Major League Soccer owners own a share in the league and have the right to operate a team. Major League Soccer operates under a single-entity structure in which teams and player contracts are centrally owned by the league. Each Major League Soccer team has an investor-operator that is a shareholder in the league. In order to control costs, the league shares revenues and holds players contracts instead of players contracting with individual teams.
The league has 20 investor-operators for its 20 clubs. AEG, which at one time invested in six clubs, solely owns one team (LA Galaxy). Lamar Hunt used to own multiple teams, but now Hunt Sports owns only one team (FC Dallas). Two of the league's teams are owned, at least in part, by a foreigner — Austrian Dietrich Mateschitz (New York Red Bulls), and Indonesian Erick Thohir (D.C. United).
Having multiple clubs owned by a single owner was a necessity in the league's first ten years. At one time Phil Anschutz's AEG owned six MLS clubs in MLS, and Lamar Hunt's Hunt Sports owned three franchises. In order to attract additional investors, in 2002 the league announced changes to the operating agreement between the league and its teams to improve team revenues and increase the incentives to be an individual club owner. These changes included granting owners the rights to a certain number of players they develop through their club's academy system each year, sharing the profits of Soccer United Marketing, and being able to sell individual club jersey sponsorships.
As MLS appeared to be on the brink of overall profitability in 2006 and developed significant expansion plans, MLS announced that it wanted each club to have a distinct owner. The league has attracted new ownership that have injected more money into the league. Examples include Red Bull's purchase of the MetroStars from AEG in 2006 for over $100 million.
In Fraser v. Major League Soccer, a lawsuit filed in 1996 and decided in 2002, the league won a legal battle with its players in which the court ruled that MLS was a single entity that can lawfully centrally contract for player services. The court also ruled that even absent their collective bargaining agreement, players could opt to play in other leagues if they were unsatisfied.
Chicago Fire
Anschutz Entertainment Group - (1997–2007)
Andrew Hauptman (Andell Holdings) - (2007–present)
Colorado Rapids
Anschutz Entertainment Group - (1995–2003)
Stan Kroenke - (2003–present)
Columbus Crew
Lamar Hunt - (1995–2006)
Clark Hunt - (2006–2013)
Anthony Precourt (Precourt Sports Ventures LLC) - (2013–present)
D.C. United
Washington Soccer, LP - (1995–2000)
Anschutz Entertainment Group - (2001–2006)
William Chang (D.C. United Holdings) - (2006–2012)
William Chang, Erick Thohir and Jason Levien - (2012–present)
FC Dallas
Major League Soccer - (1995-2001) (Source
Lamar Hunt - (2001–2006)
Clark Hunt - (2006–present)
Houston Dynamo
Anschutz Entertainment Group - (2005–2008)
Anschutz Entertainment Group, Oscar De La Hoya and Gabriel Brener - (2008–2015)
Gabriel Brener, Oscar De La Hoya, Jake Silverstein, Ben Guill - (2015-present)
Los Angeles Galaxy
L.A. Soccer Partners, LP - (1995–1997)
Anschutz Entertainment Group - (1998–present)
Montreal Impact
Joey Saputo - (2010–present)
New England Revolution
Robert Kraft - (1995–present)
New York City FC
City Football Group (majority) & Yankee Global Enterprises (minority) - (2013–present)
New York Red Bulls
John Kluge and Stuart Subotnick - (1995–01)
Anschutz Entertainment Group - (2001–06)
Red Bull GmbH - (2006–present)
Orlando City SC
Flávio Augusto da Silva - (2013–present)
Philadelphia Union
Keystone Sports & Entertainment, LLC - (2008–present)
Portland Timbers
Merritt Paulson - (2009–present)
Real Salt Lake
Dave Checketts (SCP Worldwide) - (2004–12)
Dell Loy Hansen - (2012–present)
San Jose Earthquakes
Major League Soccer - (1996–1998)
Robert Kraft - (1999–2000)
Silicon Valley Sports Entertainment - (2001–2002)
Silicon Valley Sports Entertainment and Anschutz Entertainment Group - (2002–2003)
Anschutz Entertainment Group - (2003–2005)
Lewis Wolff and John J. Fisher (Earthquakes Soccer, LLC) - (2007–present)
Seattle Sounders FC
Adrian Hanauer (majority) Joe Roth, Paul Allen and Drew Carey (minority) - (2007–present)
Sporting Kansas City
Lamar Hunt - (1995–2006)
Sporting Club - (2006–present)
(OnGoal, LLC from 2006–2010)
Toronto FC
Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment - (2006–present)
Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Greg Kerfoot, Steve Luczo, Jeff Mallett and Steve Nash - (2009–present)
Atlanta United FC
Arthur Blank
Los Angeles FC
Peter Guber(Executive Chairman), Henry Nguyen, Tom Penn, Ruben Gnanalingam, Vincent Tan, Brandon Beck, Larry Berg, Will Ferrell, Nomar Garciaparra, Mia Hamm, Chad Hurley, Magic Johnson, Tucker Kain, Kirk Lacob, Mark Leschly, Mike Mahan, Irwin Raij, Tony Robbins, Lon Rosen, Bennett Rosenthal, Paul Schaeffer, Brandon Schneider, Mark Shapiro, Allen Shapiro, Jason Sugarman, Harry Tsao
Minnesota United FC
Bill McGuire, Jim Pohlad, Robert Pohlad, Glen Taylor, Wendy Carlson Nelson
Miami
David Beckham, Simon Fuller, Marcelo Claure, Tim Leiweke
Chivas USA
Jorge Vergara and Antonio Cué Sánchez-Navarro - (2004–2012)
Jorge Vergara (2012–2014)
Major League Soccer (2014)
Miami Fusion
Ken Horowitz - (1997-2001)
Tampa Bay Mutiny
Major League Soccer - (1995-2001)
