2014 Major League Soccer season

Schedule

Teams play 34 games: 17 at home and 17 away. The nine Western Conference teams face each West club three times, with the home teams reversed from the previous year. The 10 Eastern Conference teams will play 7 East teams three times (home teams reversed from 2013) and two East teams twice. Eastern and Western Conference teams will play each other once, with the home team reversed from previous year.

Personnel and sponsorship

Note: All teams use Adidas as kit manufacturer.

Player transfers

Major League Soccer employs twelve methods to acquire players. These mechanisms are the following: (a) via allocation; (b) via the Designated Player Rule; (c) via the annual SuperDraft; (d) via trade; (e) placing a discovery claim; (f) via the Homegrown Player Rule; (g) via the annual Re-Entry Draft; (h) via the annual Waiver Draft; (i) through weighted lottery; (j) through an "extreme hardship" call-up; (k) by replacing a player who has been placed on the Season Ending Injury List; (l) by replacing a player who has been placed on the Disabled List.

Allocation ranking

The allocation ranking is the mechanism used to determine which MLS club has first priority to acquire a U.S. National Team player who signs with MLS after playing abroad, or a former MLS player who returns to the League after having gone to a club abroad for a transfer fee. The allocation rankings may also be used in the event two or more clubs file a request for the same player on the same day. The allocations will be ranked in reverse order of finish for the 2013 season, taking playoff performance into account.

Once the club uses its allocation ranking to acquire a player, it drops to the bottom of the list. A ranking can be traded, provided that part of the compensation received in return is another club’s ranking. At all times, each club is assigned one ranking. The rankings reset at the end of each MLS League season.

^{On January 14, 2014, Philadelphia Union acquired the No. 1 ranking and Ethan White from D.C. United in exchange for the No. 6 allocation ranking and Jeff Parke.}

^{On December 11, 2013, Seattle Sounders acquired the No. 2 allocation ranking from Chivas USA in exchange for the No. 13 allocation ranking and Tristan Bowen.}

^{∞ On July 23, 2014, Houston Dynamo acquired the then-no. 1 allocation ranking (original ranking number 3) and allocation money from Toronto FC in exchange for the then-no. 14 allocation ranking (original ranking number 16) and Warren Creavalle.}

^{On July 29, 2014, Los Angeles Galaxy acquired the then-No. 3 allocation ranking (original ranking number 6) from D.C. United in exchange for the then-No. 11 allocation ranking (original ranking number 14), a second-round selection in the 2015 MLS SuperDraft, and Kofi Opare.}

Rule changes

The rules for the 2014 season are largely identical as those in 2013, with one major exception. For the first time in league history, the away goals rule will be used in two-legged MLS Cup playoff matches. MLS will use the version of the rule employed in CONCACAF competitions, which is applied only at the end of regular time of the second leg and not after extra time. MLS has also tweaked the tiebreaker rules for the league standings. The first tiebreaker remains total wins, but the second and third tiebreakers have been swapped—goal difference is now second and goals scored is third. All other tiebreakers remain the same as in 2013.

More minor changes include the following:

The salary cap for 2014 has also been adjusted upward. The team salary cap, which as in previous years covers the first 20 of the 30 available roster spots, has increased to $3.1 million. The cap charge for a Designated Player is now $387,500, up from $368,750 last season. Midseason Designated Player signings carry a cap charge of $193,750. The minimum salaries for "off-budget" players (roster spots 21–30, including Generation adidas players) have also increased from last season.

Conference tables

Overall table

Note: the table below has no impact on playoff qualification and is used solely for determining host of the MLS Cup, certain CCL spots, the Supporters' Shield trophy, seeding in the 2015 Canadian Championship, and position in the 2015 MLS SuperDraft. The conference tables are the sole determinant for teams qualifying for the playoffs.

Updated to matches played on October 26, 2014 11:36 PM, EDT. Source: MLSSoccer.com
Notation Key:

¹ The highest ranked U.S.-based MLS club qualifies to the 2015–16 CONCACAF Champions League seeding Pot A (Canadian teams normally do not qualify for the Champions League through MLS, qualifying instead via the Canadian Championship, however see note 4.) The other U.S. representatives in the 2015–16 CONCACAF Champions League are:

⁵ If the same team qualifies multiple times and/or if a Canadian team occupies one or more of the MLS qualifying places, then the American MLS team(s) with the best regular-season record not otherwise qualified are entered.

⁶ For this season only, the highest placed Canadian team will be awarded Canada's place in the 2015–16 CONCACAF Champions League, as a result of the rescheduling of the Canadian Championship in 2015.

⁷ Montreal Impact qualified for the 2014–15 CONCACAF Champions League as winners of the 2014 Canadian Championship.

Tie-breaking

The teams are awarded three points for a win, one point for a tie (draw) and zero points for a loss. If teams have an equal number of points the following tie-breaking procedures apply: The second and third tiebreakers, goal differential and goals scored, have swapped places from the 2013 season.

1. Most wins
2. Goal differential (GD)
3. Goals for (GF)
4. Fewest disciplinary points (foul - one point, first yellow card - three points, second yellow card (resulting in red card) - five points, straight red card - six points, disciplinary committee suspension - six points)
5. Road goals
6. Road goal differential
7. Home goals
8. Home goal differential
9. Coin toss (two teams) or drawing of lots (three or more)

Statistics