a border between Wyandotte County, Kansas , and Clay County, Missouri , running approximately north–south and a border between North Kansas City, Missouri , and Kansas City, Missouri , running approximately east–west. The river bend's sharpest part forms a peninsula containing the Kansas City Downtown Airport . Downtown Kansas City, Missouri has

816-408: A central city and its suburbs, which may or may not include the entirety of a metropolitan area. Population figures given for one metro area can vary by millions. There has been no significant change in the basic concept of metropolitan areas since its adoption in 1950, although significant changes in geographic distributions have occurred since then, and more are expected. Because of the fluidity of

952-677: A city"), plural: aires d'attraction des villes . The official translation of this statistical area in English (as used by INSEE) is "functional area". The AAV follows the same definition as the Functional Urban Area (FUA) used by Eurostat and the OECD , and the AAVs are thus strictly comparable to the FUAs. The AAV replaced in 2020 the metropolitan statistical area called aire urbaine (AU). The AU, which

1088-421: A countdown clock and halves ended when the clock reached 0:00. The league realized that the rule changes had alienated some traditional soccer fans while failing to draw new American sports fans, and the shootout and countdown clock were eliminated after the 1999 season . The league's quality was cast into doubt when the U.S. men's national team , which was made up largely of MLS players, finished in last place at

1224-491: A coup for American soccer, and was made possible by the Designated Player Rule. Players such as Cuauhtémoc Blanco (Chicago Fire) and Juan Pablo Ángel (New York Red Bulls), are some of the first Designated Players who made major contributions to their clubs. The departures of Clint Dempsey and Jozy Altidore , coupled with the return of former U.S. national team stars Claudio Reyna and Brian McBride , highlighted

1360-713: A crowd of 58,912, while the New York Red Bulls added Australian all-time leading goalscorer Tim Cahill . In 2012, with an average attendance of over 18,000 per game, MLS had the third highest average attendance of any sports league in the U.S. after the National Football League (NFL) and Major League Baseball (MLB), and was the seventh highest attended professional soccer league worldwide as of 2013 . In 2013, MLS introduced New York City FC as its 20th team, and Orlando City Soccer Club as its 21st team, both of which would begin playing in 2015. In 2013,

1496-410: A decline in attendance. The league's low attendance was all the more apparent in light of the fact that eight of the original ten teams played in large American football stadiums. One aspect that had alienated fans was that MLS experimented with rules deviations in its early years in an attempt to "Americanize" the sport. The league implemented the use of shootouts to resolve tie games. MLS also used

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1632-658: A district in Kocaeli province and thus in the jurisdiction of the Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality, is arguably within the metro area of Istanbul with many of its residents commuting to Istanbul for work and the Marmaray, a commuter rail line, extending into the district. The district however, as previously mentioned, is not a part of Istanbul's provincial limits, and thus not subject to the jurisdiction of its metropolitan municipality. The word metropolitan (municipality)

1768-511: A fixed membership like most sports leagues in the United States and Canada and Mexico 's Liga MX which makes it one of the few soccer leagues that does not use a promotion and relegation process. The LA Galaxy have the most MLS Cups, with five. They are also tied with D.C. United for most Supporters' Shields, with four each. The Columbus Crew are the defending champions, as they defeated Los Angeles FC 2–1 on December 9, 2023, to mark

1904-476: A gain of 5,200 jobs in the Kansas portion of the metro area. In 2015, the metropolitan area accounted for 40.9% of the total GDP in the state of Kansas and 22.7% of the total GDP in the state of Missouri. The Kansas City metropolitan area has more freeway lane miles per capita than any other large metropolitan area in the United States. This is 27% more than the second-place Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex , 50% more than

2040-431: A harmonised definition of the metropolitan area, and the goal was to have an area from which a significant share of the residents commute into the city, a concept known as the "functional urban region". France's national statistics office, INSEE , names an urban core and its surrounding area of commuter influence an aire d'attraction d'une ville    [ fr ] (or AAV, literally meaning "catchment area of

2176-577: A high degree of economic and social integration with the core as measured by commuting ties. The OMB then defines a Combined Statistical Area as consisting of various combinations of adjacent metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas with economic ties measured by commuting patterns. The Office of Management and Budget further defines a core-based statistical area (CBSA) to be a geographical area that consists of one or more counties (or equivalents) anchored by an urban center of at least 10,000 people plus adjacent counties that are socioeconomically tied to

2312-685: A legal method for the league to maintain solvency and competitive parity since MLS was a single entity and therefore incapable of conspiring with itself. The 2002 FIFA World Cup , in which the United States unexpectedly made the quarterfinals, coincided with a resurgence in American soccer and MLS. MLS Cup 2002 drew 61,316 spectators to Gillette Stadium , the largest attendance in an MLS Cup final until 2018 . MLS limited teams to three substitutions per game in 2003, and adopted International Football Association Board (IFAB) rules in 2005. MLS underwent

2448-522: A metropolitan area, it is sufficient that a city or cities form a nucleus with which other areas have a high degree of integration. A metropolitan area is commonly known and characterized by a high concentration in service sector labor and enterprises. Macroeconomics views metropolitan areas as trade regions of economic significance. The Greater Johannesburg metropolitan area is the fourth largest metropolitan area in South Africa . Its population

2584-592: A new San Jose ownership group that formed in 2007. In 2007, the league expanded beyond the United States' borders into Canada with the Toronto FC expansion team. Major League Soccer took steps to further raise the level of play by adopting the Designated Player Rule , which helped bring international stars into the league. The 2007 season witnessed the MLS debut of David Beckham . Beckham's signing had been seen as

2720-502: A non-profit corporation made up of private sector stakeholders and city appointees. A ballot initiative to fund construction of the $ 102 million line was approved by voters on December 12, 2012. The system runs between River Market and Union Station, mostly along Main Street, with extensions north and south under consideration. There are no commuter rail services. Intercity bus service is provided by Greyhound Lines and Jefferson Lines at

2856-467: A normal Italian province. The list of metropolitan areas in Sweden is collated based on statistics of commuting between central municipalities and surrounding municipalities and taking into account existing planning cooperation in the country's three geographic regions. They were defined around 1965. In 2005, a number of further municipalities were added to the defined areas. The word metropolitan describes

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2992-469: A population exceeding one million as a metropolitan area as per the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 . In Indonesia , the government of Indonesia defines a metropolitan area as an urban agglomeration where its spatial planning is prioritised due to its highly important influence on the country. Jakarta , Surabaya , Bandung , Semarang , Medan , Makassar , Palembang are important metropolitan area in

3128-691: A population of 25,204. Downtown is Kansas City's historic center, located entirely within Kansas City, Missouri, and contains the city's original town site, business districts, and residential neighborhoods. Downtown is bounded by the Missouri River on the north, the Missouri-Kansas state line on the west, 31st Street on the south and Woodland Avenue on the east. The downtown area includes the Central Business District and its buildings, which form

3264-525: A promotion and relegation system. In October 2017, Columbus Crew owner Anthony Precourt announced plans to move the franchise to Austin, Texas by 2019. The announcement spawned a league-wide backlash and legal action against the league by the Ohio state government. On August 15, 2018, the Austin City Council voted to approve an agreement with Precourt to move Crew SC to Austin, and on August 22, 2018,

3400-409: A similar attraction at a smaller scale for a region, the concept of a regiopolis and a respective regiopolitan area, or regio, was introduced by German professors in 2006. In the United States, the term micropolitan statistical area is used. A metropolitan area combines an urban agglomeration with the contiguous built-up areas, which are not necessarily urban in character but are closely bound to

3536-593: A total area of 9,220 sq mi (23,900 km) including 103 sq mi (270 km) of water. The Kansas City metro area is a swing metro area, going between the Republican and Democratic parties for decades and voting for Democratic and Republican presidential candidates equally since 2000. It is unlike most other large cities in the United States; most populous metropolitan areas lean Democratic, which makes Kansas City slightly Republican as compared to metros of similar size, even as compared to St. Louis , which

3672-424: A transition in the years leading up to the 2006 World Cup . After marketing itself on the talents of American players, the league lost some of its homegrown stars to prominent European leagues. For example, Tim Howard was transferred to Manchester United for $ 4 million in one of the most lucrative contract deals in league history. Many more American players did make an impact in MLS. In 2005, Jason Kreis became

3808-432: A trend among MLS teams to construct their own venues instead of leasing American football stadiums, where they would not be able to generate revenue from other events. In 2000, the league won an antitrust lawsuit, Fraser v. Major League Soccer , that the players had filed in 1996. The court ruled that MLS's policy of centrally contracting players and limiting player salaries through a salary cap and other restrictions were

3944-523: Is a metropolitan area in the United Arab Emirates. It consists of the combined, greater urban areas of Dubai, Ajman, and Sharjah. The urban areas at the northeast end of Dubai flow into those of Sharjah, which in turn are contiguous with those of Ajman. The total population is about 5.9 million people as of 2023 The European Union 's statistical agency Eurostat has created a concept named larger urban zone (LUZ). The LUZ represents an attempt at

4080-509: Is also centered in Missouri . As of 2019, Missouri accounted for 56% of employment and Kansas accounted for 44% of employment. From 2018 to 2019 Kansas added 13,000 jobs and Missouri added 6,500 jobs. Kansas side employment grew by 2.7% and Missouri side employment grew by 1.1%; job growth in Kansas was more than double that in Missouri. Professional and business employment growth was due entirely to

4216-411: Is awarded to the team with the best record in matches during the regular season involving the participating teams. The concept is comparable to rivalry trophies played for by American college football teams. MLS features some of the longest travel distances for a domestic soccer league, with Vancouver Whitecaps FC and Inter Miami CF the furthest apart teams at 2,801 miles (4,508 km). During

Kansas City metropolitan area - Misplaced Pages Continue

4352-811: Is centered at Kansas City, Missouri's Union Station and managed by the Kansas City Terminal. Daily long-distance services are Missouri River Runner with two round trips daily to Saint Louis, connecting to Chicago via the Lincoln Service ; and Southwest Chief with daily service between Chicago and Los Angeles . City buses operated by the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority (KCATA) provide most public transportation. The Metro Area Express (MAX) became Kansas City, Missouri's first bus rapid transit line in July 2005, and operates and

4488-475: Is generally implied if 'North' is not specified, except for numbered 'avenues' in North Kansas City. In the northland, east–west streets use the prefix N.E. or N.W., depending on the side of N. Main on which they lie. The metro has several airports. Primary service is at Kansas City International Airport (MCI), 15 miles northwest of downtown Kansas City, Missouri. It was opened in 1972 as TWA's "Airport of

4624-466: Is generally only used as an administrative distinction in Turkey. The United Kingdom 's Office for National Statistics defines " travel to work areas " as areas where "at least 75% of an area's resident workforce work in the area and at least 75% of the people who work in the area also live in the area". The European Union 's ESPON group has compiled a separate list of metropolitan areas which covers

4760-460: Is governed by a single unified government. Another bend in the Missouri River forms the county line between Wyandotte County, Kansas , and Platte County, Missouri , to the north and northeast. The map's northeast quadrant is referred to as the Northland. It includes parts of Clay County, Missouri , including North Kansas City, Missouri and Parkville, Missouri . North Kansas City is bounded by

4896-601: Is home to Saint Luke's Hospital of Kansas City and Research Medical Center . Cultural attractions include the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art , Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art , Uptown Theater , Starlight Theater , the Kansas City Zoo , Loose Park , and Swope Park . The last of these has a soccer complex that is home to the Swope Park Rangers , a USL Championship team that is the official reserve side for

5032-563: Is located in Luzon ), Metro Cebu (which is located in Visayas ), Metro Davao (which is located in Mindanao ), and Greater Manila Area (which is the largest metropolitan area of Manila ). The official definition of each area does not necessarily follow the actual extent of continuous urbanization. For example, the built-up area of Metro Manila has long spilled out of its officially defined borders into

5168-673: Is marketed akin to a rail system instead of a local bus line. The MAX links River Market, Downtown, Union Station, Crown Center, and Country Club Plaza. Buses in Johnson County, Kansas, are operated by Johnson County Transit , known as The JO. The KC Streetcar is a 2.2-mile modern streetcar line in Downtown Kansas City . Opened to the public in May 2016, it is maintained and operated by the Kansas City Streetcar Authority ,

5304-572: Is not tabulated on the level of these Areas, but instead at the municipality or state level. In Canada, a census metropolitan area (CMA) or census agglomeration (CA) consists of one or more neighboring municipalities centered around a core population. A CMA requires a total population of at least 100,000, with 50,000 or more residing in the core, while a CA requires a core population of at least 10,000. Both are determined using data from Canada's Census of Population Program, and surrounding municipalities must demonstrate strong economic integration with

5440-465: Is the area north of the Missouri River, bordered by the Kansas state line on the west. The southern half of Platte County , and much of Clay County make up the area. The Northland is a fast-growing, primarily suburban region of the metropolitan area, although much of it is contained within the city limits of Kansas City, Missouri . The economy of the Northland is dominated by Cerner , Kansas City International Airport , Ford Kansas City Assembly Plant ,

5576-578: Is the fastest growing county by total population. Municipalities include Overland Park , Olathe , Shawnee , Leawood , Lenexa , Prairie Village , Gardner , Merriam , Mission , Roeland Park , Fairway , Lake Quivira , Mission Hills , Mission Woods , Westwood , and Westwood Hills . Corporate headquarters include Garmin , Black & Veatch , and AMC Theatres , and the secondary headquarters of T-Mobile . Many local area attractions and shopping districts are in Johnson County, such as Oak Park Mall , Town Center Plaza , and Prairie Fire. The Northland

Kansas City metropolitan area - Misplaced Pages Continue

5712-702: Is the largest metropolitan area in Kansas, though Wichita is the largest metropolitan area centered in Kansas. Alongside Kansas City, Missouri, these are the suburbs with populations above 100,000: Overland Park, Kansas ; Kansas City, Kansas ; Olathe, Kansas ; Independence, Missouri ; and Lee's Summit, Missouri . Business enterprises and employers include Cerner Corporation (the largest, with almost 10,000 local employees and about 20,000 global employees), AT&T , BNSF Railway , GEICO , Asurion , T-Mobile (formerly Sprint ), Black & Veatch , AMC Theatres , Citigroup , Garmin , Hallmark Cards , Waddell & Reed , H&R Block , General Motors , Honeywell ,

5848-640: Is the most recent in a series of men's premier professional national soccer leagues established in the United States and Canada. The predecessor of MLS was the North American Soccer League (NASL), which existed from 1968 until 1984. MLS was founded in 1993 as part of the United States' successful bid to host the 1994 FIFA World Cup . The inaugural season took place in 1996 with ten teams. MLS experienced financial and operational struggles in its first few years, losing millions of dollars and folding two teams in 2002. Since then, developments such as

5984-678: Is the second longest runway in the region next to those at Kansas City International Airport. It is 7 miles (11 km) from the Logistics Park Kansas City Intermodal Facility. Johnson County Executive Airport has one runway on 500 acres and is the fourth-busiest towered airport in the state of Kansas. Kansas City is a freight hub served by the BNSF , CPKC , Norfolk Southern , and Union Pacific . Kansas City Terminal Railway and Kaw River Railroad provide local interchange and switching service. Amtrak Passenger service

6120-549: The 1998 World Cup . Major League Soccer lost an estimated $ 250 million during its first five years, and more than $ 350 million between its founding and 2004. The league's financial problems led to Commissioner Doug Logan being replaced by Don Garber , a former NFL executive, in August 1999. Following decreased attendance and increased losses by late 2001, league officials planned to fold but were able to secure new financing from owners Lamar Hunt , Philip Anschutz , and

6256-401: The 2018 season , the team with the shortest distance traveled over the entire regular schedule was Toronto FC at 25,891 miles (41,668 km), while the longest was Vancouver at 51,178 miles (82,363 km). Notes Major League Soccer is the most recent of a series of men's premier professional national soccer leagues established in the United States and Canada. The predecessor of MLS

6392-850: The American Jazz Museum , the Kansas City Symphony , Kansas City Union Station , the National World War I Museum , the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art , the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art , Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts , the National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame , Negro Leagues Baseball Museum , Arabia Steamboat Museum , Uptown Theater , Midland Theatre , the Kansas City Zoo , Swope Park (featuring Starlight Theater ), Sandstone Amphitheater ,

6528-665: The CONCACAF Champions Cup (CCC) against other clubs from the CONCACAF region. Four MLS teams qualify based on regular-season results from the previous year: the Supporters' Shield champion, the team with the highest point total from the opposite conference, and the next two clubs in the Supporters' Shield rankings. The fifth MLS team to qualify is the reigning MLS Cup champion. An additional U.S.-based MLS team can qualify by winning

6664-705: The COVID-19 pandemic in the United States , and other U.S.-based sports leagues did the same. The 2020 season resumed in July with the MLS is Back Tournament , a competition in which 24 out of the 26 teams competed at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando for a spot in the CONCACAF Champions League. In September 2020, the league announced the formation of MLS Next , an academy league for MLS academy teams from

6800-671: The Fairfax Industrial District , and the Village West entertainment district. The General Motors Fairfax Assembly Plant is in the Fairfax Industrial District. Village West contains many area attractions. This includes many sporting venues such as Children's Mercy Park , home of the area MLS soccer team Sporting Kansas City , the Kansas Speedway , which hosts many NASCAR races, and Field of Legends , home of

6936-537: The Ford Kansas City Assembly Plant , The Kansas City Star , Bayer , Children's Mercy Hospital , Truman Medical Center-Hospital Hill , and Andrews McMeel Universal (representing Garfield , Calvin and Hobbes , and Doonesbury ). Shopping centers include City Market , Crown Center , Country Club Plaza , Independence Center , Legends Outlets Kansas City , Oak Park Mall , Ward Parkway Center , and Zona Rosa . Cultural attractions include

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7072-631: The Grandview Triangle . The southwest quadrant includes all of Johnson County, Kansas , which includes the towns in the area known as Shawnee Mission, Kansas . Interstate 35 runs diagonally through Johnson County, Kansas , from the southwest to Downtown Kansas City, Missouri . The northwest quadrant contains Wyandotte , and Leavenworth , counties in Kansas and parts of Platte County, Missouri . Wyandotte County, Kansas (sometimes referred to as just Wyandotte ), contains Kansas City, Kansas ; Bonner Springs, Kansas ; and Edwardsville, Kansas ; it

7208-475: The Harry S. Truman Historic District ; and the neighborhoods of Westport , 18th and Vine , and Pendleton Heights . Historic cultural origins include KC styles of jazz , vaudeville theater , barbecue , and steak . The larger Kansas City metropolitan area can be visualized as a map with roughly four quadrants: The southeast quadrant includes Kansas City, Missouri , and surrounding areas in Missouri. It includes

7344-585: The International Labour Organization , the OECD , and the World Bank have agreed on a common methodological framework for delimitation of urban and rural areas, which contains a definition of metropolitan areas called the Functional urban area . It is defined as a city and its commuting zone, which is a contiguous area of spatial units that have at least 15% of their employed residents working in

7480-742: The Islamabad Capital Territory ; two are located in Sindh , including Karachi , the largest metropolitan area in the country, and Hyderabad ; one in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa : Peshawar ; and the final in Balochistan : Quetta . The Philippines currently has three metropolitan areas defined by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA). These metropolitan areas are separated into three main geographical areas; Metro Manila (which

7616-641: The Kansas City Bus Station . The architecture of Kansas City, Missouri , and the metropolitan area includes major works by many of the world's most distinguished architects and firms, including McKim, Mead and White ; Jarvis Hunt ; Wight and Wight ; Graham, Anderson, Probst and White ; Hoit, Price & Barnes ; Frank Lloyd Wright ; the Office of Mies van der Rohe ; Barry Byrne ; Edward Larrabee Barnes ; Harry Weese ; and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill . Top 5 largest colleges by total enrollment (within

7752-803: The Kansas City Renaissance Festival , Worlds of Fun , Oceans of Fun , the College Basketball Experience and several casinos. Major league sports franchises include the NFL 's Kansas City Chiefs , the MLB 's Kansas City Royals , and the MLS's Sporting Kansas City . The Kansas Speedway is owned by NASCAR . Historic features include the confluence of the eastern endpoints of the California , Santa Fe , and Oregon Trails in Independence;

7888-608: The Kraft family to take on more teams. MLS announced in January 2002 that it had decided to contract the Tampa Bay Mutiny and Miami Fusion , leaving the league with ten teams. Despite the financial problems, though, MLS did have some accomplishments that would set the stage for the league's resurgence. Columbus Crew Stadium, now known as Historic Crew Stadium , was built in 1999, becoming MLS's first soccer-specific stadium . This began

8024-423: The Leagues Cup , was established in 2019. The 2020 edition of the tournament was originally planned to pair eight MLS clubs against eight Liga MX clubs in a single-elimination tournament hosted in the United States, reviving an inter-league rivalry that previously took place in the now-defunct North American Superliga , before its cancelation. Beginning with the 2023 edition all MLS and Liga MX teams participate in

8160-429: The Metropolitan statistical areas (MSA) of Kansas City MO-KS, the St. Joseph metropolitan area and the Lawrence, Kansas metropolitan area with the Micropolitan Statistical Areas (μSA) of Warrensburg, Missouri , Atchison, Kansas , and Ottawa, Kansas . (Warrensburg is in Johnson County, Missouri . Atchison is in Atchison County, Kansas . Ottawa is in Franklin County, Kansas .) The combined statistical area covers

8296-407: The NFL 's Kansas City Chiefs and Kauffman Stadium , home of the MLB 's Kansas City Royals are on the eastern edge of Kansas City. The Cable Dahmer Arena home of the ECHL 's Kansas City Mavericks and the MASL 's Kansas City Comets is in Independence. Johnson County, Kansas contains many municipalities with a population of 609,863. It has the largest economy in the metropolitan area and

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8432-406: The Paris metropolitan area ( Paris ). In other cases, metropolitan areas contain multiple centers of equal or close to equal importance, especially in the United States; for example, the Dallas–Fort Worth metropolitan area has eight principal cities. The Islamabad–Rawalpindi metropolitan area in Pakistan, the Rhine-Ruhr in Germany, and the Randstad in The Netherlands are other examples. In

8568-429: The Philadelphia Union and their new PPL Park stadium (now known as Subaru Park ). The 2010 season also brought the opening of the New York Red Bulls' soccer-specific stadium, Red Bull Arena , and the debut of French striker Thierry Henry . The 2011 season brought further expansion with the addition of the Vancouver Whitecaps FC , the second Canadian MLS franchise, and the Portland Timbers . Real Salt Lake reached

8704-408: The U.S. Open Cup . In 2024, the league will send eight teams to participate in the U.S. Open Cup instead of every U.S.-based club, with MLS Next Pro teams as representatives for some teams. MLS had announced their intention to remove itself from the tournament entirely, but reached a compromise with U.S. Soccer to send representatives from clubs that were not participating in the Champions Cup, with

8840-439: The U.S. v. Germany match the U.S. fielded a team with seven MLS starters. On September 18, 2014, MLS unveiled their new logo as part of a branding initiative. In addition to the new crest logo, MLS teams display versions in their own colors on their jerseys. Chivas USA folded following the 2014 season, while New York City FC and Orlando City SC joined the league in 2015 as the 19th and 20th teams. Sporting Kansas City and

8976-463: The United States , the concept of metropolitan statistical areas has gained prominence. The area of the Greater Washington metropolitan area is an example of statistically grouping independent cities and county areas from various states to form a larger city because of proximity, history and recent urban convergence. Metropolitan areas may themselves be part of a greater megalopolis . For urban centres located outside metropolitan areas that generate

9112-427: The Zona Rosa shopping community and three riverboat casinos. The metro area's largest amusement park, Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun , is in the Northland. Major educational institutions in the Northland include Park University , William Jewell College , and the Maple Woods campus of Metropolitan Community College . The Northland is also home to the popular recreational reservoir, Smithville Lake . Communities of

9248-433: The 18th & Vine District. North of the loop are City Market within the River Market and Richard L. Berkeley Riverfront Park. West of the loop within the West Bottoms are Hy-Vee Arena and Hale Arena . Midtown/Plaza is entirely within Kansas City, Missouri with a population of 40,355. It is just south of downtown, and bounded by 31st Street on the north, the state line on the west, West Gregory Boulevard (71st Street) on

9384-482: The 1994 World Cup to play in MLS—including U.S. stars such as Alexi Lalas , Tony Meola and Eric Wynalda , and foreign players such as Mexico's Jorge Campos and Colombia's Carlos Valderrama . D.C. United won the MLS Cup in three of the league's first four seasons. The league added its first two expansion teams in 1998 —the Miami Fusion and the Chicago Fire ; the Chicago Fire won its first title in its inaugural season. After its first season, MLS suffered from

9520-547: The 2014 season, fifteen of the nineteen MLS head coaches had previously played in MLS. By 2013, the league's popularity had increased to the point where MLS was as popular as Major League Baseball among 12- to 17-year-olds, as reported by the 2013 Luker on Trends ESPN poll, having jumped in popularity since the 2010 World Cup. In 2014, the league announced Atlanta United FC as the 22nd team to start playing in 2017. Even though New York City FC and Orlando City were not set to begin play until 2015, each team made headlines during

9656-600: The Bio Bio Region, with a population of about a million people living in it. Smaller "metropolitan" areas are known as conurbations. Conurbaciones tend to have a bit over 200.000 inhabitants to be considered as such. An example is the Conurbacion de Rancagua, which considers the area shared by the city of Rancagua, and the adjacent smaller towns of Machalí, Gultro and Graneros. Metropolitan areas are known as zonas metropolitanas in Mexico. The National Population Council (CONAPO) defines them as: As of 2018, there are 74 zonas metropolitanas in Mexico. 75.1 million people, 62.8% of

9792-715: The Central Business District inside the downtown loop. The T-Mobile Center and the College Basketball Experience are within the Power & Light District, also within the downtown loop. The Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts is perched upon a high point immediately south of the downtown loop. South of the loop is the Crossroads District , Union Station , Crown Center , the National World War I Museum , Liberty Memorial , Penn Valley Park , University Health Truman Medical Center , Children's Mercy Hospital , and

9928-567: The Cultivation and Development of Modern Metropolitan Areas ( 关于培育发展现代化都市圈的指导意见 ) on Feb 19, 2019, in which a metropolitan area was defined as "an urbanized spatial form in a megalopolis dominated by (a) supercity(-ies) or megacity(-ies), or a large metropolis playing a leading part, and within the basic range of 1-hour commute area." In India , a metropolitan city is defined as one with a population more than four million. In policing jurisdiction, state governments can declare any city or town with

10064-594: The Future" , a global hub for supersonic transport and the Boeing 747 . A new single-terminal building was opened on February 28, 2023, to modernize the design, operations, and passenger experience. The much smaller Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport , immediately north of downtown across the Missouri River, was the original headquarters of Trans World Airlines (TWA) and houses the Airline History Museum . It served as

10200-506: The Greater Johannesburg metropolitan area houses roughly ten times the population of its core municipal city of Johannesburg , which contained 957,441 people as of the 2011 census. The IBGE defines also "Immediate Geographic Areas" (formerly termed microregions ) which capture the region "surrounding urban centers for the supply of immediate needs of the population". Intended for policy planning purposes, as of March 2021 census data

10336-852: The Houston Dynamo moved from the Eastern Conference to the Western Conference in 2015 to make two 10-team conferences. In early 2015, the league announced that two teams— Los Angeles FC and Minnesota United FC —would join MLS in either 2017 or 2018. The 20th season of MLS saw the arrivals of several players who have starred at the highest levels of European club soccer and in international soccer: Giovanni dos Santos , Kaká , Andrea Pirlo , Frank Lampard , Steven Gerrard , Didier Drogba , David Villa , and Sebastian Giovinco . MLS confirmed in August 2016 that Minnesota United would begin play in 2017 along with Atlanta United FC. In April 2016,

10472-564: The MLS regular season is followed by a postseason knockout tournament to determine the league champion. As of 2023 , eighteen teams participate in the MLS Cup Playoffs in October and November, which concludes with the MLS Cup championship game in early December. The 2023 playoff format includes a pair of single-elimination play-in matches for the two lowest-ranked teams in each conference ahead of

10608-571: The MSA) List of institutions (including those in the CSA): The metro public library systems include Kansas City Public Library (Missouri), Mid-Continent Public Library , Kansas City, Kansas Public Library , and Johnson County Library . Private libraries include the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum and the Linda Hall Library . Metropolitan area Metropolitan areas in

10744-479: The Northland outside the city limits include Parkville , Kearney , Liberty , Platte City , Gladstone , Riverside , Smithville , North Kansas City , and Weatherby Lake . Wyandotte County, Kansas has a population of 169,245 and contains Kansas City, Kansas , Bonner Springs, Kansas , and Edwardsville, Kansas . Kansas City, Kansas is locally called "KCK" to distinguish it from the larger Kansas City, Missouri (KCMO). It contains many residential neighborhoods,

10880-511: The U.S. and seven for Puerto Rico) and 541 Micropolitan Statistical Areas (μSAs – 536 for the U.S. and five for Puerto Rico). The 169 Combined Statistical Areas (166 for the U.S. and three for Puerto Rico) each comprise two or more adjacent Core Based Statistical Areas. The Office of Management and Budget defines a Metropolitan Statistical Area as one or more adjacent counties or county equivalents that have at least one urban area of at least 50,000 population, plus adjacent territory that has

11016-661: The UK. Major League Soccer Major League Soccer ( MLS ) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation , which represents the sport's highest level in the United States . The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the United States and 3 in Canada . A 30th team, San Diego FC , will join the league in 2025. MLS is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan . Major League Soccer

11152-534: The United States and Canada , behind the National Football League (NFL) with over 69,000 fans per game, Major League Baseball (MLB) with over 26,000 fans per game, and the Canadian Football League (CFL) with over 21,700 fans per game. MLS was the eighth-highest attended professional soccer league worldwide by 2018. The MLS regular season typically starts in late February or early March and runs through mid-October, with each team playing 34 games;

11288-424: The United States are delineated around the core of a core based statistical area which is defined as an urban area , (this is different than the urban core ) and consists of central and outlying counties, as the terms central city and suburb are no longer used by the census bureau due to suburbanization of employment. In other countries metropolitan areas are sometimes anchored by one central city such as

11424-574: The adjacent provinces of Bulacan , Rizal , Laguna , and Cavite known as Greater Manila Area . The number of metropolitan areas in the Philippines was reduced from 13 in 2007 to the current three based from the 2017–2022 Philippine Development Plan by NEDA. The other 10 metropolitan areas were Metro Angeles , Metro Bacolod , Metro Baguio , Metro Batangas , Metro Cagayan de Oro , Metro Dagupan , Metro Iloilo–Guimaras , Metro Butuan , Metro Naga , and Metro Olongapo . Dubai - Sharjah - Ajman (DSA)

11560-582: The area's Major League Soccer club, Sporting Kansas City . Major educational institutions include the University of Missouri–Kansas City , Rockhurst University , Kansas City Art Institute , Stowers Institute for Medical Research , Midwest Research Institute , and Penn Valley Community College . East Side of the Metro is primarily eastern Jackson County which is an area of the Kansas City Metro that contains

11696-555: The area's major airport until 1972, when Kansas City International (then known as Mid-Continent International Airport and home to an Overhaul Base for TWA) became the primary airport for the metropolitan area after undergoing $ 150 million in upgrades that had been approved by voters in a 1966 bond issue. Downtown Airport is still used for general aviation and airshows. Two general aviation airports are in Johnson County, Kansas. New Century AirCenter borders southwest Olathe and northeast Gardner. The primary runway at New Century AirCenter

11832-577: The average American metro area, and nearly 75% more than the large metro area with the least in Las Vegas . The Kansas City area is a confluence of four major U.S. interstate highways : Other interstates that cross through the area include: U.S. Highways serving the Kansas City Metro Area include these: Kansas highways in the area include these: Missouri highways in the area include these: These are other notable roads: The Missouri side of

11968-492: The berth is reallocated to the next best team in the overall table. If the U.S. Open Cup winner qualifies through multiple methods, the runner-up fills the slot; should the runner-up qualify, the next best team in the overall table earns the slot. If the Leagues Cup champion wins the MLS Cup, the MLS Cup runner-up qualifies to the round of 16; should a Leagues Cup slot already qualify, MLS is awarded with one additional slot given to

12104-656: The center by employment or other commerce. These outlying zones are sometimes known as a commuter belt and may extend well beyond the urban zone to other political entities. For example, East Hampton, New York , on Long Island is considered part of the New York metropolitan area . In 2020, the European Commission , the Food and Agriculture Organization , the United Nations Human Settlements Programme ,

12240-565: The central municipality governing local services in a province with more than 750.000 residents in Turkey , like Istanbul and its metropolitan municipality, the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality . There are 30 officially defined "metropolitan municipalities" in Turkey. This classification, however, is only used for administrative purposes, and sometimes contradicts the colloquial use of the term "metro area". As an example, Gebze,

12376-401: The city's USL Championship team . On January 29, 2018, MLS awarded Miami an expansion team, led by David Beckham . Inter Miami CF started MLS play on March 1, 2020, and plan on opening the proposed 25,000-seat stadium sometime in the near future. An expansion team was awarded to Cincinnati, Ohio on May 29, 2018, to the ownership group of USL's FC Cincinnati . The team, which assumed

12512-708: The city's skyline. The Downtown Loop is formed by Interstates 670, 70, and 35. Within the downtown loop are many of the tall buildings and skyscrapers that make up the city's skyline. The downtown loop also has small, distinct neighborhoods such as Quality Hill , the Garment District , the Financial District , the Convention Center District, and the Power and Light District . Other nearby neighborhoods are River Market and Columbus Park, both located between

12648-481: The city. In practice, the parameters of metropolitan areas, in both official and unofficial usage, are not consistent. Sometimes they are little different from an urban area, and in other cases, they cover broad regions that have little relation to a single urban settlement; comparative statistics for metropolitan areas should take this into account. The term metropolitan can also refer to a county -level municipal government structure, with some shared services between

12784-457: The club's new name, Austin FC , was announced. After negotiations between Precourt and Jimmy Haslam , owner of the Cleveland Browns , were announced, MLS made it clear that Austin would receive an expansion team only after a deal to sell Columbus to a local buyer had completed. The purchase of Crew SC by Haslam's group was finalized in late December 2018, and on January 15, 2019, Austin FC

12920-493: The collapse of the NASL following the 1984 season, leaving the United States without a top-level soccer league until MLS. In 1988, in exchange for FIFA awarding the right to host the 1994 World Cup , U.S. Soccer promised to establish a Division 1 professional soccer league. In 1993, U.S. Soccer selected Major League Professional Soccer (the precursor to MLS) as the exclusive Division 1 professional soccer league. Major League Soccer

13056-616: The competition, which functions as the regional cup for the North American zone of CONCACAF . The 29 teams of Major League Soccer are divided between the Eastern and Western conferences. MLS has regularly expanded since the 2005 season, most recently with the addition of St. Louis City SC for the 2023 season. San Diego FC is planned to enter the league in 2025. The league features numerous rivalry cups that are contested by two or more teams, quite often geographic rivals. Each trophy

13192-641: The core, measured by commuting patterns. There are three metropolitan areas in Chile, the biggest and most important one is the Gran Santiago in the Santiago Metropolitan Region, with over 7 million inhabitants, making it the largest and most populated urban area in Chile. The other two metro areas are Gran Valparaiso in the Valparaiso Region with almost a million inhabitants, and Gran Concepción in

13328-542: The country population, live within a metropolitan area. As of February 28, 2013, the United States Office of Management and Budget (OMB) defined 1,098 statistical areas for the metropolitan areas of the United States and Puerto Rico . These 1,098 statistical areas comprise 929 Core-Based Statistical Areas (CBSAs) and 169 Combined Statistical Areas (CSAs). The 929 Core-Based Statistical Areas are divided into 388 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs – 381 for

13464-548: The country. For urban centers outside metropolitan areas, that generate a similar attraction at smaller scale for their region, the concept of the Regiopolis and respectively regiopolitan area or region was introduced by German professors in 2006. In 2001 Italy transformed 14 provinces of some of the country's largest cities into Metropolitan Cities . Therefore, the territory of the Metropolitan City corresponds to that of

13600-524: The country. Currently, there are 10 metropolitan cities in Indonesia that have been recognized by the government. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Metropolitan_areas_of_Malaysia Pakistan has nine metropolitan areas with populations greater than a million. Five of these are entirely in Punjab including Lahore , Faisalabad , Gujranwala , Multan ; one ( Islamabad-Rawalpindi is split between Punjab and

13736-445: The current rightsholders have to negotiate extensions to their contracts. Additionally, media noted that Major League Soccer has long-opposed the adoption of promotion and relegation, continuing to utilize the fixed, franchise-based model used in other U.S. sports leagues. Furthermore, MP & Silva founder Riccardo Silva also owned Miami FC of the NASL , which stood to benefit from such

13872-885: The downtown loop and the Missouri River . Between the downtown loop and the state line are the Westside neighborhood and the West Bottoms , located at the bottom of the bluff adjacent to Kaw Point . East of the loop are the 18th & Vine District, the North Bottoms, and Northeast Kansas City (the East Bottoms, Northeast, and Pendleton Heights ). South of the loop is the Crossroads District , Union Hill , Crown Center , Hospital Hill , Longfellow, Wendell Phillips, and Washington Wheatley. The Kansas City Convention Center , Municipal Auditorium , City Hall , Lyric Theater , Midland Theatre , Ilus Davis Park, and Barney Allis Plaza are within

14008-402: The end of the 2023 season . Major League Soccer's regular season runs from late February or early March to October. Teams are geographically divided into the Eastern and Western Conferences, playing 34 games in an unbalanced schedule. With 29 teams in 2023, each team plays two games, home and away, against every team in its conference and one game against all but four or five of the teams in

14144-572: The exception of the defending Open Cup champions. The last three teams to qualify are the champion, runner-up, and third-place finisher of the Leagues Cup . Montreal , Toronto , and Vancouver compete against other Canadian sides in the Canadian Championship for the one CONCACAF Champions Cup berth allocated to Canada. All three Canadian clubs may also qualify through MLS or the Leagues Cup. If an MLS team qualifies through multiple methods,

14280-442: The exchange of top prospects to Europe for experienced veterans to MLS. By 2008, San Jose had returned to the league under new ownership, and in 2009, the expansion side Seattle Sounders FC began play in MLS. The Sounders set a new average attendance record for the league, with 30,943 spectators per match, and were the first expansion team to qualify for the playoffs since 1998. The 2010 season ushered in an expansion franchise in

14416-548: The existing FC Cincinnati name, started MLS play in 2019 and moved to the new 26,000-seat TQL Stadium in 2021. The league planned to expand to 30 teams with the addition of Austin FC in 2021, Charlotte in 2022, and Sacramento and St. Louis in 2023; however, this was reduced to 29 after Sacramento Republic FC 's bid was placed on indefinite hold. Commissioner Don Garber has suggested that another round of expansion could lead to 32 teams in MLS. The league suspended its 2020 season on March 12, 2020, after two weeks, due to

14552-642: The far-eastern urban side of Kansas City, Missouri and the following large suburbs of Blue Springs , Independence , and Lee's Summit . The area includes western Lafayette County Missouri and the far northeast portion of Cass County Missouri. The East Side of Metro includes the Missouri suburbs of Independence , Grandview , Blue Springs , Raytown , Lees Summit , Grain Valley , Oak Grove , Sugar Creek , River Bend , Lake Lotawana , Lone Jack , Greenwood , Unity Village , Buckner , Pleasant Hill , Bates City , Odessa , and Lake Tapawingo . Arrowhead Stadium , home of

14688-681: The finals of the 2010–11 CONCACAF Champions League . During the 2011 season, the Galaxy signed another international star in Republic of Ireland all-time leading goalscorer Robbie Keane . MLS drew an average attendance of 17,872 in 2011, higher than the average attendances of the NBA and NHL. In 2012, the Montreal Impact became the league's 19th franchise and the third in Canada, and made their home debut in front of

14824-448: The first player to score 100 career MLS goals. The league's financial stabilization plan included teams moving out of large American football stadiums and into soccer-specific stadiums. From 2003 to 2008, the league oversaw the construction of six additional soccer-specific stadiums, largely funded by owners such as Lamar Hunt and Phil Anschutz , so that by the end of 2008, a majority of teams were now in soccer-specific stadiums. It

14960-1131: The functional extent of a city as it contains the majority of the commuting population. GCCSAs replaced "Statistical Divisions" used until 2011. Other metropolitan areas in Australia include cross border cities or continuous built-up areas between two or more cities that are connected by an extensive public transport network that allows for commuting for work or services. In Bangladesh , the large population centres which have significant financial, political and administrative importance are considered to be as Metropolitan cities, which are governed by City Corporations . In total, there are 12 city corporations in Bangladesh. 4 of them ( Dhaka North City Corporation , Dhaka South City Corporation , Narayanganj City Corporation , Gazipur City Corporation ) are part of Dhaka Metropolitan Area . In China , there used to be no clear distinction between megalopolis ( 城市群 , lit. city cluster) and metropolitan area ( 都市圈 ) until National Development and Reform Commission issued Guidelines on

15096-689: The independent baseball team, the Kansas City Monarchs , and the Legends shopping district. Bonner Springs is home to the Azura Amphitheater (commonly known as the Sandstone Amphitheater), the National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame , Wyandotte County Historical Museum, and the annual Kansas City Renaissance Festival . Cass County, Missouri has a population of 107,824 and contains parts of "South Kansas City". This area consists of

15232-561: The league implemented its "Core Players" initiative, allowing teams to retain key players using retention funds instead of losing the players to foreign leagues. Among the first high-profile players re-signed in 2013 using retention funds were U.S. national team regulars Graham Zusi and Matt Besler . Beginning in summer of 2013 and continuing in the run up to the 2014 World Cup, MLS began signing U.S. stars based abroad, including Clint Dempsey , Jermaine Jones , and Michael Bradley from Europe; and DaMarcus Beasley from Mexico's Liga MX . By

15368-500: The league in 2007; San Jose paid $ 20 million the next year, and the fee had risen to $ 30 million when Sounders FC paid the fee in 2007 to join the league in 2009. In 2013, New York City FC agreed to pay a record $ 100 million expansion fee for the right to join MLS in 2015. This record was surpassed by the ownership groups of FC Cincinnati and Nashville SC, which each paid $ 150 million to join MLS 2019 and 2020, respectively. Despite being announced in January 2018, Inter Miami CF only paid

15504-465: The league including Johan Cruyff , Gerd Müller , Eusébio , Bobby Moore , and George Best . Despite dramatic increases in attendance (with some matches drawing over 70,000 fans such as Soccer Bowl '78 , the highest attendance to date for any club soccer championship in the United States) over-expansion, the economic recession of the early 1980s , and disputes with the players union ultimately led to

15640-470: The league to change its schedule, a winter break would be necessary to accommodate teams located in harsh winter climates. It would also have to compete with the popularity and media presence of the National Football League (NFL), National Basketball Association (NBA), and National Hockey League (NHL), which all run on fall-to-spring schedules. MLS teams also play in other international and domestic competitions. Each season, up to ten MLS teams play in

15776-565: The league's best players. The format of the All-Star Game has changed several times since the league's inception; 2020 was the first year in which the MLS All-Stars were planned to play against an all-star team from Mexico's Liga MX , before the event's cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic . Unlike most major soccer leagues around the world, but similar to other leagues in the Americas,

15912-403: The league's commissioner Don Garber reiterated the intention of the league to expand to 28 teams, with the next round of expansion "likely happening in 2020". In December 2016, he updated the expansion plans stating that the league will look to approve the 25th and 26th teams in 2017 and to start play in 2020. In January 2017, the league received bids from 12 ownership groups. In July 2017, it

16048-477: The metropolitan area south of the Missouri River shares a grid system with Johnson County on the Kansas side. Most east–west streets are numbered and most north–south streets named. Addresses on east–west streets are numbered from Main Street in Kansas City, Missouri, and on north–south streets from St. John Avenue (or the Missouri River, in the River Market area). The direction 'South' in street and address numbers

16184-534: The most southern part of Kansas City, Missouri, and the suburbs of Harrisonville , Belton , Loch Lloyd , Peculiar , and Raymore . Leavenworth County, Kansas has a population of 81,881 and contains the cities of Leavenworth and Lansing , and the Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary . The Kansas City metropolitan area (MO-KS) population in 2018 was 2,106,632 and the Kansas City CSA in 2022

16320-796: The next best non-qualified team in the overall table. Seattle Sounders FC became the first MLS team to win the CONCACAF Champions Cup under the competition's updated format in 2022 . Since 2018, the reigning MLS Cup champion plays in the Campeones Cup , a Super Cup -style single game against the Campeón de Campeones from Liga MX , hosted by the MLS team in September. The inaugural edition saw Tigres UANL defeat Toronto FC at BMO Field in Toronto in 2018. Another inter-league competition with Liga MX,

16456-409: The opposite conference. The 2020 season was the first season in league history in which teams did not play against every other team in the league. At the end of the regular season, the team with the highest point total is awarded the Supporters' Shield and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. Teams break for the annual All-Star Game midway through the season, an exhibition game containing

16592-406: The proliferation of soccer-specific stadiums around the league, the implementation of the Designated Player Rule allowing teams to sign star players such as David Beckham and Lionel Messi , and national TV contracts have made MLS profitable. In 2022, with an average attendance of over 21,000 per game, MLS had the fourth-highest average attendance of the major professional sports leagues in

16728-638: The south, and Troost Avenue on the east. Midtown/Plaza, the core of the metropolitan area, has many cultural attractions, shopping and entertainment areas, large hospitals, universities, and the metro area's most densely populated neighborhoods. Midtown/Plaza has many distinct and historic neighborhoods, including Westport , Hyde Park , and Southmoreland . Shopping is centered on the Country Club Plaza, which has luxury retailers, hotels, and restaurants. Brookside and Westport also contain smaller-scale, neighborhood-oriented, and niche-market retailers. Midtown

16864-440: The summer 2014 transfer window by announcing their first Designated Players— Spain's leading scorer David Villa and Chelsea's leading scorer Frank Lampard to New York, and Ballon d'Or winner Kaká to Orlando. The 2014 World Cup featured 21 MLS players on World Cup rosters and a record 11 MLS players playing for foreign teams—including players from traditional powerhouses Brazil ( Júlio César ) and Spain ( David Villa ); in

17000-424: The team with the best record is awarded the Supporters' Shield . Eighteen teams compete in the postseason MLS Cup Playoffs in late October and November, culminating in the league's championship game, the MLS Cup . Instead of operating as an association of independently owned clubs, MLS is a single entity in which each team is owned by the league and individually operated by the league's investors. The league has

17136-405: The term "metropolitan statistical area", the term used colloquially is more often "metro service area", "metro area", or "MSA", taken to include not only a city but also the surrounding suburban, exurban and sometimes rural areas, all of which the city is presumed to influence. A polycentric metropolitan area contains multiple urban agglomerations not connected by continuous development. In defining

17272-488: The under-13 to under-19 level. In 2022, the league signed a $ 2.5 billion deal with Apple Inc. that will make Apple TV the primary broadcaster for all MLS games. The agreement will see both MLS and Leagues Cup games shared across the streaming service. In May 2023, the league announced it would expand to 30 teams with the addition of San Diego FC for the 2025 season. In 2005, Toronto FC's ownership paid $ 10 million (about $ 15.6 million in today's dollars) to join

17408-400: The urban center by commuting. The Australian Bureau of Statistics uses Greater Capital City Statistical Areas (GCCSAs), which are geographical areas designed to represent the functional extent of each of the eight state and territory capital cities. They were designed to reflect labor markets, using the 2011 Census "travel to work" data. Labor markets are sometimes used as proxy measures of

17544-399: Was 2,209,152. The MSA covers a total area of 7,952 sq mi (20,600 km) including 97 sq mi (250 km) of water. Often associated with Kansas City, the cities of Lawrence, Kansas and Saint Joseph, Missouri are identified as separate Metropolitan Statistical Areas. The Kansas City-Overland Park-Kansas City MO-KS (USA) Combined Statistical Area (CSA) encompasses

17680-592: Was also in this era that MLS expanded for the first time since 1998. Real Salt Lake and Chivas USA began play in 2005 , with Chivas USA becoming the second club in Los Angeles. By 2006 the San Jose Earthquakes owners, players and a few coaches moved to Texas to become the expansion Houston Dynamo , after failing to build a stadium in San Jose. The Dynamo became an expansion team, leaving their history behind for

17816-593: Was defined differently than the AAV, has now been discarded by INSEE and replaced with the AAV in order to facilitate international comparisons. Metropolitan regions in Germany by definition, are the eleven urban areas that are the most densely populated areas in the Federal Republic of Germany . They comprise the major German cities and their surrounding catchment areas and form the political, commercial and cultural centers of

17952-584: Was officially announced as a 2021 MLS entry. MLS announced on December 20, 2017, that it would be awarding an expansion franchise to Nashville, Tennessee , to play in a yet-to-be-built 27,000-seat soccer-specific stadium, Nashville Fairgrounds Stadium , and would join MLS in 2020. The management of the Nashville franchise announced in February 2019 that the MLS side would assume the Nashville SC name then in use by

18088-623: Was officially formed in February 1995 as a limited liability company . Tab Ramos was the first player signed by MLS, on January 3, 1995, and was assigned to the New York/New Jersey MetroStars . MLS began play in 1996 with ten teams. The first game was held on April 6, 1996, as the San Jose Clash defeated D.C. United before 31,000 fans at Spartan Stadium in San Jose in a game broadcast on ESPN. The league had generated some buzz by managing to lure some marquee players from

18224-574: Was over 9.6 million as of the 2011 South Africa Census, in contrast to its urban area, which consisted of approximately 7.9 million inhabitants as of 2011. Conversely, metropolitan municipalities in South Africa are defined as commonly governed areas of a metropolitan area. The largest such metropolitan municipal government entity in South Africa is the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality , which presided over nearly 5 million people as of 2016. However,

18360-418: Was reported that Major League Soccer had rejected an offer by MP & Silva to acquire all television rights to the league following the conclusion of its current contracts with Fox, ESPN, and Univision, where MP & Silva insisted that the deal would be conditional on Major League Soccer adopting a promotion and relegation system. The league stated that it rejected the offer due to the exclusive periods that

18496-578: Was the North American Soccer League (NASL), which existed from 1968 until 1984. The United States did not have a truly national top-flight league with FIFA -sanctioning until the creation of the NASL. The first league to have U.S. and Canadian professional clubs, the NASL struggled until the mid-1970s when the New York Cosmos , the league's most prominent team, signed a number of the world's best players including Pelé and Franz Beckenbauer . Pelé's arrival attracted other well-known international stars to

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